La persistance reptiliénne
Liz Rácz
Dispositif cinétique (“spinning device”) created from materials recovered from an apparatus used in 35mm cinema projection (motor, speed controller, metal structure), wood; stroboscopic light with bespoke aluminium cover. Figurines, disk : papier machè, paint, artificial grass. Total height (including strobe light) : 260 cm; height of spinning device (including figurines) : 61 cm, diameter of spinning device: 115 cm.
France 2017
"This installation is a non-linear exploration of movement and perception. It is also a reflection about myths and the persistence and perpetuation of false beliefs.
The installation is a stroboscopically-animated turning device, a sort of neo-precinematographic apparatus, which, ironically, refuses to be perfectly filmed.
Our perception of movement in cinema as explained by the phenomenon of the persistence of vision is contested. According to an article which appeared in 1976 by Joseph Anderson and Barbara Fisher, the persistence of vision is a myth perpetuated by film theorists for lack of understanding or curiousity about the actual processes which occur. In brief, the persistence of vision says that images remain on the retina for a fraction of a second after being seen. The theory which perpeptuates the myth says that in order for us to perceive movement in cinema, our eye blends each image with the previous one to obtain the illusion of movement. However, if this were the case, we would see a pile-up of images, much like Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase…
Our perception of movement in cinema can better be explained by complex processes by the eye and the brain together, and not merely ‘a fault’ of the eye as previously thought. In a follow-up article Anderson suggests that our perception of cinema is more closely related to how we understand movement in the “real” world." (https://lizracz.wordpress.com/)
Liz Rácz, born 1969 in Melbourne, Australia, lives in Rives, France, works in Grenoble, France.
