Trapped Between Frames (Ming I Darkening of the Light )
Technical Details:
Stereoscopic Film Installation. UK 2014.
Duration: 9.51 min / loop
Format: Stereoscopic found photographs animated and mix with 16 mm film and HD video
Directed by Nazare Soares, Performance by Aya Toraiwa, Sound Design by Laila Hansen and Andrew Stuart-Buttle.
The myth tells the sun goddess Amaterasu escaped from the unbearable cruelty of her brother, and hides away in a cave, leaving the world in darkness. Her own light was so strong it made the place so bright to not be seen anything. So much bright was reflected back to her that from her chest a black hole appeared and from there it expanded till covered all her body and spaces of the cave, at which she vanished into the darkness of the brightness.- âI exist where the tree keeps its root, beneath blood and ground, where darkness brights at its best.
âTo educate the image-making medium within us, raising it to a stereoscopic and dimensional seeing into the depths of historical shadows”
The words are Rudolf Borchardâs in Epilegomena zu Dante, vol.i ( Berlin, 1923), pp.56-57 â quoted in Arcades Project [N1,8] (Benjamin)
The Kaiser-Panorama made in 1883 was the first mechanized apparatus which controlled the visual attention of the viewer. It restricted the viewing time of each image to 15 seconds. Through these fragments of stereoscopic scenarios the observer was driven by mechanization through a journey captured by colonial lenses. Imperialist ideology allowed the viewer to observe and experience the illusion of depth of a remote place for a period of time determined by the apparatus.
With this installation I attempt to break through the disembodiment generated by the Kaiser-panorama, allowing the observer to experience depth in different ways. I have used Film, tape and digital apparatus during the process and have looked to the history of technological advances to create a physiological and neurological cinematic experience; the  âDreamâmachine.
Darkening of the Light is a stereoscopic film and surround sound installation inspired by a pre-cinematic stereoscopic display. It employs different techniques to create an illusion of depth. There are two separate films displayed, outside and inside of the wooden structure. There is also a small projection onto a magnifying glass. Building a 3D stereoscopic installation inspired by its early form has driven my research into the history of technological progression from its stereoscopic illusion roots. The installation creates a dialogue between history of the 3D displayed and modes of visual record.
“Visibilities are not forms of objects, nor even forms that would show up under light, but rather forms of luminosity which are created by the light itself and allow a things to exist only as a flash, sparkle, or shimmer” (Deleuze 1988b, 52)
The 3D film in the interior of the installation is a projected trance, plays in loop, the narrative created through rhythm and movement. The aesthetic approaches deployed mix cinematic medias through epochs, film, tape and digital formats creating a dialogue between different visual materials. The narrative of the film develops in a manner connected with the Deleuzian concept of the brain is the screen, a constellation of images unfolds onto suspended layers of screens which will explore neurological effects and the psychology of seeing, and how visual perception affects the brain. Cognitive recognition will be provided in a flash of a series of dialectic images.
âYet the brain is only an image among other imagesâ
Henri Bergson
The front wall of the structure houses 2 pairs of binoculars through where, the viewer can observe. The viewer will see stereoscopic still pictures mixed with moving images. A human silhouette walks trapped between the frames of stereoscopic cave and woods scenarios. The different scenarios are displayed in loop.
The historic character trapped between frames is the key to develop the narrative within the 3D interior space.
The character is inspired by Himiko, an ancient Japanese shaman queen who ruled Japan during the 3rd century. Her presence functions as an allegory of embodiment of memory. Japanese mythology refers to her as the sun goddess; this has inspired the narrative development from an allegoric approach. Her mythical nature stems from the fact that there is no record of her existence in Japanese historical texts, whereas Chinese and Korean texts make reference to her. Her case is one of the most controversial in archaeology. In 2002 her tomb was believed to have been found and only very recently the remains of her palace have been discovered, near Nara. Her case is an example of how a mythological figure becomes real from discovered remnants.
2020
Invisibledrum Symposium at Rosendal Theater, Trondheim. Norway
2019
âIllusionsâ programme curated by Sarah Schipschack at Mumbai Art Room, Mumbai. India.
2018
Volumes 2018. Festival Internacional de Exploracion Audio Visual. Centre del Carme, Valencia. Spain
Anniversary of Moving Image Arts. University of Brighton. Brighton Cinecity. Fabrica Gallery. Brighton. UK
2017
Other Cinema. Avant to Live: New experimental works. Artist Television Access. San Francisco, CA
2016
Wicca-ed Cinema. HĂXĂN WITCHES & ASTRAL VISIONS. Artist Television Access. San Francisco, CA
Festival Internacional de Cinema Dobra, HĂXĂN – O Oculto Pessoal. Cinemateca. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Usurp Zone 5 Film Festival supported by BFI. Indian Habitat Centre. Screening. New Delhi, India
2015
Addis Video Art Festival. Compilation IVAHM. Museum of Contemporary art of Ethiopia.
Fiva International Video Art Festival, Museo del Libro y de la Lengua. Screening Buenos Aires, Argentina
Haxan Film Festival, Omni Oakland Commons.Screening. Oakland, California
Usurp Zone 5 Film Festival supported by BFI and Film London. Usurp Gallery. London, UK
Gaze Film Series, Past Perfect Future Tense. Artists Television Access.San Francisco, CA
IVHAMâ15 Media Arts Festival. La Neomudejar de Atocha. Film Installation. Madrid, Spain
2014
Cinecity Film Festival. Brighton Museum and Art Gallery.Screening. Brighton, UK
Art Experimenta Vol.8. Trispace Gallery.Screening. London, UK
Fort Process Sound Art Festival. Film Installation. New Heaven, UK
The Lavish Big Screen. Latitude Festival. Film Installation. Suffolk, UK
Artist Film Salon. Supported by LUX. JW3. Screening. London, UK
Ming I Darkening of the Light. Stereoscopic. University of Brighton. Film Installation. Brighton, UK