View from skyscraper--New York City no number 1958

Curator: At first glance, this is like peeking into someone’s memory reel. There’s a ghostly quality, wouldn’t you say? Editor: We're looking at "View from skyscraper--New York City no number", a 1958 piece by Robert Frank, captured on film. The format here is really interesting: what we’re presented with is the contact sheet itself. Curator: Exactly! It's so raw, you know? Like the artist just peeled it right off the development tray and said, "Here you go, world!" You can practically smell the darkroom chemicals. Tell me more about why this is so special compositionally... Editor: Frank breaks down the illusionistic picture plane by presenting the frame’s edge and the film edge. Each frame acts like a little window but they are sewn together. And so we’re left questioning the singular vision implied by photography. It's anti-monumental! Curator: Anti-monumental—I love that! It's like he’s not trying to give us this perfectly polished image of New York, but instead offering up these fragmented glimpses. Like tiny poems! Does each image talk to one another? Or do they stand alone? Editor: That’s the crux of it, isn’t it? Semiotically, each frame presents an image: a window, a reflection... but without specific selection or context, each photograph reverts to being just a material element in the greater composition. Curator: This makes me wonder about Frank's process. I imagine him wandering around the city, feeling rather than photographing. Each exposure has this intimate, slightly melancholic, quality about it. Editor: He was, without a doubt, an outsider looking in. That feeling resonates strongly here. This work isn’t just documenting the world; it’s about revealing the process of seeing. He leaves breadcrumbs. Curator: He certainly does, and for me that means he leaves clues on how to actually *feel* the city. New York is more than the sum of its iconic views! Thank you so much! Editor: And thank you. The conversation has truly allowed me to consider it as something new.