NEW YORK—On Thursday morning, a 37-by-11-foot brass-and-wood telescope will be erected on Fulton Ferry Landing in Brooklyn, the New York Times reports. An identical scope will sit on the bank of the Thames near the Tower Bridge in London, giving viewers in both cities the opportunity to see each other in real-time.

The Telectroscope, as the project is called, is the work of London-based artist Paul St. George. It functions by being linked into existing fiber-optic networks, though St. George has created a fake history for it: The Telectroscope was supposedly invented by the artist's mythical great-grandfather, Alexander Stanhope St. George, who designed a device that would connect people on opposite sides of the world through the use of long tunnels.

According to St. George, the Telectroscope was actually written about in the 19th century by a reporter who misheard a story about an electroscope. Other publications including the New York Times picked up story, and Mark Twain wrote about it as well.

St. George has realized the project with the help of the British arts organization Artichoke. Underwritten by British government grants and private sponsorship, it cost about £400,000 ($787,000).

The Telectroscope, whose frame of vision is six feet in diameter and does not include an audio component, will remain in place until June 15. Use is free in New York and costs £1 in London. Viewers can make an appointment to connect with a friend in London via the project's Web site.