Photocopiers have long been associated with convenience. Originally invented as a cheap and fast way of reproducing legal documents, they later found an unlikely second life in punk zines and the DIY publishing scene, where their grainy textures and gritty, high-contrast imperfections became an aesthetic all of their own. Now, in an age of high-definition perfection, Hard Copy zine is inviting photographers to have their work reimagined through the photocopier, and bringing the medium into the gallery.

Curated by Aaron Stern and David Campany, the fourth iteration of Hard Copy launched during Rencontres d'Arles, the world-renowned photography festival which takes place annually in the south of France, in a genuine photocopy shop in the centre of Arles. This edition brought together photographers working across documentary, fashion and art, including Mark Borthwick, Christopher Anderson, Collier Schorr, Justine Kurland, Peter Sutherland, JH Engström, Jeff Mermelstein, Jim Mangan and Olivia Reavey. Here, each artist has been invited to have their work reinterpreted through the Xerox process.

The origins of Hard Copy can be traced back to 2012, when Stern was working on his second book. “C-prints were pricey, so I used laser and Xerox printers for the dummies,” he recalls. “But I quickly realised I was more into the tonality and aesthetic.” Around the same time, photographer Andreas Laszlo Konrath introduced Stern to the process of making larger Xeroxes. “The idea incubated in my head since then, but it took me ten years to find someone who would let me do it.”

That process of transformation is central to how Stern approaches selecting artists for Hard Copy. “I’m looking for artists whose work I like first,” he explains. “I want a mix of older, established, and emerging artists.” Before approaching an artist, Stern makes test prints to see how their work responds to the photocopier. “For the pictures, I know what I don’t want. Too much white space doesn’t work. But a certain type of picture translates. I usually know right away.”

Throughout Hard Copy, Stern is careful to balance established photographers with emerging voices. The clearest example is the pairing of artists Olivia Reavey and Collier Schorr, whose works appear alongside each other in the latest edition. Reavey, who recently graduated from the Yale School of Art’s MFA programme, was previously taught by Schorr, who serves as a senior critic there.

One of the most personal works in the zine comes from Gray Sorrenti’s decade-long archive of FaceTime portraits, transformed into a large-scale Xerox collage. “Without Gray there’d be no Hard Copy,” Stern says, describing the work as “the centre point”. Beginning when Sorrenti was 16, the project follows her friends, family and co-workers over ten years, capturing moments from her life that would otherwise be lost.

Despite working with a technology that belongs to another era, Stern is careful not to position Hard Copy as a backwards-looking project. “I’ve heard a lot of artists say they’re at war with nostalgia,” he says. “I dunno if that’s how I feel. I’ve been making analogue pictures since the 90s. It’s what I’ve always done. The difference is that Hard Copy has given me the platform.” 

Instead, what continues to draw Stern to the medium is the way it transforms an image. “The non-preciousness of the materials and large-scale prints resonate with people,” he explains. “The physicality and tonality of the greys and blacks. The Xerox obscures and creates a painterly, almost Robert Longo-like charcoal look. The prints are almost in motion.”

In an era of endless digital circulation and constant image consumption, Stern sees the physical experience of photography as increasingly important. “There’s clearly, to me at least, a push for physical objects. I think people want to see photography printed, installed, presented in a fresh new way,” he says. “It’s important to me to see art in person every week. Especially in New York. But no matter where I am, I want to see something good.”

For co-curator Campany (creative director of the International Center of Photography), Arles felt like the right setting to launch this issue. “Rencontres d'Arles has a long history of presenting innovative, provocative and informal exhibitions, both within the official festival and alongside it,” he explains. “Making an exhibition that was light on its feet, irreverent but also serious, was irresistible.”

Rather than creating a retro aesthetic for its own sake, Stern’s aim with Hard Copy is ultimately to create moments that pull people away from the endless flow of images which saturate our lives today. “My goal with these shows is to get others out to have an experience like that,” he says. “The world has always been a dark and frayed-at-the-edges kind of place. I think seeing art in person serves as a respite to it all.”