nickelodeon | 2008

The Nickelodeon is made up of a collection of short performances that re-enact on stage the movements executed by cameras in movies. The very shots, travelings, pannings, zoom-ins, close-ups, etc. making up the original footage are reproduced in an empty space, by performers moving aluminum frames of different sizes and formats to the original soundtrack. Each one of these microperformances exactly reproduces the camera movements and editing cuts of a specific excerpt taken from a broad selection of feature films, television series, documentaries, talk shows, video clips or live broadcasts.

The audience interacts with The Nickelodeon as with a juke-box: from a list of about 36 filmic productions, the visitors can freely select what they wish to see. Once an item is chosen, lights and sound automatically turn on, and the selected title is performed live, right in front of the spectator. At the end of each excerpt, light and sound turn off again until another selection is made.


The Nickelodeon derives its title from the early type of motion picture theater carrying the same name. Nickelodeons emerged in the U.S.A. at the turn of the 20th century, with the arrival of narrative-style films, as a cheap alternative to live theaters. For a fixed price of 5 cents (a"nickel") short feature films were shown. Later, the name also became a term for a coin-operated musical jukebox.

Unlike it's historical counterpart, C&H's Nickelodeon does not offer it's customers (or audience) filmscreenings, but a selection of short live performances to choose from.

The Nickelodeon replaces cameramen with performers and cameras with empty aluminum frames. Feature films, television series, talk shows and other found footage are stripped bare from their original images and made ready for receiving the audiences upload of imaginary.

For more information on the Nickelodeon you can download the pdf below.

Tour

23-04-2008 until 27/04/2008, Vooruit, Gent COURTISANE FESTIVAL
14-11-2008 20:00 and 22:30, Kaai Studios / Brussels WORKING TITLE FESTIVAL
16-11-2008 14:30 and 16:00, Kaai Studios / Brussels WORKING TITLE FESTIVAL
24-01-2009 22:00, Lantaren-Venster / Rotterdam IFFR


concept :
C&H
performance and development :
Heike Langsdorf, Christophe Meierhans, Christoph Ragg, Ula Sickle
support :
Vooruit/Gent, Courtisane, Nadine
coproduction :
Kunst/Werk, frogs OS, TNT/Bordeaux, Workspace Brussels