Interventions with The Image Fulgurator

Julius von Bismarck's The Image Fulgurator is a reverse camera... instead of capturing images, it projects images. More specifically, it briefly projects an image when its light-detector senses the flash from another camera. The idea is that the artist can lurk around tourist sites and secretly overlay his own images onto the photographed subjects so that when the tourists look at their photos they'll find them manipulated.

From von Bismarck's site:

People's great trust in their photographic reproductions of reality was what motivated me to develop the image Fulgurator. A camera can be used as a personal memory tool, since people do not doubt the veracity of their own photographs. Hence, photos can reproduce the reality of an individual environment or public space. At sacred or popular locations, or those having a political connotation, an intervention with the Fulgurator can be particularly effective. Especially objects with a special aura or great symbolic power are good targets for this kind of manipulation. In other words, with the Fulgurator it is possible to have a lasting effect on those kinds of individual moments and events that become accessible to the masses only because they are preserved photographically.

This video below shows an intervention at Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin. The manipulation is intended to make connections between the former East Germany/West Germany border and the US/Mexico border today.


A compelling & interesting project, but I wonder about the gun-fetish aesthetic. Not only does the camera have a pistol grip, but von Bismarck's video has him assembling the camera ala sniper-gun movie cliche. The pistol grip seems particularly notable since it is counter to the (presumed) desire to have the fulgurator be as innocuous as possible.

His logo (above) references the Red Army Faction's (below). I honestly wonder if he's really thinking through and taking responsibility for using this kind of imagery (or if it is just easy dramatics).



The Image Fulgurator won this year's ARS Electronica Prix's "Golden Nica" for Interactive Art.

[via Make]

Noah K Everyday

Noah Kalina has been taking his photo daily since January 11, 2000. His project has caught popular imagination and often inspires imitators & homages (via Shoot! The Blog):

Homer Everyday



Microsoft Istanbul



Dunkin' Donuts Commercial



FSN Baseball Commercial



Melbourne Film Festival Trailer



Noah isn't the first to use this technique, as he readily admits. From his site's FAQ:

Does anybody else do this?
Of course. It was definitely an original idea in my head, and I was doing the project for over 3 years until I found out somebody else was up to it too… and for longer! Check out Jonathan Keller. He has a great website and a wonderful compilation of daily photo projects as well as other truly awesome obsessive photography projects.

Do you mind if I do this?
No of course not! It's an awesome project and you will impress all of your friends. Send me a link if you make it longer than a year.

Jonathan Keller has been doing it since 1998:




And I'm reminded of Sam Hsieh's even earlier (1980-81) Time Piece One Year Performance.