Each year on December 1st, APECS commemorates the signing of the Antarctic treaty in 1959. Traditionally, this is done through the organization of outreach activities around the world. You can see older activities organized by APECS here.

The APECS boards of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg are joining forces this year to provide an interactive workshop for elementary school children revolving around polar regions, planned for the end of November this year. The children will work on creating small DIY cameras (camera obscura) to develop photographs of their surroundings, while additional cameras will be sent / have been sent to polar regions. On December 1st, photo’s and videos of the workshop will be shared on an online platform, while the developed photographs themselves will later be combined for an exhibition.

For this project we work together with artist Udo Prinsen. Udo Prinsen is a visual artist and animation director. He often works with scientists from different fields to design and illustrate issues through photographic art and film. One of this projects is a long exposure photography exhibit about the arctic region of Spitsbergen. He uses self build camera obscura cameras that have only a tiny hole and some photographic paper inside that records the light and image that fall through. When the camera is open for a very long time, like days, weeks, years, the sun will write her track onto the paper each day she is present in the sky. Have a look at Udo’s work on Spitsbergen here.

We are looking for enthusiastic APECS members who would like to visit an elementary school. The children will work on building their own camera obscura and will receive a short introduction on polar regions. You’ll have some decision in what exactly can be told during the workshop, within the context of the project as a whole. Also, if you are visiting a polar region between now and the end of November and are willing to bring a small camera obscura to participate in the project, this would also be fantastic.

Please get in tough with us via email and/or facebook if you would like to participate!