Thursday, November 15, 2007
Werner Nekes & the Frames of Perception
Werner Nekes is an experimental filmmaker who is best known for his exhaustive collection of evolutionary examples of pre-film technologies prior to the Lumieres. After reading about Nekes in the Future Cinema book, I ordered two compilations of his work through the Summit library system. One is in the form "Eyes, Lies, and illusions" a catalog of a exhibit a few years ago at the Hayward Gallery in London which features both Nekes' collection and contemporary artists who continue in that spirit and tradition.
The other was a video with the innocuous English title of "Film Before Film." which is especially unimpressive when one finds out that the Deutsch title is "Was Geschah wirklich zwischen den Bildern? (What really happened between the pictures?) Nekes' film is 83 minutes of non-stop demonstrations of illusionary technologies prior to projected film: Praxinoscopes, Phenakisiticopes, Zoetropes, and the impressive contrast art and technologies of the round disk and other delivery of the Thaumatrope. As the film points out, Thaumatropic illusions work because of the sluggishness of the eye and its ability to interpret information and work best when images are in high contrast of opposition to each other to create illusion (bird+cage=bird in cage)
The impact of all of this gentle and subtle category journey pre-20th century technologies in perception, image capture, photo reproduction, panoramic illusion with camera obscura, magic lantern, and peepshow becomes one of triumphant human endeavor when Nekes' film shows the Chronophotography of Muybridge, Anschutz, and MArey as a kind of final prophecy prior to the triumphant Lumieres. At that point, this film became much more than a bunch of demonstrations of antique stuff. It was a powerful testament to the power of technology, curiosity, play, and the human persistence to solve problems.
posted by well-executed buffet at 9:24 PM
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