Rodrigo Alcocer de Garay lives in Leipzig. He works with image archives, engages with analogue and digital image cultures and explores the medium of photography using specially developed techniques. De Garay studied architecture and photography in Mexico and Germany. In 2024, he completed a master class at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig.
His work Downtime ist on view in the exhibition Something Between Us. It consists of screenshots of camming platforms that are freely accessible on the internet. Here, sex workers appear in front of a running camera to perform live sex acts. By making a payment, viewers can interact with the cam models online. Rodrigo Alcocer de Garay’s images are captured at moments when the camming rooms are unoccupied. Using a technique he developed himself, he transfers them from the screen to analogue slides. This method is based on contact exposure, which is used in analogue photography. The direct physical contact between the image source and the image carrier sharply contrasts with the virtual interaction between users on camming platforms. On the one hand, the artist challenges the relationship between photography and reality. On the other, he draws attention to the platform economy’s exploitation of human desire through image-based technologies.
The event is a collaboration with Initiative Fotostadt Leipzig
The Initiative Fotostadt Leipzig is an alliance of Leipzig-based cultural institutions and other cultural practitioners. Its goal is to intensify the discourse on Photography in/from Leipzig through joint activities, aiming to make both the tradition and the contemporary presence of the medium more visible within and beyond the city. Current members include: Sandra Schubert/Photography at Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts (HGB), Christin Müller/independent curator and author specializing in photography, Museum of Fine Arts (MdbK), f/stop|D21 Art Space, Cihan Çakmak/independent artist, GfZK – Museum of Contemporary Art.