Pendulum

Laterial animation - this was the thought in our minds when we came up with Pendulum.

The conceptual structure of Pendulum was based on a system of 4's. The setup of involved 4 vertically mounted projection screens. Each screen caught the images projected by a bank of 4 slide projectors, for a total of 16 projectors. Each of the projectors contained the image that made up 1/4 of the sequence to be projected on 1 screen. Sequences were also loaded to be played laterally. This means that 1 projector from each bank would contain 1/4 of an animation that would step from screen to screen.

This side to side motion of projected animations gave birth to the name "pendulum". In addition, the mechanical nature of a swinging pendulum, like that in tha case of a grandfather clock, inspired us to contact mike the projectors and add the sudio of the projectors themselves to the final audio mix.

Pendulum was debuted at the "Formula" event at SFMOMA in May of 2000. In this first incarnation the screens were placed at 45 degree angles to allow the audience space to walk between them. The screens also reached from floor to ceiling and took on a monolithic presence in the space.

The show was eventually stripped down to 3 screens and 12 projectors in order to travel better. It waws presented in New York at the Here Art Center, at Portaland State University, and back at home in San Francisco for the the Transcinema 01 event at The Lab.