KEN JACOBS NERVOUS SYSTEM
BRITISH DEBUT OF LIVE PROJECTION PERFORMANCES
3-10 NOVEMBER 2000
Distinguished filmmaker Ken
Jacobs will present the British premiere performances of the Nervous
System, an innovative live projection technique that he has been
developing since the mid-1970s. These works will use two adapted
35mm filmstrip projectors containing identical sections of film.
Jacobs manipulates the footage by hand, using a special propeller
device to act as an adjustable shutter to vary the relationship
between the image from each projector. The Nervous System creates
a dynamic optical tug-of-war as the mind tries to resolve what
IS there with what SEEMS to be there. This is no impenetrable
experimental film for the avant-garde elite, it is dazzling CINE-MAGIC
to astound all ages.
Assisted by his wife Florence,
Jacobs operates the Nervous System like a master musician, improvising
wildly through intensely rehearsed visual riffs, refining an approach
first hinted at in his influential early film wonder "Tom,
Tom The Piper's Son" (1969). Freeze frames, forward and reverse
motion, inverse and mirrored images flicker through the projector
as viewers find themselves giggling with disbelief as the screen
appears to rotate while the brain tries to interpret what the
eyes are seeing. In undermining the basic 24 frames per second
principle of standard film practice, Jacobs creates frozen time.
Expanding on Muybridge, Marey and the theories of early film,
he unlocks the unknown possibilities hidden deep within cinema,
the depth of composition that is usually lost in the unretarded
flurry of frames. What may appear frozen or stationary, on the
screen can imperceptibly develop motion or suddenly rush forward
in an orgasm of movement. The thrill of motion overtakes the need
for narrative. Rather than pursue lifelike illusion, Jacobs uses
Pulfrich 3D and "Eternalism" to break down the image,
creating fantastic relationships within the frames of standard,
often archival, film, mining cinema to display its unrealised
beauty.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
A bfi Touring Programme
Presented in association with the 44th Regus London Film Festival
Curated by Mark Webber
Funded by the Arts Council of England