Art and Orange County Great Park

Remember the original pin-hole camera? An enclosed box containing no trace of light, except a small ray that passed through a pin-sized hole on the front side, produced the world’s first photographic image. Manipulating the original photographic technology, a group of artists in September 2007 created the world’s largest photographic image by creating an unusually large pin-hole camera. How was this done? In the future site of the Orange County Great Park, a remnant hangar on a decommissioned air base became the camera, and an emulsion-treated enormous canvas became the film negative. The result was tremendous: the world’s largest photograph, certified by the Guiness Book of World Records. The gigantic image was of the decommissioned air base, essentially an oversized record of the ground zero of the Orange County Great Park. In essence, art began the documentation of the grandiose transformation of an air base into a revolutionary park of the 21st century.

Throughout history, passion drove artists to express their emotion, ability, and vision through various mediums. For the observer, art inspires awe, wonder, and evokes an array of emotion. In Orange County Great Park, art, and its appreciation, will continue to flourish. Beyond the wildlife and recreational opportunities that the Great Park will provide, artisans will have opportunities to showcase their work. In places such as the Exposition Center, which will contain a museum and cultural center, and the main amphitheatre, artists, musicians, and thespians will have a place to display and perform art.

Currently, the Legacy Project team that created the Great Picture have continued their photographic exploration of the base site. To date, the team has collected over 90,000 photographs of the property, documenting existing building art, graffiti, and the initial stage of the Great Park’s transformation. With plans to include areas to showcase local art, perhaps the metamorphosis of the park captured by the Legacy Project will become an artistic display for all to appreciate.


Brandon Perkins
Content Coordinator
Direct Phone line: (310) 427-2740
NGS/LA FEATURES-Special Projects
Phone (888)477-9241/Fax (323) 559-2256