A Dunedin artist's latest project has bombed. And he couldn't be happier. Nigel Benson meets Matthew Wilson.
A Dunedin artist has narrowly avoided a charge of indecent exposure.
Matthew Wilson (21) sparked a major bomb scare in Dunedin on April 23 after his pinhole cameras, taped to structures around Burnside and Green Island, were mistaken by police for explosive devices.
The Otago Polytechnic third-year bachelor of visual arts student made the cameras from aluminium drink cans, then sealed them with duct tape and strapped them to two bridges and a road sign.
Wilson was experimenting with the photographic technique of solargraphy - recording the movement of the Sun through a long exposure.
However, when the devices were discovered, police set up a cordon around the area, nearby residents were evacuated and Southern Motorway traffic diverted.
"My brother, Ryan, rang me up and said there was a bomb scare at the bottom of Koremata St, where I live, and that it was probably my pinhole cameras.
"So, I thought I better contact the police," Wilson recalls.
The incident forced the national bomb squad to return to Dunedin by helicopter from Christchurch a day after it was called to a bomb hoax at Dunedin International Airport.
"I didn't realise it was such a big deal, but the police were pretty good about it.
"They told me it only came to their attention because of the bomb scare at the airport the day before.
"I thought it was a bit blown out of proportion, to be honest.
"But I can see, from their point of view, that they did look a bit suspicious.
"The bomb squad came and took them down.
"The bomb squad guy said he was happy because he didn't have to put his big, heavy bomb suit on."
Police inadvertently helped create one of the exposures.
"The police took the film out of one of the cans to check for explosives and the can got squashed.
I fixed it back up with tape in the police car.
"The police have still got two of them.
"They'll still be recording in the police station.
"It will be interesting to get them back and see cops sitting around eating doughnuts, or something."
Wilson managed to salvage six images, which look like culture in a petri dish.
And, in some ways, that's exactly what they are.
For Dunedin culture lies beneath the amorphous images.
"I was hoping to see people and cars moving, but they've underexposed and captured the Sun.
"I'm pretty pleased with the results, though. I liked the idea of change.
"How and where is the art work made?
"Is it the machine doing the work, or the artist who makes the machine? I like that idea."
The pinhole cameras were made from drink cans which contained a piece of photographic paper curling around inside about 1cm back from the hole.
After the images are captured, Wilson inverts them in a computer with Photoshop software.
"The trick with them is that you don't develop a film, because it would get overexposed and turn black.
"I used black-and-white photographic paper, but five of them came out in colour.
"I don't know why. It's quite crazy how it worked.
"They were meant to be there for three to six months, but they only lasted a week.
"So that was a bit disappointing.
"But, everyone at art school thought it [the controversy] was really good exposure and stuff.
"A few teachers thought it was quite funny and the head of school [Prof Leoni Schmidt] was really supportive."
Wilson is also a tattoo aficionado, working at Tattrix Tattooing Studio in Kaikorai Valley, and his left arm pays homage to the craft.
"I've been working with drawing machines for the last two years and a tattooing machine is just another drawing machine, really.
"I've even made a tattooing machine out of bronze.
"I'm into the old-school kind of stuff that's being revived; old sailor tattoos and things like that.
"I don't think tattooing's ever gone out of fashion.
"People have been doing it for thousands of years. It will go on forever."
Wilson plans to exhibit the solargraphy works at the art school's half-year exhibition in August.
The Dunedin Emergency Commander, Inspector Alastair Dickie, confirmed this week police had deliberated over whether to lay charges over the incident.
The four-hour operation had cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars, and charges of wasting police time and recklessness were considered.
"But there wasn't the required intent," Insp Dickie said.
"We're satisfied he has learnt a valuable lesson."
An international event which promotes and celebrates the art of pinhole photography is held every year on the last Sunday in April.
Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day encourages people to participate in the simple act of making a pinhole photograph.
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For more information, visit www.pinholeday.org
