A Machine for Viewing
VR installation and mixed reality performance, 25’ approx., 2019
In 1970, legendary film-maker Peter Kubelka designed a cinema auditorium in which carefully controlled sight lines and reams of black velvet caused all but the screen to disappear into darkness. He referred to his invisible cinema as ‘a machine for viewing’. The world is now full of machines for viewing, from personal devices to public displays. But the cinema has not disappeared, and box office is again growing. Why? Perhaps because the physical experience of cinema-going cannot be simulated. A Machine for Viewing is a hybrid of real-time VR experience, live performance, and video essay that explores how we now watch films by putting cinema and VR – an old machine for viewing and a new one – face to face.
Created by Richard Misek, Oscar Raby, and Charlie Lyne
Produced by Richard Misek and Oscar Raby
Co-produced by Live Cinema UK
Associate producer Lisa Brook
Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council