Upside Down, 2000/2008
Food packets, boxes and milk cartons are suspended from the ceiling on ropes. Looking through peep-holes cut into the sides of the cartons, inside it is possible to see a laterally reversed, upside-down light image of one‘s surroundings. This is produced solely by a small hole in the wall of the container, through which the light rays are concentrated, so creating an image on the opposite wall or an interposed matt screen – a camera obscura. Even to the present day, the optical principle by which the camera obscura functions – already mentioned by Aristotle and first described in detail by Leonardo da Vinci as the perceptual principle of the human eye – retains its power to fascinate. Looking into these camera obscuras makes the viewer reflect on his own perception.
Roland Stratmann (born 1964) lives in Berlin.
