NY Minute
A “hello” to the Queen
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The “Telectroscope” makes it possible: Just take a look in New York and look out over the streets of London
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Those are the moments that make you know why New York is one of the coolest cities in the world. Because here there are the craziest ideas and the most extravagant artists with their works find their way here. For example the “Telectroscope”. British artist Paul St George built a huge, old-fashioned looking telescope. But if you look through Brooklyn, you see people in London on the other side!
It sounds fantastic, but it’s really true. The gigantic work of copper, wire, mirrors and god knows what else, was built on the “Fulton Ferry” on the Brooklyn side of the “Brooklyn Bridge”. And if you look through it, you can wave to Londoners standing at Tower Bridge in real time – and vice versa, of course. Endless queues stand there to take a look inside the work of art and look across the Atlantic with it. Messages were written on washable boards for friends 5600 kilometers away to read. Others made do with cell phones and talked on the phone while facing each other.
“Unbelievable!” Could be heard repeatedly from the mouths of the visitors at the “Telectroscope”. The artist himself has an equally fantastic story about it his website posed. He allegedly found dusty photos and drawings in his grandmother’s attic of his late grandfather, whose dream was to build a tunnel between New York and London. He started with it, but was never able to finish his plan. Paul St George is pleased that his work has in a way made his grandfather’s idea come true.
Could that be true? In fact, behind the “Telectroscope” is high-tech. Speakers only want to reveal that the optical trick works with fiber optic cables. So the whole thing is a kind of mega-large webcam in old-fashioned packaging. But the effect is really great! When you step to the human-sized telescope and look through it, you have the feeling that you are looking through a real one. And so a New Yorker wrote “Say ‘Hi’ to the Queen!” Anyone can do this until June 15th!
PS: The BBC put a little video on their website. Take a look at that!
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