About
About Pierre Banwarth
I am a musician, having explored traditional Irish music and various experimental approaches for many years. Music is the thread running through my projects - artistic, technical, and experimental. I have a passion for understanding how things work, repurposing objects, building tools, and inventing new ways of making. I developed an open-source MIDI concertina project, a meeting point between traditional instrument and digital creation. Today, I also explore photography with a Game Boy Camera. Another way to capture moments, to play with technical constraints, and to look differently at what surrounds me, especially in concert settings. From music to electronics, from code to image, I pursue the same approach: experiment, make, and find new ways to give form to what I am passionate about.
Photography with Game Boy Camera
The Game Boy Camera, released in 1998, is a digital camera designed for the Nintendo Game Boy. As a tool, it is constrained: limited resolution, monochrome palette, small screen. Yet these constraints are creative possibilities.
I use this camera to photograph concerts, dancers, musicians, and moments of performance. The resulting images are not exercises in nostalgia. They are photographs, made within the technical language of the Game Boy Camera, exploring composition, contrast, and the relationship between figure and ground.
These images carry the same visual research as contemporary photography: How do we frame? How do we work with light and shadow? What does a constrained medium tell us about the act of seeing?
Two Approaches
Live Videos
Videos and still images from concert performances and live events. These photographs capture moments of music, dance, and performance, all taken with the Game Boy Camera. The images explore how a digital screen can convey movement, expression, and presence.
Cyanotypes
A series of cyanotype prints by Thierry Chabanis, exploring the transformation of my original Game Boy Camera photographs into physical works.
The cyanotype process emphasizes tonality, contrast, and the materiality of paper. Each print is unique, shaped by the characteristics of the paper, the chemistry involved, and the hand of the printer.
Collaboration
Thierry Chabanis
Our cyanotype series brings together different artistic contributions: I make the original Game Boy Camera photographs; Thierry creates and interprets the cyanotype prints, working with chemistry, paper, light, and time.
This is not a hierarchical relationship. Both the photograph and the print are essential to the final work. The printer brings their own knowledge and decisions to each print, making each one an individual object.
Get in Touch
Get in touch for collaborations, commissions, exhibitions, or any inquiries about the work.
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@pierre_banwarth