Documentation of the Retrospectrocope Installation by Kerry Laitala
by Kerry Laitala (7 mins)
“This is a documentation of the Retrospectroscope Installation, and was shot in my studio. The description is as follows:
The Retrospectroscope is Kinetic sculpture, Gigantaurus Philosophical Toy
Mixed Media using 4×5’ large format images, motorized mount, strobes and sound.
The Retrospectroscope was made using a single sheet of Plexiglas, 5 ft. in diameter, and was mounted directly on a stand and illuminated from behind. As an optical device, its function was to create the illusion of movement utilizing large format still images. The “Retrospectroscope” apparatus has gone through many incarnations, its presence belies the processes that have created it.
As a pre-cinematic device, it traces an evolutionary trajectory, encircling the viewer in a procession of flickering fantasies of fragmented lyricism. This re-invention simulates the illusion of the analysis of motion to recall early mysteries of the quest for this very discovery now taken for granted; the “Muses of Cinema” represented by the female figures on the disk, have emerged from a dark Neoclassical past.
The Retrospectroscope has been installed in the following Venues:
2008: Artist Television Access Front display window — Month of April — San Francisco, CA
2000: The Lab — San Francisco, CA
1997: Vernissage Graduate Thesis Exhibition, Fort Mason, San Francisco Art Institute
1996: 125th Anniversary Celebration for the San Francisco Art Institute
The Retrospectroscope apparatus was sponsored by The San Francisco Art Institute’s 125th Anniversary Grant” — Kerry Laitala