From Polaroid to Impossible by Achim Heine

One of his Polaroids is more than 2.5m tall.

Ulay (born in Solingen, Germany, 1943) pioneered the use of the Polaroid as an art medium and is widely known for his unusual experiments, such as his ‘Polagrams’, the life-size Polaroids he created by literally ‘stepping into’ a large format camera. It will feature both his early and most recent works, some of which will be on loan from the Rabo Art Collection, our partner in this exhibition, documentary and publication. The camera is available online for 222 Euros.Ī special 66/6 Pinhole Instant Camera microsite is online at Nederlands Fotomuseum is proud to present the work of internationally renowned artist Frank Uwe Laysiepen, known as Ulay, in the first-ever exhibition dedicated solely to his Polaroids. It has a rubber bellows which expands to five positions and it comes with a Quickstart manual and a hand printed certificate of authenticity. The camera has two pinhole sizes – 0.12mm and 0.24mm, and uses Impossible Square Format instant film (600 & Sx70 Type). These two landmarks in instant photography history have led to naming of the new camera “The 66/6”. Florian Kaps and his team took a chance in saving the last Polaroid production plant in Enschede, Netherlands, which marked the beginning of The Impossible Project lab. That first instant camera started a global movement which almost died away when Polaroid’s last film factory closed six years ago, in 2008. On Novem(66 years ago), the Polaroid Model 95 was sold in Boston in the US for the first time. The name of the new camera comes from a combination of two historic moments in the development of instant film photography. Limited to 500 handcrafted pieces, this concept camera comes with a numbered and hand-printed certificate of authenticity as well as an Edwin Land silk screen print. The 66/6 is based upon the FPU (Film Processing Unit) of Impossible’s instant lab with an expendable rubber bellows on top and two pinhole sizes to choose from. The design has been developed by Florian Kaps, founder of the Impossible Project, and Achim Heine, known for his design work for Leica and Vitra. Six years ago after Polaroid closed its last film factory, Supersense decided to use its white frame instant film format, produced by the Impossible Project.

The hand-built cameras have been dedicated to Edwin Land, credited as the originator of the Polaroid instant camera 66 years ago. The 66/6 pinhole instant camera has been developed as a limited-run product in conjunction with The Impossible Project and Supersense, the company that revived Polaroid instant camera film and is supplying square-format film for the new camera.

The new Supersense 66/6 pinhole instant camera, which has five focal length settings and uses instant film, has been limited to a run of 500 units.

From Polaroid to Impossible by Achim Heine