“Pre-Retroscope VI—Gowanus Journey,” by British artist Conrad Shawcross documents an expedition undertaken along the length of Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal using a specially adapted rowboat.
Pre-Retroscope VI is a hand-built boat carrying a special device for capturing 360-degree panoramic videos on bodies of water. During voyages, a motor-driven platform holds a camera that takes in the full view of its surroundings as it slowly moves around a circular track mounted to the top of the small craft. Reconfigured in the gallery to accommodate a projector, this same revolving apparatus then “re-tells” the voyage by projecting the resulting footage on a small screen that moves in synchronization with it. The form of Pre-Retroscope VI’s transmission—evoking the rotation of a lighthouse beacon—suggests the impossibility of a comprehensive understanding of our surroundings.
The most recent in a series of expeditions that began with a trip last summer on the River Lea in London, “Pre-Retroscope VI—Gowanus Journey” represents the first of Shawcross’s explorations of New York City’s little-known inland canal systems.
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