Presentation of the Camera Obscura with Lois Lammerhuber and Christian Schörg

Brusattiplatz, direction Römertherme
Admission is free

What is a „camera obscura“?

The „camera obscura“ (lat. camera „chamber“; obscura „dark“) is a light-proof box with a hole in the front wall. An image of what is in front of the „camera“ appears on the back wall. It is considered the first forerunner of our cameras and photography and makes use of a simple optical principle that is also used by our eyes:

Every object emits rays of light propagating in a straight line in all directions. If the light rays pass through a small opening into a light-tight space, they are bundled and project an image onto the opposite wall – in the case of our eye, onto the retina.

Due to the law of reflection, the image is inverted and upside down. (See illustration)

We owe the discovery and proof that every object illuminated by light reflects rays to the Arab scientist Ibn al-Haitham, also known as Alhazen (965-1040). Many other prominent scientists and artists such as Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) and Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) used the principle of the camera obscura for their scientific research and discoveries.

Thanks to the Fine Art Gallery, Traismauer: Martin Lutz, DI Jutta Fischel (idea) and DI Bernhard Schneider (planning of the art project)