Art, Research, PlayArt, Research, Play

During summer solstice 2015 in Dawson City, Yukon, the Midnight Sun Camera Obscura Festival brought together an international group of artists and other researchers interested in cameras obscura and related optical phenomenon as a meeting place of art and science, cultural and wilderness settings, learning and play. Camera obscura simply means "dark room" in Latin, a term coined to describe devices used to aid perception, but can include any darkened space into which light enters through a small opening (sometimes aided by a lens and a mirror). Using the long days to provide maximum effect, the festival included a range of public-site installations around Dawson City, exhibitions in the local galleries, workshops and a community exhibition with the Yukon Arts Centre, performances, tours, and public talks. As is clear in the range of work in this exhibition, this deceptively simple technology continues to fascinate contemporary artists and scholars. This exhibition includes one of the actual cameras obscura; images projected by several of the devices; documentation of the event; and new work produced by the artists in response to the initial research.