Lucas Leffler

The sculptural works in the ‘Implosion’ series are each made up of 140 used ‘first generation’ iPhones. They explore the year 2007, marked by two major events: the destruction of the Kodak factories in Rochester, New York, and the launch of the first iPhone by Apple, which revolutionised digital photography. Each work in this series is unique. On each of the 140 iPhone screens, part of a still image, taken from a video of the collapse of the Kodak factory at the time, is printed. To reveal these image fragments, Lucas Leffler applies a photosensitive wet collodion emulsion to each screen, an old process requiring around forty hours of exposure in a darkroom for all the iPhones. In doing so, he symbolises a form of revenge for Kodak on Apple, by transforming the iPhone, the emblematic device of the digital age, into a simple inert medium. This gesture reveals a traumatic image for the film industry, marking the contrast between Kodak's decline and Apple's rise to power in the field of photography.