Anthony Lee

Simon Starling: the Nanjing Particles Anthony Lee

2005 Turner Prize winner Simon Starling is known for his investigations into the hidden lives of objects and images, and his catalogues are an integral part of his production. The Nanjing Particles, published for an exhibition at MASS MoCA, is a unique object that takes as its departure a historical stereograph of Chinese laborers brought to Massachusetts in 1870 to break a strike. Starling literally mined the photographs for their history, extracting from their emulsion two silver particles. Enlarged one million times, the microscopic grains were translated into stainless steel sculptures fabricated by workers in Nanjing. Taking viewers through the installation and the work's fabrication process, the book reiterates the visual and conceptual play of the exhibition. The cover, which features die-cut peepholes, mimics the form of a structure in the exhibition. Readers can use the book itself as a low-tech stereoscope to view the photographs--printed on the inside covers--as a single three-dimensional image.