SMARTPHONE CAMERA OBSCURA

Making a screenshot in the analog way (literally tracing the screen) Two people tracing each others' smartphones under fabric tent

TOOLS & MATERIALS

Smartphone
Drawing tools (ballpoint pen, pencil, etc.)
Coloring tools (colored pencil, water color, etc.)
Thin paper
Fabric (to make it darker)

FIRST ROUND: TRACING THE SCREENSHOT OF YOUR SMARTPHONE

Open your smartphone and browse through your screenshots
Increase the brightness of the screen and place the paper on top
If it is hard to see, consider covering yourself with some fabric (like taking a picture 150 years ago!)
Trace the screen
Once you are done, "send" your screenshot drawing to the other to color it

SECOND ROUND: TRACING THE SCREEN OF SOMEONE ELSE

DISCLAIMER This round involves handing your device to someone else for tracing, which could be quite challenging!

Say "|greeting|" to the person sitting next to you, and wait for their response
Select the screenshot on your phone, and ask them if they want to trace it
If both of you agree, swap smartphones
Get closer and cover yourselves together with some fabric
Trace what you see on the screen through the thin paper
Once you are done, swap your screenshot drawings and color it

LISTS OF THOUGHTS

If the smartphone is a camera obscura and the screen is a pinhole, what kind of digital landscape will you draw???

Screenshot as a landscape - Screenshot as technical images - Staging the screenshot - Performing - Screenshot as a technical image - Temporality of the screenshot

SOME THOUGHTS

"For me, the interesting quality of 'camera obscura' is its initial usage to draw the landscape. In this context, by linking it to a smartphone, it suggests the screen of one's smartphone as a window to a digital landscape. (+I liked that the camera obscura was one of the earliest imagery technologies!!)" -kamo