Giant Camera Obscura Installed In Gowanus Loft

GOWANUS, NY — A group of artists transformed a Gowanus loft into a giant camera obscura, inviting people to tour the darkened space and view upside down images of the neighborhood through it.

The Vanderbilt Republic and photographer Ashton Worthington turned their 61 Ninth St. spot, the Gowanus Loft, into a 3,000-square-foot camera obscura which projects images of the Smith Street bridge and Gowanus Expressway inside.

"Camera obscura is, on a technical level, how photography works on the most fundamental level," said Worthington.

"It's a very scientific thing, it's pure physics, but the experience of it is purely magical when you see the images appear all around you."

The camera obscura works by making a room completely dark room and placing a small lens at a window, which lets light in and projects the image onto different surfaces, Worthington said. Unlike modern cameras, it doesn't record or print the pictures anywhere.

The installation, dubbed "Obscura/Gowanus II," invites people inside on Saturday and Sundays for 30-minute sessions to tour the space and view the different images.

"It's the kind of experience that once you pass through it it's very hard to forget," said George Del Barrio, founder of The Vanderbilt Republic. "It brings feelings forward."

Del Barrio and Worthington teamed up to turn the space into camera obscura first in 2016, but made some tweaks to the system, which gave it better image quality, and relaunched it again starting on March 3.

"It's dramatically improved," said Del Barrio. "We’re both very happy to what we pull together."

While the camera has more details and brighter colors on days with more sunlight, Worthington said it still works on cloudy days and becomes a completely different experience.

"The imagery is still beautiful, but it reads in a very different way," he said. "It becomes almost like charcoal drawings, but the image clarity is still there."

The installation runs in the loft until April 8, but Del Barrio said they were considering extending it because of how popular the exhibit has been. The duo plan to continue to tweak the system and re-stage the installation in the future.

Video: The Vanderbilt Republic