Museum night 2023 in Latvian Museum of Photography

On Saturday, May 13, in the context of the “Creation” theme of Museum Night 2023, the Latvian Museum of Photography offers visitors to view the installation “Entropy. ΔS”, as well as visit the historical exhibition “The history of Latvian photography. 1839-1941”

Learning about the subject nature of photography’s heritage, the installation “Entropy. ΔS” will pay attention to the materiality of analogue photography, or the damage of the emulsion layer of glass photo sheets, which opens up a new aesthetic point of view.

What is a glass plate negative? A glass plate negative is a negative photograph (the light and dark tones are the opposite of the original subject) on a glass plate base coated with a light-sensitive emulsion layer.

What is negative emulsion damage to glass plate? The emulsion is made of various chemical materials, therefore it is very sensitive to the influence of the surrounding environment, and over time, migration of silver particles occurs in the emulsion layer, or damage occurs – yellowing of the image, cracking of the emulsion, etc.

What is entropy? Entropy is a measure of “disorder” in a multi-element system. It takes its name from a Greek word meaning “transformation”.

The aesthetics created by the principle of entropy in the negative emulsion of the glass plate will be perfectly presented by LG OLED TVs, which provide an exceptionally clear image. “We are really pleased to support the Latvian Museum of Photography so that visitors to this year’s Night of Museums can experience excellent image quality, perfect black color and tonal spectrum through the latest generation of LG OLED televisions, which will be able to vividly reflect the idea of improvised installation “Entropy. ΔS”, says Zinta Slesarčuka, marketing manager of LG Electronics in the Baltics.

For the installation “Entropy. ΔS” digitized glass plate negatives from the collection of the Latvian Museum of Photography “Strenču photo workshop glass plate collection” (1910s – 1950s) were used. The photographers of the photo workshop – Dāvis Spunde, Jānis Ziemieknieks, Paulīne Kraukle and Konrāds Krauklis – documented significant cultural and historical changes and portrayed the society in Strenči and its surroundings from 1909 to the 1950s. In 2004, a vast collection of 13,000 glasses was included in the collection of the Latvian Museum of Photography, and in 2021, the collection was added to the Latvian national register of the UNESCO program “Memory of the World”. The Latvian Museum of Photography continues the digitization of the collection, which significantly contributes to the research and accessibility of the Strenču Photo Workshop.

The museum’s permanent exhibition “History of Latvian photography”. 1839-1941″ presents the history of the development of photography in Latvia. The exposition was opened on May 18, 1993 and this year celebrates its thirtieth anniversary. In the exposition, it is possible to take photos on the historical backdrops of the photo salon from the 20th century.

The European Night of Museums is an international museum event that takes place every spring in many European countries since 2005. The “Night of Museums” campaign in Latvia is organized by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia in cooperation with the Latvian National Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM).

Installation “Entropy. ΔS” was created in cooperation with LG ELECTRONICS

Museum night visit to the Latvian Museum of Photography from 19.00 to 00.00 is free.

Photo: Strenču Photo workshop collection. Double portrait. Wedding day. 1930-1940s, glass plate negative (fragment), LFM