To Diasec or not to Diasec…

 

General Photography

… that is the question. Or actually, it seems that to an increasing extent, it isn’t the question any longer. At the Getty portrait show that was part of the New York Photo Festival, most of the photos were presented under Diasec (for those not in the know: Diasec is basically plexiglass - a layer of plexiglass is glued on top of a photo. Or in the lingo, the photo is “face mounted using silicone sealants” - suddenly, this sounds so much cooler, doesn’t it?). The only problem with this was that for half the photos this simply did not work. Diasec quite noticeably changes the way the photo is perceived - things get very shiny - and for many photos the glossiness destroys their quiet impact. And an added complication of Diasec is that you need to make sure the show is well lit, because otherwise, the Diasec will turn the art work into mirrors (as it unfortunately did for some of the Getty show photos). So just like in the case of big prints, while Diasec seems to be all the rage, to Diasec or not to Diasec is actually not such a simple question.