Spacy
1981 · 10m · Japan
Directed by Takashi Ito
Genres: animation, experimental
An experimental film composed of 700 still photographs of a gymnasium, using stop-motion to create the illusion of infinite recursive movement as the camera plunges into photographs of photographs displayed on easels within the same space.
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700 photographs of a gym recursing into themselves until your vestibular system files a complaint. Ito made a roller coaster out of still images and a Bolex — show me the equivalent today.
Ito's recursive gymnasium is a pure assault on ocular reason; one of the great Japanese experimental films, descended from Kubelka's flicker tradition but utterly its own. Vimeo carries it.
Page summary confirms 1981/10min/16mm/tinted stock - 700 still photographs arranged into recursive plunges from photo-of-photo to photo-of-photo, no live action whatsoever. The construction is the entire film, and it makes you sweat.
Reviews
The camera moves along invisible geometric patterns (not unlike the lines which define the game of basketball), and the spectacle of space is reinvented.
Spacy utilizes still animation techniques to draw attention to film projection as the quick succession of photographs, refined to dynamic perfection.
Festivals
- Hyōgo Prefectural Museum of Art 1982
- Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris 1982
- Hong Kong International Film Festival 1983
- Edinburgh International Film Festival 1984
- International Short Film Festival Oberhausen 2015