Live Cinema: Sandra Gibson & Luis Recoder

With their current live cinema project, Aberration of Light: Dark Chamber Disclosure, which the Film Museum and the Viennale will present for the first time in Vienna on October 31, Luis Recoder and Sandra Gibson have already generated considerable buzz. Two of the most celebrated practitioners of an expanded cinema, Gibson and Recoder reflect – and re-imagine – the tradition of dual 35mm film projection, including the projectionist-as-performer, the phenomenology of the projector beam, and the theatrical space of cinema. In collaboration with sound artist and composer Olivia Block, they turn the ‘simple’ act of analog film presentation into a magnificently abstract play of sights and sounds.

 

For curator and critic Andréa Picard, the title of this new piece already suggests “the celestial, the photographic and the musical” – dimensions that are essential in Gibson’s and Recoder’s attempts to “forge hypnotic, sculptural works of light.” In the artists’ own words, Aberration of Light takes on the characteristics of “a surrealist dream from the point of view of the projectionist. ... Let us imagine that our dreamer is none other than Buster Keaton as he nods off during his shift in the projection booth. In the dream, Buster begins to readjust the projector lens so as to throw the image out of focus. Although the angry mob of spectators become frustrated by the optical aberration on the screen, Buster captivates them by inserting a crystal chandelier in front of the lens. The image splits and fragments beyond the borders of the screen, dancing across the walls of the theater like a moving abstract fresco. The orchestra, unfazed by the dazzling light spill, seizes the opportunity to improvise freely with the projectionist’s invisible hand ...”