Spectators were invited to sit on the benches of an improvised and precarious theater, in an assemblage of salvaged wood.
At center stage was a « Flipomaton », a machine consisting of a cylinder on which a multitude of archive portraits from Photo Elysée’s Photomaton were mounted.
This device was inspired by the « Mutoscope », one of the first cinematographic devices of the 19th century. By turning a crank, the series of portraits comes to life, merging the individuals into the illusion of movement. The perimeter of the installation is delimited by a cable supporting a series of large black-and-white analog
prints that bear witness to the construction of the device itself.
Like a giant instruction manual, these suspended images act as
a counter-field to the Photo-maton, echoing the past of the photographic medium through manual laboratory work and interpersonal
sharing.
With its DIY aesthetic, the « Flipomaton » invites us to return to the tangible, human sources of the medium, and reminds us that, beyond the omnipresent digital technologies, it’s possible to produce a magical effect simply by taking a picture.