Rosalie Knaack places photos on the wall for the "Soup Kitchen" exhibition in Daejeon, April 13. Courtesy of Rosalie Knaack

Artists in Daejeon embrace curiosity, experimentation and happenstance through film photography in a new group exhibition titled "Soup Kitchen."

The name doesn't refer to free meals for the underprivileged but to an experimental technique of developing photos, in which a roll of film is soaked in boiling water and other household ingredients, intentionally damaging the film in hopefully artistic ways.

Artist Rosalie Osborn Knaack explained the process in an interview with The Korea Times. "You shoot the film, and you throw it in the liquid with boiling water, salt and other ingredients, such as citric acid and vinegar and juice, soap and pineapple," she said.

"Torn Palm" by Rosalie Knaack / Courtesy of Rosalie Knaack

The images — still in their film canisters — dry for weeks or even months before they are finally developed. The chemicals create unpredictable and sometimes unfortunate effects on the film. "Sometimes it utterly destroys the film," she said. "But hunting for that really beautiful image is where I feel I can really make art as a photographer."

A roll of film is souped in pine and salted lakewater tea in Daejeon, March 1. Courtesy of Rosalie Knaack

Creating souped photography as a collaboration was the brainchild of Knaack, who graduated from Kongju National University in Korea with an MFA in ceramics. She has exhibited in multiple solo shows featuring her jewelry, fiber art, cyanotype prints and ceramics. She is a former artistic resident of Art Space Jang and is the current president of the Daejeon Arts Collective. She has a home ceramics studio where she teaches ceramics classes. She also teaches English courses at Joongbu University.

Likening herself to a kid with a chemistry set, Knaack first became interested in chemical reactions through her practice in ceramics. In a process known as pit-firing, she places unglazed ceramics into a metal bin with various chemical elements and lights them on fire. Sometimes, the pieces break. But fortune can deliver unexpectedly beautiful results.

This image shot on Kodak 400 film was souped in pineapple, which delaminated the color emulsion layers. Courtesy of Rosalie Knaack

"You can see the flames swirling on the surface of the clay. You get black from the carbon or red from this copper effect. You have no way of controlling or anticipating the results beyond giving it the ingredients and hoping for the best. When you get that really good result, it's so satisfying. The reward makes the risk worth it," she said. "Souping is the same thing."

Her previous work in ceramics has focused on bones and death imagery, and the subject matter of the current show continues that trajectory. Within her artistic process and the content of her work, Knaack embraces death and the chemistry of decay in her imagery of dead flowers, a rusted car and an image so wrecked by the souping process that the layers of color have disintegrated.

"There's no life without death, and death is the thing that makes life valuable," she said. "I definitely see the beauty in decay."

A rusted car is seen on film that has been souped with chemicals. Courtesy of Rosalie Knaack

Each artist takes their own approach to mining meaning from the souping process.

In an age of digital art and artificial intelligence, artist Hank Haddock embraces the physicality of the medium by capturing photographs with vintage cameras and developing his and his co-artists' film in a photo studio he constructed in his own home. He often shoots street photography with cameras that enable him to shoot at chest height. His street photography documents his brief, chance encounters with unknowing subjects in a temporal juncture of human coexistence.

Street photography by Hank Haddock / Courtesy of Hank Haddock

Another of his photos was not only "souped" but also developed improperly. The resulting image is so brilliantly colored that it seems other-worldly and becomes an abstract documentation of a brief, unexpected moment in his artistic process.

Souping ruined this photo by Hank Haddock, while also creating brilliant colors. Courtesy of Hank Haddock

Several of Bettina Jones' images critique the uncertainty of the current economic landscape while sympathizing with laborers who have suffered from it.

She selected found images from a collection of slides recovered from an old paper mill in Madison, Maine. Jones described the scanned slides as being "environmentally souped" by mold and moisture.

In a written message about the work, she wrote, "When I found the slides, I immediately connected to them emotionally because of the time period, the history and because of the emphasis on moving to stock options and the promise of long-term security, something that was about to evaporate across the state and across the country. I was also struck by just how beautiful the slides were, and how the environmental factors had created something new through destruction."

A slide that has been souped offers a delicate pattern of cracks. Courtesy of Bettina Jones

In another of her images, a 50-foot-tall statue of a golfer that is prominent in Daejeon becomes abstract through the souping process, transforming the trite symbol of a pastime of the wealthy into a mysterious Colossus.

"Golfer" by Bettina Jones / Courtesy of Bettina Jones

Other participating artists include Suné Horn, James Knaack, William R. Pugsley and James Reid.

Souping brings out unusual colors and textures in this photo taken by William R. Pugsley. Courtesy of William R. Pugsley

Ultimately, the theme of the exhibition is to embrace our own humanity and the uncertainty of our existence. Speaking of what she likes most about the work, Knaack said, "It's the complete lack of control. Giving yourself over to chance and experimentation. You never know what's going to come out."

The group exhibition will be featured at the Small Window Large Landscape Gallery in Daejeon until April 30. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. from Tuesday through Saturday. Follow @artintherok on Instagram to see more of Rosalie's work.

Monica Nickolai is a writer and artist. Her text-based artwork has appeared at exhibitions in the U.S., Europe and Korea. She currently lives in Daejeon and teaches at Hongik University's Sejong Campus. Visit monicanickolai.com for more information.