RE-ENACTMENTS, This Comb Does Not Work at Random (Hommage à Segundo de Chomón) El Hotel Electrico 1908, 2014

The “complicity” of the viewer is the most important recurring motif in the Quay Brothers’ artistic strategies. The oeuvre of this exceptional duo is a combination of graphic designs, stop-motion animation films, decors for opera and dance, and spatial installations.
The twins constructed an octagonal scale-model with little mirrors, inspired by de Chomón’s animated short film, The Electric Hotel (1908). An additional looped projection serves as an intertextual anchor. One element, more particularly a strand of hair from the film scene, makes a return in the scale-model’s design. Our gaze is directed by means of an anamorphic mirror, by the delineation of the space around the object and by the reflections of larger mirrors hanging at regular intervals in the room, turning it into a life-size zoetrope. The viewer thus becomes a component of the optical scheme.

Part of the exposition Nuts & Bolts, Thu 26 Jan to Sat 4 Feb, 11:00-20:30, Het Atelier, free admission

For all exhibitions, performances, video works and (interactive) installations, also see IFFR.com/expo.