Ira Cohen: Into The Mylar Chamber

 

Ira Cohen was an American creative, known for being a revolutionary poet, photographer and publisher. Born in February 1935, into a family of deaf and mute parents, instead of developing communication through speech, Cohen learnt to spell with his fingers in order to develop a visual approach of communication. While attending Columbia University Cohen became infatuated with the avant-garde scene of New York City, in particular the jazz scene in the Lower East Side. Cohen began his career within the arts in 1961 when he travelled to Morocco with famous authors from the ‘beat’ generation including William S Burroughs, Paul Bowles and Brion Gysin to develop a literary magazine. This magazine was a collaborative piece named Gnaoua, published in 1964, the magazine primarily focused on the Beat scene in Tangier, Morocco.

After returning to New York City in 1966 with new ideas and inspiration, Cohen under The Nom de Plume Pana Rose published The Hashish Cookbook, initiating a heavy involvement of drugs and hallucinogens in his future work. The Lower East Side of New York had an emerging loft scene due to the cheap price and large space saw artists, musicians, writers and actors come together to create and explore their abilities in a safe space. Loft spaces soon became part of the budding underground scene which became popularised by Andy Warhol within the rise of freedom in the 1960’s. Cohen had a flare for natural art, he swayed away from commercial stylings which in turn led him to developing the Mylar Chambers. In the mid 1960’s Gerard Malanga, a friend of Cohen took him to Andy Warhol’s studio factory in New York City, in which the walls had been covered in reflective galvanised Mylar- a layer of polyester film or plastic sheeting. 

The Mylar Chamber was built by Cohen in 1968 located within his own loft studio on Jefferson Street, New York created in support of fellow artist and designer Robert Lavigne. Wooden boards were hung together around the room arrayed in reflective sheets of Mylar film, the ceilings and walls were painted black to enhance the euphoric reflections of the simplistic room using the polyester film. Using the effects of sunlight, daylight and candlelight in order to experiment with light to study the way light travels in the chamber. Infrared lenses and black light illumination were also trialled inside the space to experience a new perception of photography through the lens and bending light against the Mylar. Cohen was an inspiring individual, he often produced artwork for his own pleasure and interests, he used his art to experiment often through the infrared lens of hallucinogenic exploration. The Mylar Chamber was known to be a unique experimental ritual space where any guest or artist can go to “play with another self”, this created an innovative unique style of traditional portraiture in photography. Instead of focusing on the subject of the photograph, he shot images of the distorted reflections of the figures on the introspective walls and ceiling which enhanced the euphoric flowing nature of the images. Cohen was director, performer, costume designer, set designer and photographer within the chamber meaning each detail within his photographs came from his distinctive mind.

The experimental use of this practice meant each frame captured was completely different from the last, from the bouncing reflections of molten faces and swirling extremities cast on the Mylar film. The images were produced from capturing the reflection of the model within the encapsulating sheets of Mylar around the room, which created a whirling reflection into the camera lens. Although the sheets were straight sheets of plastic they would never stay still, at first Cohen struggled with the disruptions of the rippling plastic, a slight shift in position would cause the whole image to completely change. Light would reflect off the sheets of Mylar around the key focus points of the subject boldly striking each area meaning a singular disruption could ruin the photograph.

Cohen realised in order to work with Mylar he will have to morph his techniques around the polyester sheeting in order to create a unique transient feel. The surface of Mylar is continuously shifting and moving around producing whimsical reflections of iridescent movement that Ira Cohen captured in a series of images. The photographs that resulted from the Mylar Chamber were distinctive in the fact nobody before had used a technique similar, Cohen made each photograph a reflection of the same distorted photograph essentially capturing an image of an image. 

Traditionally Mylar is known as Biaxially-orientated polyethylene terephthalate produced in 1950 used for packaging, magnetic recording tape and products from NASA including the spacesuits. The reflection produced by Mylar is unique to this material the liquidity of colour swirling from the background into the foreground. This reflective quality distorts the whole image taken through a camera lens, the light bouncing from altering directions.

Cohen’s camerawork rose to fame during his time creating film within the Mylar Chamber from 1968 to 1971, making a name for himself and his enigmatic chamber around the globe. 

Culture in New York City the late 1960’s leading into the 1970’s had a unique stance on societal values as there was a surge in drug taking within the city. Hallucinogens altered the culture of the 1960’s, the aura and euphoric nature of LSD became popularised with hundreds of thousands of people trying the drug. LSD also known as Lysergic acid diethylamide was particularly favoured by artists, musicians and philosophers as it was a new experience for the mind which they often believed to have enhanced their creativity. The psychedelia movement developed into a psychedelic subculture incorporating the euphoric experience into 1960’s culture. The original meaning of the word Psychedelic is to awaken the mind from the Latin word ‘psyche’, meaning mind and the Greek word ‘delos’ meaning to manifest or awaken. Psychedelics majorly influenced western culture within the 1960’s genres of music, artwork, poetry and films have all been influenced by these mind-altering properties. 

Popularity surrounding the uprise of Cohen’s work brought famous faces to the Mylar Chamber to experience the theatre of the space including the likes of Jimi Hendrix, the rock group Spirit, actress Petra Vogt and close personal friend of Cohen and esteemed generational writer William S. Burroughs. Ritualistic experience was a major factor Cohen incorporated into his theatrical chamber; the space was known as an experimental ritual space where individuals had the option to dress up in extravagant costumes to explore and create a dreamlike state within a scene.

Ira Cohen produced a multitude of extraordinary trance-like images during the span of time creating within the Mylar Chamber. The characters produced within the chamber hold a resemblance to the artist's mind through the connection of his theatre and comic book influence which inspired the whole theme of the Mylar Chamber. Mylar had rarely been used in artistic photography before which challenged Cohen to directly study the reflections and possibilities the film could produce within a photograph to create a metamorphic image. The Mylar images were produced as part of the counterculture of the 60's directly linked to Cohen’s own comprehension and experience with film and theatre, enhanced by the takeover of the psychedelic subculture of the 1960’s and the extensive use of hallucinogenic drugs. We can shift from the audiences view of the images to the artist’s mind as the images produced from the Mylar Chamber are exceedingly irreplaceable.