Marja Pirilä: Wunderkamera, camera obscura/ hommage á August Strindberg, 2017

Completion year: 2017

Technique: oak wood closet, optical lenses, opal sheets

Size: 120 x 60 x 240 cm

Edition: 1/1

Keywords: Camera obscura, Marja Pirilä, Petri Nuutinen, August Strindberg

Wunderkamera / Camera Obscura, built with Petri Nuutinen into a large oak wardrobe, was named after the camera Strindberg had constructed for himself. It visualises the simple but magical phenomenon: camera obscura.

Camera obscura (Latin: a dark room)
is a phenomenon in which, as light travels through a hole or a lens into a dim space, an upside-down image is formed there of the world outside.
It is based on the direct passage of the light and is a basis for the functioning of the eye and all cameras.
The magical quality of the camera obscura phenomenon has entranced people for thousands of years.
It has been exploited in both science and art for centuries:
by scientists for astronomical purposes and for the observation of optical phenomena, by Renaissance artists as a tool for creating drawings and paintings and by philosophers as a tool in their deliberations.

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