[Feb 13, 2006] Richard Lindberg, of Anoka, Minnesota has added a new dimension to the architectural tradition of ice fishing shanties: he built one that is a 360-degree camera obscura. The creation is part of the Art Shanty Projects, an installation running through February 19 on Medicine Lake west of Minneapolis.

Lindberg's structure looks like an ordinary fish house until you get close and realize that it is hexagonal and has miniscule holes near the top of each side. The six pinholes project their images onto a hexagonal core inside the light-tight shanty. The core is near the ceiling, so adults are able to stand in the shanty and view the circular panaorama of the Art Shanties and Medicine Lake. Using photographic paper for a negative, Lindberg captures and make permanent the 360-degree view. The shanty also serves as a darkroom; Lindberg develops and fixes smaller images right on the ice. He's there on weekends, and when not actively making a photograph, invites visitors in for the upside-down and laterally-reversed view.

The Art Shanty Projects will be recreated this summer at the Soap Factory's exhibition space in Minneapolis.

(Photo of ice shanty camera obscura and Richard Lindberg © 2006 by Tom Miller)

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