AgH2O

Silver and water are vital resources to the story of the American West, with settlement and development following veins and wells, rivers and mines. In frontier politics, silver and water are power.

Los Angeles, like other settlements, emerged out of these resources. Through pipelines and aqueducts, with steam-engines and mule-trains, Los Angeles moved to secure these lifelines, extending its reach deep into the Sierra mountains.

At the same time, across the country, in Rochester, cameras were mass produced and the films of silver were developed in watery baths. Eastman Kodak began to produce photographic film, importing silver from the West to the Rochester factory and then sending it back, to feed the emerging Hollywood industry, the silver screen.

Since 2010, Lauren Bon and the Optics Division of Metabolic Studio have returned to the sources of silver and water. The Optics Division is interested in making analog photography from scratch. It was formed to assist Lauren Bon in her endeavor to make a single image of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Factory on the shores of the Owens Dry Lake Bed, using developers scavenged from the landscape. Silver has been mined from the historic Cerro Gordo mine in the Inyo Mountains just above the dry lakebed. From the desiccated Owens Valley, to Rochester where the silver was turned into photographic material, to Manhattan and Washington DC, we trace the movement of silver and water through pipelines and bank accounts.

The Optics Division has built tools to explore photographic image making. The "Liminal Camera" is built from an empty shipping container. It can be transported on a truck, barge, or train. "Silo Camera" is made out of the ninety-foot by thirty-foot industrial silo, which is both the team's subject and its camera/object.

Through the eye of the "Liminal Camera," we record, in silver, these sites of silver. We scavenge a landscape of ruin to source the photographic materials of our future.

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Artbound

Artbound Special Episode 'AgH2O'

Artbound kicked off their third season with a one-hour special looking at artist Lauren Bon and the Metabolic Studio's "AgH2O" project.

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Artbound

100 Mules Walking: The End of the Road

Lauren Bon and the Metabolic Studio team finished their 240 miles journey at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center.

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Artbound

Riding Along the Aqueduct with '100 Mules'

Chris Langley rides with Lauren Bon and the Metabolic Studios' "100 Mules Walking the Aqueduct" through the scenic Alabama Hills to Lone Pine in the Owens Valley

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Artbound

PHOTOS: 100 Mules Moving Through the Sierra Mountains

On Friday, Oct. 18, 100 mules began a 27-day journey that will take them 240 miles from the heart of the Owens Valley to Los Angeles.

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Artbound

Water, Pipeline, and 100 Mules

Lauren Bon and the Metabolic Studio will perform "One Hundred Mules Walking the Los Angeles Aqueduct," a commemorative artist action to connect Los Angeles to its water supply.

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Artbound

One Hundred Mules: Tracing L.A. Aqueduct with Lauren Bon

Lone Pine film historian Christopher Langley discusses working with Lauren Bon and the Metabolic Studio on the project AgH20.

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Artbound

De-silvering the Mirror: Mining for Film in the Owens Valley

Owens valley role in cinematic history

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Artbound

Liminal Elements: A Shipping Container Becomes a Camera Obscura

The "Liminal Camera," housed in a traveling shipping container, is both a one-of-a-kind camera and serves as its own photo processing center and storage facility.

LADWP rehydration projects | Photo: Lauren Bon, AgH2O exhibition catalogue.

Article

Artbound

AgH2O: Silver, Water, and Pinhole Camera in a Silo

Lauren Bon's "Liminal Camera," comprised of a repurposed shipping container mounted on the back of a truck, captures the dessicated Owens Lake in large-scale photographs.

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L.A.’s Olympic Aspirations

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AgH2O