Digital BW, The Print

I think the only way to exhibit ANYTHING 'bare bulb' is to laminate,
and that's a whole other area we have unclear data on and varies from
compapny to company. There are so many contaminants in the atmosphere
that we have an impossible time measuring them in the lab or even in
the real world to even know what is being filtered and at what time of
year with what humidity. Urban environments like Cairo, Athens, Mexico
City, Beijing, even LA, may show totally different results than less
densly populated and less polluted cities. But it is true from what
HAS been done, that rag papers are going to absorb pollutants at far
greater rates than plastic media, or media without a post print
coating layer.We all know about the reports of Hahnemuhle and Innova
rag papers being stained to yellow right in the box from bad packaging.

In a side note, I have an artist friend who created a series of very
large photomural mosaics 12 years ago that were printed with
traditional  chemical rc black and white Kodak RC papers, but
laminated with a good uv laminate before framing. They  hang in a
major airport just under giant skylights where they are slammed with
strong daylight from above, every day, far exceeding Wilhelms 450 lux,
on a weekely basis, season after season, year after year. To my
amazement none of them have either stained or faded in any perceivable
way. Since I photographed the piece when it was installed I am very
familiar with how they looked inititally. This is really surprising to
me. I expected them to last no more than a couple of years without
significant changes.  Wilhem's comments about the stability of rc
black and white silver media showed it at the bottom of his list of
usable media if you want it to last. The rapid fixing and washing is
far from ideal in automated chemical processors and they are full of
obas. 

The issue for most of us in producing a laminated installation for
public art projects, is finding a shop to do it well, or even decently
without bubbles, dirt, wrinkles, and the like. It's not easy. Joel
Meyerowitz is lucky he lives in Manhattan where such a place does
exist for artists. I haven't been lucky in that regard.

john