|
Serpentine Dance Project /Projection on People
Way back in 1995 I was involved in a project for a BBC Arena programme on the life of Peter Sellers.
When Sellers was still a boy, in the 1930s, his parents used to do an act on the variety halls. This took the form of a ‘pose act’ in the process of which various scenic lantern images were projected onto his mother by his father, located down in the orchestra pit. You can see a very poor quality sequence from the programme here. Infortunately it hardly does jusrice to the vibrancy of the images, but you might like to take a look anyway :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoIgqnal9Dc&feature=plcp
This kind of performance was not new in the 1930s, but rather can be traced back to the early 1890s, to the then popular art of ‘skirt dancing’ and, more specifically, the work of the inspirational American dancer and star of the Folies Bergere, Loie Fuller. The imagery which in some cases was cast onto a swirling white frock and in other cases enveloped the entire stage would encompass everything from butterflies to battleships or headless girls in exotic locations, with the live entertainer providing the missing features. On the surface this ‘gimmick’ might seem to be something which would be short-lived, but surprisingly, remained a popular feature of cabaret and variety in Europe, the USA and in Australia.
In the last few years I have been exploring various private collections of images and supporting material and in the spring of 1913 will be visiting the United States on a fellowship to study one particular large collection of several hundred images and designs.
I hope eventually to publish a monograph not just on these slides but on the whole notion of ‘projection onto people’, looking at modern artist applications and a history which can be traced back to the 16th century (!), when the modus operandi of projection was the camera obscura!
A public performance project is also planned which will take place in the Autumn of next year in Birmingham, to coincide with the International Magic Lantern Convention.
The two images to the left show (from the top) Rachel Ray, Peter Seller’s second cousin, posing for the Arena programme back in 1995 (there’s another example on the welcome page)
and beneath that an image from a private collection of images once used by the German entertainer Pola Nery, who performed at the Folies Bergere and in cabaret in the 1930s.
|
