Colour Overflows the Screen: Christian Lebrat - Text 6
While Holon should be seen as a stage in Lebrat’s work and not a conclusion, it is possible nevertheless to see in it a synthesis of the visual experiments he has carried out on the coloured fragmenting of the photogram. The film’s conception is based on a calculation of combinations, one associated with the unforeseen aspect of his actions while the ribbons pass in front of the lens.
Christian Lebrat’s filming experiments have found a direct echo in the projection systems he has conceived for his performances. Liminal Minimal 1 and 2 (1977) make the photogrammatic nature of the film perceptible, but also the wave-like[8] properties of colour in film, while at the same time showing the perilous and circumstantial nature of the projection apparatus which defines our experience of the work. In fact Lebrat manually adjusts the projectors beforehand in order to superimpose the two image loops in the same frame. He makes them pivot in turn on a vertical and then horizontal axis in order to stretch the format by overlapping the frames. During his performances, he also plays with the area in which the image is sharp, modifying the projectors’ focus. Finally, in these performances a fictitious depth of field is generated, out of images which are actually flat expanses of colour, by means of a disjunction in the focal distance of the projectors. Liminal Minimal 1 and 2 literally overflow the screen, expanding and shaking up the static nature of projection.
