Notes on camera obscura

Abstract

In 1971, American artist Rockne Krebs presented an immersive artwork composed of the optical phenomenon of the camera obscura, among other elements. Although this artist appears to be the first interested in this phenomenon, it was only from the 1990s onwards that the artistic practice of camera obscura as room installation became widespread. In the decades since, several authors have included it in their production—developing projects of a photographic nature through different approaches, mainly focusing on projected image or spectator participation. Through the method of media archaeology, it is possible to find three lines of contemporary artistic research on the phenomenon: camera obscura related to meta-photography in Cuban-born American photographer Abelardo Morell’s works; immersive installation pieces as proposed by American artist Zoe Leonard; and projections of other worlds in the work of the Portuguese artistic duo João Maria Gusmão and Pedro Paiva. This paper aims at a comparative study that intends to analyze these three paths, underlining the characteristics of some contemporary artworks and contextualizing their elements to the history and use of camera obscura in the photographic context.