Nervous System and Nervous Magic Lantern - Text 1
Projection Bricolage: Ken Jacobs, by Tatian Monassa
Nervous System and Nervous Magic Lantern
Nervous System and Nervous Magic Lantern are two projection configurations created by Ken Jacobs which consist in manipulating projection equipment so as to be able to intervene in the film images and produce evanescent illusory effects, in particular that of three dimensions.
Nervous System was the first “system” Jacobs conceived, which he used in performances from 1975 to 2000. Jacobs developed this device for the simultaneous projection of two identical prints of a film after years of presenting his shadow theatre, which he called the “Apparition Theater of New York.” It consisted of two 16 mm or 35 mm analytical projectors which could advance or go backwards at a speed of 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16 or 24 frames per second or stop on an image[5]. Placed beside each other and trained on a single screen, they each projected an image of the same shot, usually at an interval of one photogram. In front of the lenses, a turning propeller, a kind of giant exterior shutter, blocked in turn each of the beams of light for a fraction of a second, creating a flicker effect. The relation between the images from each projector was thereby regulated: most often they were in relay, and sometimes they overlapped, something which could be done at different speeds.
