Faculty of Arts & Science

Visual and Critical Studies

Shannon Molenaar

Camera Obscura: Anachronistic Device with Contemporary Relevance

This paper addresses how and why the camera obscura resonates with contemporary artists and audiences by focusing on 945 Madison Avenue (2014), the camera obscura installation by Zoe Leonard at the Whitney Biennial 2014.

“Questions for further research: 1) How does 945 Madison Avenue relate to other contemporary art practices that deal with temporality and the experience of the body?2) What are the greater implications for displaying an optical phenomenon and/or introducing an object with such a rich cultural history into the museum as a contemporary artwork?3) How does Leonard’s use of the camera obscura relate to other contemporary artists who have incorporated the device into their practice?4) Leonard’s camera obscura demonstrates how we live an interior and exterior life, simultaneously. How do other contemporary artists reflect this reality? ”