Review by Blake Andrews: How to Move a Mountain
Caleb Stein, How to Move a Mountain (Luhz Press, 2024)
This softcover collects b/w photographs from the famous marble quarries of Carrara, Italy, shot on assignment for Smithsonian. The book dovetails nicely with William Wylie’s eponymous photobook Carrara, which I reviewed here 8/7/23. Stein picks up roughly where Wylie’s slab studies left off, exploring the new technology of programmable machines lately employed to carve marble into pre-sculptural shapes. Since the regional history of handcarving goes back centuries, these newfangled robots present all sorts of artistic and ethical conundrums. What’s allowed? What counts as art or artisan? How exactly should one move that mountain? David Campany’s thoughtful essay pokes and prods at these tricky questions, comparing the art of automated sculpture to another familiar tool-centric creative enterprise: photography itself. Foundational rattling ensues.
Stein’s photos are well seen and made, and feel convincingly human in the context of robotic subject matter. A torso-in-progess by Filippo Tincolini repeats as a test case throughout the book. Stein photographs this along with machine parts, marble blocks, and robotic arm cutting rough striations. The most interesting photos for me are the formal abstractions which convert broken slabs and planes into ambiguous patterns. Eventually he shows Tincolini doing finish work by hand. No danger of robots replacing that delicate task—at least not yet. Interspersed with Stein’s photos are computer diagrams printed on thin tracing paper. These were the 3D drawings which served as machine algorithms. They make for an interesting literary structure, but honestly I’d rather look at Stein’s pictures.
This is the second book from Luhz, a new publisher based in LA (see my Feb 29th IG review of their first book The Meaning Of Gravity). It is modest-sized with excellent reproductions. Swiss binding allows the pages to lay flat, and small touches like the tracing pages and tipped in cover photos add an elegant edge. Curious to see what comes next from this fledgling publisher, who may yet move book mountains.
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