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14/4/2005

Rodney Graham

Donald Young Gallery, Chicago

A crystal chandelier with 12 electric lights was suspended from the ceiling of a film studio from a wire cable. The cable was twisted a hundred or so times, then released allowing it to unwind as the chandelier spun back and forth, eventually coming to rest. The process was documented by a 35 mm camera, placed on its side and shooting one 1000 foot roll of film at 48 frames per second (twice the normal speed). For playback a special projector was manufactured--one which was not only capable of projecting at 48 frames per second, but which also turned the image around 90 degrees into a vertical orientation (the projector is also on its side)

Initially the work was inspired by a description of Sir Isaac Newton's famous experiment with a bucket full of water (hung from a rope which was wound up, then released. As it spun out, the observed relations between the behavior of the spinning bucket and that of the water within it led to conclusions about absolute and relative motion). Issues pertaining to Newtonian gravity and rest vis a vis large and rapidly moving lighting fixtures were graphically brought to my attention at a young age when I witnessed, while viewing the 1952 film Scaramouche, the near-impalement of Stewart Granger by means of a falling chandelier, but the work also continues themes implicit in my two other short films Coruscating Cinnamon Granules (1996) and Two Generators (1984) both of which are conceived as illustrated 'thought experiments' documenting transitory lighting events within the context of a single roll of film.

For Torqued Chandelier Release I chose to the vertical format as appropriate to the shape and vertical orientation of the chandelier (and thus providing more visual information of the subject itself, which is larger in the frame), and because I thought it was interesting to explore a 'portrait' rather than 'landscape' oriented cinema. The film is shot at and played back at 48 frames a second, again to offer the eye more information than a normal film could provide, and to avoid the strobing that would occur when such a subject matter is shot at a mere 24 frames per second.
Rodney Graham

Image: Torqued Chandelier Release, 2005

Reception for the artist, Friday, April 15, 5 – 7:30 pm

Donald Young Gallery
933 W. Washington Blvd. Chicago, IL 60607
Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 to 5:30 and Saturday, 11:00 to 5:30. If you would like more information, please contact Emily Letourneau at 312.455.0100.

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