Supper for Robert Heinecken

Neusüss exposed the paper to light twice—once at the beginning of the meal for just five seconds and once at the end of the evening again for five seconds. In between, the room was illuminated only by the darkroom safelight. This double exposure recorded how the objects on the table shifted over the course of the meal. Thus, the passage of time becomes encapsulated in the photogram, which, in addition to being a work of art in and of itself, documents the supper as a performative act. The traces of the event left on the photogram are messy and chaotic. Careful looking reveals a corkscrew, eggs, the jagged edge of a torn baguette, grapes, and squiggly pasta. Glasses leave rings; spilled wine pools around at least one glass. Guests’ bodies are present in the form of silhouettes of hands. Like Neusüss, Heinecken was interested in pushing artistic boundaries through experimentation.

His artistic practice included creating photograms, playing with double exposures and using food as a subject. A dialogue between the two artists’ approaches to the photographic medium is created in this one ambitious image. Read Neusüss' and his partner Renate Heyne's description about the [who, what, where, when, and why](http://www.getty.edu/art/download/Dinner_for_Robert_Heinecken-5Ws.pdf) of this piece. Adapted from Virginia Heckert, based on comments made during an audio tour for *In Focus: Tasteful Pictures*., J. Paul Getty Museum, 2010.