CARBON : a camera-less photographic process (Residence at the SETI Institute)

The Mission of The SETI Institute’s Artist in Residence Program is to encourage cross disciplinary artistic expression in order to explore and illuminate the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe.

This program seeks to foster a cross pollination of ideas between artists and scientists, where these disciplines may influence each other through personal interaction and the shared adoption of new technologies.



The SETI Institute’s first Artist in Residence is Charles Lindsay. In the last decade he has blended photography, video and sound art in an installation project he calls CARBON. Lindsay received a 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship to further develop this work.
At the heart of CARBON is a camera-less photographic process Lindsay invented. The process begins with a unique carbon-based emulsion on a transparent base, which he then freezes, electrifies and manipulates. The resulting negatives are scanned, digitally layered and printed in large scale or animated for video projection. "CARBON combines my interest in the aesthetics of space exploration, scientific imaging and the evolution of symbols." Lindsay's CARBON installations offer an immersive alternate world, where all the senses are engaged to consider fundamental questions about our place in the universe.
Adding another dimension to the installations, Lindsay creates sculptures from re-purposed scientific devices, introducing motion and touch sensors, audio response circuitry, small video screens and custom led lights. His works include focused soundscapes created by processing a number of sources, including archival recordings from NASA's space research experiments along with audio he records in remote environments.