Artist Unzips Vintage Cameras to Reveal Their Inner Beauty

This strange looking vintage camera was created by Guangzhou Art Academy student Hu Shaoming, who spent four months disassembling two cameras from the 1930s and 1940s and rebuilding them with a zipper that reveals the inner mechanical components.

His project is part of an exhibition titled Reconnecting Time, and also features a phone from the 1910s and a clock from the 1920s. Hu tells Cool Hunting that he collected the devices from four countries (UK, US, Japan, and France) in order to provide a literal window into the “great industrial discoveries of humanity.

By adding a zipper to mechanical devices, Hu offers a glimpse into things that are ordinarily tucked away from sight and mind — things that contribute to the “magic” of each device by allowing them to function properly in what they’re designed to do.

The exhibition is now on permanent display at the Guangzhou Art Academy. You can find more of Hu’s work over on Jue.so.

Reconnecting Time by Hu Shaoming (via Cool Hunting via PSFK)

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Image credits: Photographs by Hu Shaoming