Christina Scheublein is delighted to curate the first NFT drop of Dan Holdsworth with works from his acclaimed series “Continuous Topography” and latest “Acceleration Structures” series, launching mid September, 2022 on elementum.art. The drop consists of 2 unique NFTs and 1 animated NFT in an edition of 20. For almost twenty years, British photographer Dan Holdsworth has been blending art, science, and nature to produce photographs which challenge our perceptions and reinvent the notion of landscape. He has been studying many glaciers around the world, notably in Iceland, the Alps and more recently post-glacial rock formations in the Jura. The artist works together with a geologist to gather millimeter-perfect data. The latest photogrammetric and geo-cartographic innovations make it possible for hundreds of photographs taken from a helicopter to be meticulously compiled and plotted using GPS coordinates.
"As every part of photographic production has been technological. Photographers and artists have necessarily adapted to these new technologies."
– Dan Holdsworth
For almost twenty years, British photographer Dan Holdsworth has been blending art, science, and nature to produce photographs which challenge our perceptions and reinvent the notion of landscape. He has been studying many glaciers around the world, notably in Iceland, the Alps and more recently post-glacial rock formations in the Jura. The artist works together with a geologist to gather millimeter-perfect data. The latest photogrammetric and geo-cartographic innovations make it possible for hundreds of photographs taken from a helicopter to be meticulously compiled and plotted using GPS coordinates.
The result is 3D imagery called “Continuous Topography” of a mountain in an unprecedented level of detail. However, despite being deeply informed by the uses and applications of the newest technologies, Holdsworth’s work refers openly to the history and tradition of landscape photography and mapping.
Through his use of digital mapping data, Holdsworth expands the photographic process to develop a new aesthetic language that explores the changing nature of human perception in relation to that of our evolving science and technologies, at the interface of the geological and the virtual.
an Holdsworth’s “Acceleration Structures” allows us to see Europe’s most sublime landscapes in radically new ways. He reveals the structures of three Alpine glaciers that artists have attempted to capture for centuries, namely Argentière, Bossons, and Bionnassay.
“Acceleration Structures” continues his project to reveal unseen parts of the world, through an innovative form of ‘cameraless photography’ called ‘photogrammetry’.
These three-dimensional wireframe models are created through a combination of intense fieldwork where the artist documents every square foot of a particular area; and through a pioneering use of high-end software that correlates the measurements of each patch of land between them. From these measurements, the artist can create a model of the site in virtual space.
Holdsworth asks how humans have shaped and will reshape the land with a forensic eye; and yet “Acceleration Structures” offers a kind of poetry of data that is completely unique to our time. This work is entirely of the twenty-first century; and yet remains rooted in the history of photographic explorations of our planet.
“Of course, digital artefacts stay the same forever. I like the fact that an NFT is part of an interactive archive of the artworks in which collectors can participate more actively."
– Dan Holdsworth
Blockchain technology enables secure transfers while clearly tracing the provenance and ownership. Regarding Holdswoth`s approach I see great potential making use of this highly innovative form of representation of a work of art.
Argentiere Glacier 03, Acceleration Structures series 2018-2022
Born in Welwyn Garden City, UK, in 1974, Dan Holdsworth studied photography at the London College of Printing in London. Exploring the intersection between art and science, Holdsworth has been working since 2010 in collaboration with the Northumbria University department of Geology. His work has been featured in international solo and group exhibitions worldwide, including the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris), Tate (London). His work is held in major international public and private collections including, The Denver Art Museum, Tate (London), Victoria and Albert Museum (London), Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris), Mumok (Vienna) and the Goetz Collection (Munich).