PATTERSON, Christian - Fond du Lac / Bottom of the lake

As signed copy!

Background information

'Bottom of the Lake / Fond du Lac' by US-photographer Christian PATTERSON a 256-page facsimile of the artist's family's telephone book for his hometown of Fond du Lac, printed in 1973, soon after his birth. The book includes found markings and reproductions of inserted materials, along with Patterson's own drawings, photographs and marginalia. Bottom of the Lake is a book within a book that carefully combines the original, found, fact-based phone book with the artist's highly subjective re-imagination of his hometown; it playfully juxtaposes different documentary forms and ways of seeing to create a deeply personal, darkly humorous "other" book. In addition, the experience of the book is extended beyond its pages by an interactive feature - a telephone number attached to the book that connects users with over 100 experiences mixing field audio recordings, found archival audio and performances that re-imagine and re-create the artist's hometown. With 'Bottom of the Lake', Patterson revisits his hometown of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin (French for “Bottom of the Lake”) and weaves together visual threads related to his personal history and the town’s history, geography, climate and culture. The book has been 1st published by TBW Books" - and now re-published as a 'trade edition'

Content

The work revolves around the 1973 Fond du Lac Telephone Directory, published shortly after the artist's birth. Patterson revisited and photographed places listed in the book and eventually placed his images inside his reproduction of the directory. In addition, he has reactivated the directory with an interactive object, the Fond du Lac Telephone. It rings and calls you, and it also dials, so you can call Fond du Lac. It is accompanied by a list of people and places that can be called by dialing the phone. There are over 150 experiences contained within it, including field audio recordings, archival audio, and scripted and improvised performances by Patterson and a cast of friends, fellow artists and actors. The telephone directory is an exhaustive, factual document of a specific place and time, while Patterson's work is a selective, subjective document of the same place in an undefined, other time. He also considers the telephone a photographic object – in the eyes and ears of others, an 'other' Fond du Lac is imagined and created, through images of their own mental making, called forth by the sounds they hear. By combining and mixing different documentary forms and image types, his work challenges and questions the very nature of photography, truth, memory and representation. (© Koenig, 2015)

Additional information

The photo volume 'Bottom of the Lake' by Christian PATTERSON was shortlisted for the Aperture Foundation 'Book of the Year Award' at Paris Photo 2015. It has been 1st printed as hard cover by TBW in 2013.

About US-photographer, Christian PATTERSON (b. 1972)

Photo books by Christian PATTERSON