20×24 Studio bio picture

In collaboration with the Impossible Project and the 20×24 Studio NY, artists Jen Trausch and Max Rada Dada invite you to an impossible analog adventure into the wonders and magic of large format instant photography. Using the legendary original 20×24 Polaroid Camera, (one of five globally in existence) as well as a secret and never before seen selection of wild, expired and unpredictable film treasures, this demonstration will reveal rarely seen dimensions of this outstanding medium, exposing all its challenges as well as its true beauty and its incomparable ability to capture nothing but the truth of a moment. Get ready to dive into gigantic analog originals. Smell them, feel them, peel them, simply get lost in their endless beauty.

Established in 1986, the NY studio has housed the 20×24 Polaroid Camera making it available to artist and photographers around the world. The camera has a long history of working with artists such as Mary Ellen Mark, Julian Schnabel, Chuck Close and William Wegman. In 2008, as Polaroid closed its factory doors, the Studio went independent saving the last rolls of 20×24 Film from extinction.

The new home base for the comeback of analog photography since March 2010, The Impossible Project is re-inventing and re-positioning analog instant photography in the modern day as the most anti-digital medium available – both celebrating and pushing beyond its limits.

It's Showtime


18 Wooster Street, New York, NY 10012 Saturday, December 4th, 3-5 p.m.


Click here to RSVP with Levi’s Workshop.

20×24 Holdings LLC is commissioning Mammoth Camera Company of San Francisco, CA to build two new 20×24 cameras to use instant film. Polaroid Corporation built the original five cameras in 1977 and 1978 and three of those are still in active use today. Mammoth Camera, founded in 2000 has already produced one new 20×24 camera for a European client in 2009. “Additional cameras will add tremendous flexibility to our project”, says John Reuter, Executive Director of 20×24 Holdings. “We have been limited in our ability to respond to our client’s needs with only one camera in New York.” The plan is to house one of the cameras at the new facility for the Lincoln Center Film Society, host to the annual New York Film Festival. The camera will document the directors and actors passing through for the center’s programming, creating an archive and building toward an exhibit in 2012 celebrating the 50th year of the New York Film Festival. The second camera will be available for international travel, opening up new access to 20×24 instant photography.
Tracy Storer, founder and owner of Mammoth Camera Company says “We are very pleased at this exciting opportunity to expand the 20×24 Camera family. My experience as a camera owner and operator has allowed me to take full advantage of our manufacturing capability to make new cameras that match and even exceed the original Polaroid design. What is most exciting is participating in the renaissance of instant analog photography in a manner not seen since Polaroid’s glory days of the 70s and 80s. I look forward to seeing what a new generation of photographers will do with it.”
John Reuter agrees, “These are indeed very exciting times for proponents of instant photography. We have spent the last year rebuilding our production capability to bring 20×24 instant film back to the marketplace. Having more cameras will allow us to bring it to many more artists in multiple venues. Our friends at The Impossible Project are also moving in the direction of larger format exploration and we anticipate some very exciting collaborations in the future.”


20×24 Holdings LLC purchased all remaining 20×24 film stock and chemistry from Polaroid Corporation in 2009. They are the sole producers of instant 20×24 peel apart instant film. The 20×24 Studio in New York City offers retail rental access to the camera and films. www.20x24studio.com

Mammoth Camera Company is a manufacturer of conventional and instant large format cameras. It also runs 20×24 Studio West in San Francisco, CA and is the sole west coast distributor of 20×24 instant film. www.mammothcamera.com

The Impossible Project saved the last remaining Polaroid factory in 2008 and has continued Edwin Land’s legacy of providing instant materials for use in the original Polaroid SX-70, 600 and Spectra cameras. www.the-impossible-project.com

Jennifer Trausch has been photographing on location in the Southern United States for the past three years. Taking a “vacation” from her job managing the 20×24 Studio in New York City, Trausch explored Southern culture with a device not usually associated with intimate documentation, the 235 pound 20×24 Camera. In this article Trausch describes her aesthetic and technique of this truly unique body of work. Click here to download a pdf of the article.