Tinned Europe

A selection of their works taken in Europe comes to the 12 Star Gallery in London for a unique exhibition, and will allow to see Paris, Budapest, Rome, Bratislava and many more like you have never seen them before. 

When light is forced through a small hole into a dark room, a camera obscura, it forms an inverted cone of light that reflects the outside word. The meeting of light and darkness can create something new: an image. This magic entranced the photographic team Fotolateras who - as they fell in love with the oldest photographic practice of the pinhole camera - have been “canning” cities into photos and spreading the technique for 15 years. 

This physical phenomenon, known to humankind since prehistoric times, has fascinated all civilisations, Egypt, Mesoamerica, Ancient Greece, Renaissance, and played a decisive role in advancing scientific innovation in the fields of optics, astronomy and perspective. In Europe, during the 19th century, this image of light was fixed for the first time onto a photosensitive surface, giving rise to the birth of photography. 

In Fotolateras’ tin can cameras, since they lack any lens, the light rays enter naturally, so that during the long exposure time the images develop serenely, capturing only what stays still. In a world of technological immediacy, this technique allows us to return to the starting point, to the original photo, the one that is created in a slow and thoughtful way, so that it transcends and resonates deeply with us. 

The photographic team Fotolateras is made up of Lola Barcia Albácar (Valencia, 1968) and Marinela Forcadell Breva (Castellón, 1969). Since 2008, they have been travelling the world with their cameras made from metal cans to capture the essence of each city. Now, a selection of their works taken in Europe comes to the 12 Star Gallery in London, run by the European Parliament Liaison Office in the UK.