An Outdoor Photo Exhibition Built Into a Giant Snow Camera and Film Sculpture

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Finnish photography student Tomi Rantanen contacted us to tell us about a unique exhibition that he participated in last week. His photography school, Kuusamo College, partnered up with students from the University of Lapland to create an outdoor exhibition out of snow and ice.

Over the course of five days, roughly 10 students built large sculptures together, including a bear, a husky, a capercaillie, and a drink station for serving refreshments to exhibition attendees.

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The main attraction was a giant 9×12-foot camera, 10-foot-tall film roll, and a long film strip wall.

The students dug holes in the “film strip” and inserted their own printed photographs. 16 photos were placed into the “film strip” and one was displayed in the LCD screen of the camera. “We decided no one would notice that the camera with film coming out of it is clearly digital,” Rantanen tells us.

Each of the photos was protected by a 4- to 6-inch thick block of ice and illuminated with 120 LED lights from the back.

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Here’s a short time-lapse video showing this outdoor exhibition being built:

Rantanen says that if it’s well-maintained and unaffected by weather, the installation could last well into April 2015.


Image credits: Photos and video by Tomi Rantanen and used with permission

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