The trays are high security prison trays for food. The food was placed on them to recreate the wishes that some inmates on death row had before they were executed.

Brilliant typological work that says a lot about the people who ordered the food.

To see more of James Reynolds' work, check out his website here.

Thanks to 'How to be a Retronaut'

The justification was that I can get some practise in digital printing and would thus not be overwhelmed when it comes down to the printing of my final work at the end of the spring term.

I went into HSL in Düsseldorf with my multi-layer tif files and put in the order and also requested some help to determine whether I have come to a respectable results as far as tones go. The man there helped me for over an hour to get the pictures just as I wanted them to then take them off me and put them into print.

Two days later I came back with frames I bought at Habitat (Aluminium ones - great!) I was very excited to see the printed results (after digesting the realisation that I had just spent in access of £500 for three 50 x 60 cm prints including everything)

The pictures came out better than I had even hoped and I started framing them in the room they provided me with.

This is the result:

Obviously, as I was leaving with 1 LARGE carrier bag with the frames wrapped in bubble wrap, it started to snow. I rushed to the train station so that no humidity would get between print and glass front. It thankfully didn't. My dad did manage to dampen the situation slightly though by edging one of the frames, so that it developed a crack on the glass front. Apart from that a HUGE success that made my much more comfortable in my processes.

...

Their fate is now to serve their owners during the brief summer months while sitting unadmired in the garden for the rest of the year until the first sun rays emerge in the spring.

I'm planning on documenting their journey through the cold months further in the upcoming weeks with an update on what has become of them in the autumn (on medium format colour transparencies) and possibly how they'll cope with the first frost and potentially snow.

–noun
1. a house, apartment, or other shelter that is the usual residence of a person, family, or household.
2. the place in which one's domestic affections are centered.
3. an institution for the homeless, sick, etc.: a nursing home.
4. the dwelling place or retreat of an animal.
5. the place or region where something is native or most common.
6. any place of residence or refuge: a heavenly home.
7. a person's native place or own country.
8. (in games) the destination or goal.
9. a principal base of operations or activities: The new stadium will be the home of the local football team.
10. Baseball . home plate.
11. Lacrosse . one of three attack positions nearest the opposing goal.

[Source: dictionary.com]

Thankfully, I was put in touch with Mr Jens Michaels (Stadt Velbert) who seemed friendly enough at first and turned out to be an absolute star. Not only did I get access to the property, I was also let into areas that are normally hidden to people that visit this building (ie. the roof of the building)

The history of the building alone is an interesting one: When Langenberg was still independent, it was the city with the most millionaires in the region. With a population of only 5.000 people - the richest family, Colsmann, decided to give back and built this enormous building which was meant to go as a gift to the city for the people. Construction finished in the early 1900s and the building was consequently used as a theatre, cinema and leisure centre. The burden of the huge structure to the city is so interesting. There is no way, the city can heat, maintain and run a building of this magnitude. Yet, it hasn't fallen in the hands of private investors and remains one of the cultural cornerstones of Langenberg, hence to my life.

More information of the building (in German) you'll find HERE

The following pictures have been taken with my iPhone - hence don't portrait the aesthetics that I would normally try to achieve.

5x4 Large Format Pictures are currently being processed.

The following spread gives insight into surroundings of the building within Zeche Zollverein, the facade, interiors and selected photographs of the above mentioned exhibition.

Sadly, I have not been granted permission to take pictures within the building other than with my iPhone camera (which is fair enough really, seeing that Candida Höfer recently already has)

What's most interesting to me, is the fact that Candida Höfer took photos of the building and its interiors to exhibit within the SANAA Gebäude While it sounds like something that is hard to pull off, she really managed to make it work.

Im Herbst 2006 reichte VOLKER BANDELOW aus Bochum bei der RUHR 2010 GMBH sein KONZEPT für SchachtZeichen ein.

Seine Idee:

Mit weithin sichtbaren Zeichen soll auf die Bergwerke verwiesen werden, die die Montanregion Ruhrgebiet prägten und an denen der Strukturwandel heute so deutlich erfahrbar wird.

Denn der Grund und der Fluchtpunkt für Zuwanderung, Siedlungen und Schienen, Straßen und Kanäle waren die Bergwerke.

Sie bildeten die Wurzeln des ökonomischen Aufschwungs - hier wurde das 'Grubengold' ans Tageslicht geholt.

Mit ihrer Lage strukturierte sie den urbanen Raum und beeinflussten über viele Jahrzehnte das Sozialgefüge.

Heute kann man auf diesen alten Bergbauflächen - wenn man weiß, wo sie sind - den Wandel der Montanregion sinnlich erfahren. Man sieht Parks und Parkplätze, Einkaufszentren und Fabriken, Wohnsiedlungen und Schrottplätze, Museen und Theater, Gewerbeflächen und Freizeitstätten, Bürohäuser und wilde Wälder - und steht doch auf altem Zechengrund.

Indem SchachtZeichen die verschwundenen Bergwerke markiert, werden nicht nur Stadtentwicklung und Stadtstruktur lesbar. Erinnerungen werden geweckt und damit vielfältige Anlässe für Kommunikationsprozesse geschaffen.
Der Idee zugrunde liegt eine umfassendere Intention, die neben künstlerischen und kommunikativen Aspekten auch auf Veränderungen bei der kollektiven Wahrnehmung von (Stadt)Räumen und geschichtlichen Zeiträumen zielt. Sie verbindet die Bergbaukommunen des Ruhrgebiets mit ihren gleichermaßen wirksamen Traditionen, Erfahrungen und Potentialen. Und damit wirkt sie weit über 2010 hinaus.
Als Raumzeichen wurde ein großer, gelber Ballon ausgewählt, unter dem ein langer 'Schweif' auf den Ort des alten Schachtes weisen wird.

[Source]