Categories
News

Deadline Saturday!

Screen Shot 2015-06-30 at 16.45.20

This Saturday we'll be bringing the new camera obscura, crowd-funded through Kickstarter in December, to Cotteridge Park near Bournville, to meet the public for the very first time at the CoCoMad festival. It's been quite a rollercoaster of a half-year but here we are with a fully functional portable camera obscura. Yay!

As we write this on Tuesday we have a couple of things left to do. The electrics for the mirror rotation motors are functional but a bit of a mess, so we'll be breaking out the soldering iron and tidying them up. We also need to collect the banner which Gareth finished yesterday. So if you're at CoCoMad look out for this:

Bham Obscura Banner

It's three metres wide and designed to work in thirds when wrapped around the camera or, if we have a stall or something, as a backdrop. And the text explains the history, science and art of the camera obscura along with a bit about this project.

Of course, like anything important the launch day is simply the beginning. Now we have to give the camera the audience it deserves and get it out as much as possible. If you can help with this, either by giving us contacts and referrals for busy public events or simply hosting the camera yourself, please get in touch with Jenny.

And while getting people to look inside the camera and seeing their big grins when they come out is amazing, it's important the camera does not become a novelty. We have many thoughts on using the camera obscura as a 21st century artistic tool but we need more. Our current Open Call is the start of this and we're always open to ideas. Contact either of us if you have a good one.

But for now we look forward to seeing some of you at Cotteridge Park from 12 noon on Saturday 4th July, showing you the camera you helped build and thanking you very very much.