Container Camera 貨櫃相機
2025 // KAOHSIUNG INTERNATIONAL CONTAINER ARTS FESTIVAL [TW]
I’ve transformed a shipping container into a multi-lens camera obscura—an immersive space that invites visitors to slow down and experience a new superimposed Kaohsiung while simultaneously gaining a deeper understanding of image production.
Container Camera inverts the traditional function of the container: from holding and protecting goods in transit to containing fleeting images of the world outside. The installation enables locals and visitors a rare opportunity to inhabit the harbor geography and build a new relationship to this place; transforming the container into a site of wonder.
Unlike most camera obscuras, which use a single lens, Container Camera incorporates multiple lenses, simultaneously projecting. Each lens will project a distinct view of the outside world, creating overlapping, layered scenes. These composite images form a fluid, living geography. Hinged mirrors and additional lenses allow the audience to interact with and alter the projections. Moving a mirror redirects the image across the container walls. Layering lenses alters scale and depth. The lenses are also able to capture people standing outside the container, allowing the audience to mix their projections with those of the harbor, creating a multilayered view of humans and geography.
Container Camera is a participatory installation where the audience becomes artists, remapping Kaohsiung through visual play and collective imagination. Visitors are encouraged to photograph the constellations they create and share them online, contributing to a growing digital archive of unique, co-created works, reflecting the special place.
我將一只貨櫃改造為一座多鏡頭暗箱——一個沉浸式的空間，邀請觀眾放慢腳步，體驗一個層層疊加的嶄新高雄，同時更深入地理解影像如何被生成。
貨櫃相機 顛覆了貨櫃的傳統功能：從運送與保護貨物的容器，轉化為承載外部世界瞬間影像的空間。這件裝置為在地居民與訪客提供了一個難得的機會，得以「進入」港灣的地理景觀，並與此地建立新的關係，使貨櫃成為一處充滿驚奇的場域。
不同於多數僅使用單一鏡頭的暗箱，貨櫃相機 結合了多個鏡頭，同時進行投影。每一個鏡頭都會投射出外部世界的不同視角，彼此重疊，形成層層交錯的場景。這些複合影像構成了一種流動且充滿生命力的地理景觀。可轉動的鏡子與附加鏡頭讓觀眾能夠介入並改變投影效果：轉動鏡子可將影像導向貨櫃內不同牆面，疊加鏡頭則會改變影像的尺度與深度。鏡頭同時也能捕捉站在貨櫃外的人，讓觀眾將人的影像與港灣景象交織在一起，生成一種人與地景交錯的多層視野。
貨櫃相機 是一件參與式的裝置作品，觀眾成為創作者，透過視覺遊戲與集體想像重新描繪高雄。訪客被鼓勵拍攝自己所創造的影像景象並在線上分享，逐步形成一個持續成長的數位檔案庫——由眾人共同創作、獨一無二的作品，映照出這個地方的特殊性。
Exterior rendering collage of the Container Camera at the site, showing a person in a wheelchair up the entrance ramp, photographing the narrative mounted exteriorly explaining what the space is like. In the background Kaohsiung Music Center.
Container Camera reaches out to the city of Kaohsiung. A fragmented map of Kaohsiung’s harbor area, on top of which the container camera stands in the center. From it, three triangles extend, showing the areas that will be visible from within the container camera.
A digital drawing of the plan, around it are the six views that will be visible inside the container camera, based on the estimated location at the site. The views will be overlapped and mixed through the different lenses.
The long and cross-section of the Container Camera, showing people inside experiencing and interacting with the multiple exposed projections. Above the drawings are two images showing samples of what the multiple exposed images could look like as stills. The actual images inside the Contain Camea will first of all be moving like a film, but is also light mixing, which digital tools can not fully simulate. The image in the Container Camera will be both ephemeral and tangible. And if the audience touches the screens, they will move both in space and time.
Elevations of the four exterior sides. The exterior is anticipated to be left as found. The only change is seeing the wood parts cut through the walls holding the lenses, which will entice the audience to find out more.
The interior is a mixture of contemporary, clean-cut wood elements and the raw container walls, allowing for both the rough and refined to coexist.
Exploded diagram of the Contain Camera showing the simple elements it contains.
Exterior rendering of the Container Camera at the site, showing a person in a wheelchair up the entrance ramp, photographing the diagram and narrative mounted on a wooden board explaining what the space is like. A woman is approaching, and three children are running up from behind the Container Camera; maybe they have just posed for different lenses to make a unique multiple combined portrait, photographed by a parent inside the Container Camera.
A diagram showing how the audience is able to change the focal length, by adding or removing a lens mounted to a hinged board, to the lens fixed on the wall.
Hand sketches of the concept for the Contain Camera across a spread in an open notebook, in black pen.