Methodology
Introduction¶
Alongside the open-sourcing of the apparatus, these collaborative Conversations position Splicer not simply as a photographic device, but as a shared and situated platform for image-making, reflection, and critique. They open space for rethinking authorship, attention, and the material conditions under which images are made. This practice emerges from sustained reflection on Splicer's own situatedness within the visual regime it interrogates.
Although I am the builder of Splicer, and have inevitably shaped its form and function, I aim to resist embodying the figure of the autonomous artist-photographer. Rather than using the apparatus to author images in isolation, I approach it through a conversational format: an open-ended dialogue between sample, guest, machine, and myself as operator. For each session, I invite artists and specialists from various disciplines to collaborate with Splicer, bringing with them materials, questions, and perspectives from their own fields of practice. In this context, I deliberately shift my role to that of an enabler: technically engaged with the apparatus, yet intentionally uninformed about the personal or symbolic significance of the samples. Meaning is not imposed but discovered through the unfolding of the collaborative process. These encounters are structured not by fixed protocols, but by an evolving methodology that adapts to each guest and situation.
Methodology¶
At the heart of each Conversation lies the act of image-making with Splicer. The guest brings one or more physical samples: objects that carry personal, symbolic, or disciplinary resonance: see sample requirements here. These become the material starting point for a shared photographic process. Together, we engage with Splicer as both tool and partner: I operate the apparatus and offer technical guidance, while the guest makes aesthetic and conceptual decisions about how their samples are sampled, composed, and transformed. The process is slow and exploratory: the image making process with Splicer requires at least a full day of engagement, ideally longer if time and context allow.
Throughout the work with Splicer, an ongoing discussion unfolds, about the sample and its implications, about disciplinary perspectives, about Splicer itself, and about photography and photographs more broadly. The Conversation format involves a unique and shared decision-making process: together, the guest and I as operator must determine a sampling strategy and program the movement path using the Splicer Animator Script. While the interface is relatively intuitive, this moment demands a high level of concentration, as we choreograph the movements across the axes of the machine. Once the movement sequence is decided, the motion code is exported and executed, and Splicer begins the sampling. This acquisition typically takes between 5 and 10 minutes, depending on the length of the image.
This waiting period (what might be called a productive downtime) creates a space for reflection and discourse. Freed from the interface, we return to the sample, to speculation, to association. The anticipation of a potentially powerful or revealing image emerging from the machine becomes a catalyst for discussions. When the image is finally revealed, it can either deepen the dialogue or prompt a return to focus: a renewed attempt to adjust the movement, shift the perspective, or better attune the imaging to the character of the sample.
The iterative rhythm of programming, sampling, waiting, responding is fundamental to the experience of working with Splicer. It creates a heightened sense of presence and engagement, which often leads the discussions to develop quickly and with surprising intensity.
Once the image begins to reach a state where it resonates, where it reveals, obscures, or reframes qualities of the sample in a meaningful way, a more focused conversation between guest and operator takes place. The timing of this exchange remains flexible. It is not a formal interview but a discursive fragment captured at an intense moment in the process. These conversations typically last between 20 and 30 minutes. The conversations are recorded and transcribed and analysed according to the theretical framework of Splicer. Due to the particaptory approach, the lines between Splicer, the guest's and my own positions may be blurred in these conversations. Together with the resulting visual output and field notes, they serve as material for a reflective summary of the conversation format.
The initial methodology structured each collaboration into three phases: an introductory interview, a day of working with Splicer, and a follow-up debriefing approximately one week later. While this structure created a clear temporal framework, it tended to direct the initial conversations toward general or basic discussions about photography. More importantly, the most insightful and situated reflections emerged organically during the collaborative work itself. These moments were not adequately captured or valued within the original format. As a result, the interview component has been repositioned to take place during the collaborative session, allowing discourse to emerge directly from the shared engagement with the machine, the material, and the process.
Results¶
The primary outcome of each conversation is one or more images created with Splicer, accompanied by a summary of the process and the discussions held during image production. Each image, and the discussion surrounding it, becomes part of an unfolding archive of shared visual thinking: an experimental record of what it means to make images together, with and through a consciously open apparatus.