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Bus Obscura treats passengers to cinematic ride round Docklands

Friday 26 May 2006

Tired commuters were treated to a whirlwind journey of lights and images last week when a British artist drove his specially-developed camera obscura bus down to the University of East London (UEL) Docklands Campus on Thursday 18 May.

Bus Obscura is the unique creation of New York-based Simon Lee, who has converted a normal passenger bus into a multiple aperture camera obscura. Jointly organised by the University of Hertfordshire Galleries and the Docklands-based Diversity Art Forum, the project saw Simon driving down to London from Hertfordshire to spend two days ferrying passengers, with the assistance of UEL students, from the university’s Docklands campus to its new Fine Art studios at Trinity Buoy Wharf.

With its blacked-out windows pierced by thousands of tiny pinholes, Bus Obscura allows light and images to flood the inside of the bus as it moves along the street. Passengers sit in seats as usual, but, rather than looking out at the real scenes as they pass by, they instead view a real time projection of the same scenes, with the camera obscura effect flipping each image upside-down and creating a 360º animated panorama of moving images inside the bus.

The exterior view is thus projected onto the interior of the bus and the individual apertures create images that merge into each other to form a two-dimensional animation of the outside world.

Simon said: “I’m very interested in creating a cinematic and photographic effect in the bus, which is enhanced by the addition of a soundtrack. In effect, Bus Obscura takes an ordinary activity - travelling by bus - and transforms it into something very different by the application of long-established physical laws. It’s driven by the conventional movement of the viewer through time and space, but yields results that are unconventional; the bus itself becomes both camera and projector, while the audience just sit and enjoy the ride.”

For further information on the Bus Obscura project, e-mail Pauline Desouza, Director of Diversity Art Forum, on P.Desouza@uel.ac.uk.

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For details and pictures contact Patrick Wilson: 020 8223 2061 or 07951 797 975

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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