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Kodak going down…?

I has to be said that it was with no small amount of sadness that we received the news that Kodak, that iconic photographic brand which has been credited with bringing photography to the masses, today officially filed for bankruptcy, however all is not lost read the Press Release below for more…

January 19, 2012 12:22 AM Eastern Time
Eastman Kodak Company and Its U.S. Subsidiaries Commence Voluntary Chapter 11 Business Reorganization

Flow of Goods and Services to Customers to Continue Globally in Ordinary Course

Non-U.S. Subsidiaries Are Not Included in U.S. Filing and Are Not Subject to Court Supervision

Company Secures $950 million in Debtor-in-Possession Financing in U.S.

Kodak's Reorganization to Facilitate Emergence as Profitable and Sustainable Enterprise

ROCHESTER, N.Y.-(BUSINESS WIRE)-Eastman Kodak Company ("Kodak" or the "Company") announced today that it and its U.S. subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions for chapter 11 business reorganization in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

"Our goal is to maximize value for stakeholders, including our employees, retirees, creditors, and pension trustees. We are also committed to working with our valued customers."

The business reorganization is intended to bolster liquidity in the U.S. and abroad, monetize non-strategic intellectual property, fairly resolve legacy liabilities, and enable the Company to focus on its most valuable business lines. The Company has made pioneering investments in digital and materials deposition technologies in recent years, generating approximately 75% of its revenue from digital businesses in 2011.

Kodak has obtained a fully-committed, $950 million debtor-in-possession credit facility with an 18-month maturity from Citigroup to enhance liquidity and working capital. The credit facility is subject to Court approval and other conditions precedent. The Company believes that it has sufficient liquidity to operate its business during chapter 11, and to continue the flow of goods and services to its customers in the ordinary course.

Kodak expects to pay employee wages and benefits and continue customer programs. Subsidiaries outside of the U.S. are not subject to proceedings and will honor all obligations to suppliers, whenever incurred. Kodak and its U.S. subsidiaries will honor all post-petition obligations to suppliers in the ordinary course.

"Kodak is taking a significant step toward enabling our enterprise to complete its transformation," said Antonio M. Perez, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "At the same time as we have created our digital business, we have also already effectively exited certain traditional operations, closing 13 manufacturing plants and 130 processing labs, and reducing our workforce by 47,000 since 2003. Now we must complete the transformation by further addressing our cost structure and effectively monetizing non-core IP assets. We look forward to working with our stakeholders to emerge a lean, world-class, digital imaging and materials science company."

"After considering the advantages of chapter 11 at this time, the Board of Directors and the entire senior management team unanimously believe that this is a necessary step and the right thing to do for the future of Kodak," Mr. Perez continued. "Our goal is to maximize value for stakeholders, including our employees, retirees, creditors, and pension trustees. We are also committed to working with our valued customers.

"Chapter 11 gives us the best opportunities to maximize the value in two critical parts of our technology portfolio: our digital capture patents, which are essential for a wide range of mobile and other consumer electronic devices that capture digital images and have generated over $3 billion of licensing revenues since 2003; and our breakthrough printing and deposition technologies, which give Kodak a competitive advantage in our growing digital businesses."

Mr. Perez concluded, "The Board of Directors, the senior management team and I would like to underscore our appreciation for the hard work and loyalty of our employees. Kodak exemplifies a culture of collaboration and innovation. Our employees embody that culture and are essential to our future success."

Kodak has taken this step after preliminary discussions with key constituencies and intends to work toward a consensual reorganization in the best interests of its stakeholders. Kodak expects to complete its U.S.-based restructuring during 2013.

The Company and its Board of Directors are being advised by Lazard, FTI Consulting Inc. and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. In addition, Dominic DiNapoli, Vice Chairman of FTI Consulting, will serve as Chief Restructuring Officer to support the management team as to restructuring matters during the chapter 11 case.

More information about Kodak's Chapter 11 filing is available on the Internet at www.kodaktransforms.com. Information for suppliers and vendors is available at (800) 544-7009 or (585) 724-6100.

Kodak will be filing monthly operating reports with the Bankruptcy Court and also plans to post these monthly operating reports on the Investor Relations section of Kodak.com. The Company will continue to file quarterly and annual reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which will also be available in the Investor Relations section of Kodak.com.

Although many of you will know that Kodak has been going through the death throes for some time I'm sure that you feel the same as I do when I say it would be truly sad not to see the company return to form. In this age of true deomcratisation of the arts, when more people are being able to enjoy photography than ever before, it would be a shame to see this company go down...

A/R

My interest in photography started in primary school. I would ask my teacher for permission to use one of the classrooms as a sort of studio and then I asked my friends to be a part of my set.

After secondary school I did a short photography course which is when I became fascinated by black and white photography and its darkroom processes. I remember spending hours, to my grandparents' horror, in my tiny, homemade darkroom in the basement.

Later on traveling to Africa and the United States I always had my camera with me, but I quickly realized that the photographs I was taking were not so much about the places themselves, but about myself. My lens, instead of focusing on what was outside, started to point inward, so each photograph became a story of my perception of different landscapes and cityscapes.

Nowadays, while studying at London College of Communication, most of my projects are about creating or constructing my own narratives within real or imaginary city landscapes. Even when working with archives, such as the project titled Salpetriere Series, I use it according to my personal sensations and interpretation.

The subject of my current project remains still somewhat unresolved. I would like to explore the idea of forgetting and remembering by using photography as my medium. Of course memory is always a memory of someone, so the first question would be; is it memory of my childhood that I would like to bring back to life or re-enact?

I've been always interested in poetics of place, landscape and ways of translating it into a photographic image. I see the riverside as a potential set for my photographs, especially taking into account water and its association with memory.

There are many photographers whose work I consider inspiring. I'm moved by Elina Brotherus' photographs and how she portrays herself in the landscape. I believe there is something very melancholic and nostalgic in these photographs.

I find Marja Pirila's work incredibly beautiful, particularly her series of dreamscapes titled Speaking House.

Roni Horn has been my conceptual inspiration and I have always been amazed at how she weaves the idea of remembering into her work: her photographs and sculptures explore how memory works, or rather how memory is about forgetting and what happens in these little gaps of oblivion.

I'm interested in artists whose work evokes the tangibility of the surface of print (like John Stezaker, Roberto Pellegruzzini and Maurizio Anzeri) and these who are implicating layers by using archive and narrative as their tools (like works of Christian Boltanski, Tacita Dean and Odette England)

At the same time, I am inspired by other artists whose main media is not necessarily photography. For instance I always marvel at Vija Celmins' painstaking sculptures and paintings, I share her belief in the importance of time in the process of creating a work of art.

Finally an opportunity to write a little about 'Between Here and There' our touring exhibition currently headed to Milton Keynes before hitting our nations capital and the mammoth venue which is Market Towers- Vauxhall.

Between Here and There is a photographic exhibition we began touring some time back with a relatively small number of works and photographers it has, however, now transformed into a fully mature touring exhibition with 11 participating photographers all interpreting the theme in their own unique way.

The theme itself is related to our understanding of 'place', to read more about the exhibition theme, see tour dates or further information on the photographers themselves click on the links which will take you through to the relevant pages on our site.