5hz_thrsh.gatc_v1 — Mariana Machado

5hz_thrsh.gatc_v1
2025
The invention of the cinematic device was not a fixed point in time. As such, the illusion of movement from fixed images to what we call cinema progressed through fascinating devices such as the praxinoscope and the zoetrope. These mechanisms created, through mechanical movement, an illusion of movement of the pictures shown. More than a century later, moving images are ubiquitous in contemporary life and our relationship with them changed dramatically. As a speculative project, a contrary approach is taken and a
device is built around taking a digital video and trying to reach the limbic zone between static and moving images. From a motor that rotates both a shutter and a structure that receives the projection, a movement is created in a speed that allows the spectator to see only fragmented frames from the movie shown. In this case, we can see some George Meliès' excerpts from his films. However, a difference appears, since they have been submitted to computer vision algorithms, processes that are injected to digital images in order not to be seen, but to take data from them. A dialectical relationship is created between contemporary digital images and pre-cinematic devices, and the relationships associated with them. As a way of reappropriating old mechanisms, these are reinterpreted into new media approaches.
Video Installation
240x200x90cm

Concrete / Iron Structures / Fabric / DC Motor / Robotic Components / Acrylic Disc / Digital Projection / Electronic Circuit / Wiring / Wood / Plaster

Presented at Collective Exhibition ‘Ponto Cego’ at Independent Space Branda (2025)

-> Model of a praxinoscope: -> Speculative model of 5hz_thrsh_gatc_v1

-> Technical drawings