Step Inside a Camera Obscura Showing Views of Gowanus Brooklyn at The Vanderbilt Republic



Back in 2016, we reported on The Vanderbilt Republic’s large scale visual project, which transformed the creative agency’s loft space into an actual camera obscura. It’s been a little over two years since our initial coverage, but if you missed the installation the first time around, you’re in luck: the team has decided to bring it back. A free public preview of OBSCURA / GOWANUS will take place this Saturday from 10am to 3pm.

Photo courtesy Vanderbilt Republic

Photo courtesy Vanderbilt Republic

This camera obscura turns the whole loft into a dark room with a hole that allows the outside scene to project (upside down) onto the building’s walls, kitchen spaces, doors and more. The Smith-9th Street Bridge figures clearly as a recurrent muse for The Vanderbilt Republic (check out its 2015 lighting of the Smith-9th Street Bridge), along with the skyline of Gowanus itself.

It’s a photographic monument, the creators George del Barrio and Ashton Worthington state – a “3,000 sq. ft. epistemic machine” that “will evolve through a month of experimentation, capturing an ephemeral Brooklyn panorama and personal moment in time,” they describe.

Photo courtesy Vanderbilt Republic

This time around, the exhibit will run from March 3 to April 8. Doors to the installation will open every half hour, and advanced reservation is required — so we suggest signing up quickly.

Next, check out what the abandoned Gowanus Batcave used to look like inside and while in Gowanus, check out Retrofret, a shop specializing in bizarre instruments.