Industrial Resonances

When we look at an image, we grasp what is essential. As Rudolf Arnheim noted, “visual perception does not operate with the mechanical fidelity of a camera, which records everything impartially.” We do not observe every detail; instead, we retain a general scheme built from dominant features. These few structural elements are enough for an object to appear to us as a coherent whole. Arnheim also pointed out that memory influences perception: traces of familiar forms act as references, so what we see is not limited to the present moment but connects with countless prior experiences. In this way, different images with similar forms or structures can be perceived as related entities.

In photography, this phenomenon becomes more pronounced. Students, amateurs, and professionals, shaped by the history of the medium, consciously or unconsciously produce images that revisit established patterns, generating almost endless variations of existing representations.

The project Industrial Resonances explores this field by reinterpreting 28 classic photographs through the transformation of certain elements and the use of retouching and artificial intelligence. In doing so, it examines to what extent formal similarities trigger inevitable associations with shared references from the history of photography. The persistence of certain essential components, reproduced time and again, underpins the idea of a visual memory built over time through echoes and variations.

A similar process occurs in publishing: specific photobook typologies—understood as a set of characteristics that include format, layout, narrative, design, and materials—recur with striking frequency, functioning as recognizable formulas that also form part of our collective visual memory. For this reason, Industrial Resonances is not a single book but a constellation of six volumes. Each one corresponds to one of these typologies, becoming an editorial echo that reflects, in its very structure, the same logic of resonance that runs through the images.

*Winner of the PremIA (Dominican Republic)

Rojo Sache

Rojo Sache is the artistic duo formed by Rosa Isabel Vázquez and Jose Antonio Fernández.

Both are visual artists, educators, and directors of the school La Máquina. They are also the authors of the photobook D-AI and of widely recognized educational books such as El proyecto fotográfico personal, Sin miedo al flash, Sin miedo al retrato, and Sin miedo a la fotografía.

As creators, they have developed an extensive body of work and have participated in festivals such as PhotoEspaña, Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles (France), Belfast Photo Festival (United Kingdom), Singapore International Photography Festival (Singapore), Encontros da Imagem (Braga, Portugal), Padova PhotograPhia (Padua, Italy), and Outono Fotográfico (Galicia, Spain), among many others.

Their work has received awards in numerous international competitions, including the Art Laguna Prize (Italy) and the Belfast Photo Festival (United Kingdom). Among their national recognitions are 13 Spanish National Professional Photography Awards (Premios Lux).