One of the more amusing parts of the upcoming Brooklyn Bridge celebration is an art project called “The Telectroscope: A Window Through the World.” The NYC Visit website describes it like this: “Artist Paul St. George’s public media project is an amazing optical device that allows viewers in Brooklyn to see all the way to London.” Meanwhile, here’s an excerpt from a great post about it on Brooklyn Based:
If you’ve heard the term “steampunking” but considered it an obscure trend you’d never experience first hand, think again. On May 21, a drill bit will begin boring out of Fulton Ferry Landing, to expose a tunnel 30 feet long and seven feet in diameter in time for May 22, the kick-off event for the bridge’s anniversary. Created by artist/inventor Paul St. George, this Telectroscope is actually the outer part of a tunnel (wink wink) connecting Brooklyn to South London, outfitted with an optical device that will allow us to see Londoners in real time and vice versa, 24/7 through June 15.
There’s also a blog and the project has its own website. We should have some photos from the London end later on.
1 response so far ↓
1 Thad // May 21, 2008 at 1:38 pm
I have been working with Sculptor Mike Rathbun on a very similar idea. We started looking for funding for this project in 2001 but though we had several nibbles no one bit. The idea as called Dig to China and was based on that American fable of digging a whole all the way to China in your backyard. Anyway, seen the Telectroscope gave me the sinking feeling of an idea that may now be played out by someone with better connections. Anyway, take a look at our idea at http://www.mikerathbun.com/currentproj/digtochina/