Page 38 - Studio International - August 1966

Lev Nusberg
The Cross
Chinese ink
16 1/8 x 35 3/8 in.

A cinema project ballet, must now merge organically with the new mani-
festations of kinetic art. No machine, not even the most
At the present time we are beginning to shoot a film—in complex, can replace the living plasticity of man's body
the preparatory stages. We want to try to embody in in movement. Man is something infinite, constantly
the cinema some of our ideas—kinetic spectacles, kinetic undergoing change, creating and being created.
objects—which cannot be shown in any other form. But We are starting to create a kinetic spectacle-mystery. It
this film will not be like the usual film; it has to be a is both theatre and not theatre: 'theatre' in the sense that
kind of kinetic spectacle-cinema. The place where it is this will be a synthesis of various art forms revealing
shown needs to be specially constructed. One, two, or dramatic action; 'not theatre' because there will be no
three different reels of film may be projected simul- actors as such, nor will there be any literary content in
taneously on a circular screen, in any place, and within what happens on-stage. And still less on the technical
a given time. At the same time the 'screen' or image may side will such a performance be usual 'theatre' : it will
take any form—circular, oval, rectangular, square, tri- use cinema techniques, complex optical and lighting
angular, even irregular—and change as the action techniques, and a changing constructed-set (several stage
develops. The image, in colour and black-and-white, floors), while simultaneously the position of the 'spec-
will generally move, but may sometimes be still. tator' (who is already not so much a spectator as an
Action may appear on several 'screens' either simul- interpretative subject) will be within the scene of the
taneously or in sequence. Outlines on the screen will be action. The role accorded to the actor is only that of one
distinct or indistinct, depending on the action of the element in the general development of the action, like
film. any other component part of this whole (e.g. play of
It is essential that the sound should be 'in' the ceiling colour-light, change-movement, different form-construc-
and the floor and also emanate from the seats (which tion, changes of smell and temperature, movement of
must be able to rotate). music and other aspects). If there is to be human speech
Film projection speeds must be variable. it will be only associative, phonetic.
Supplementary light-colour may be projected on to the This type of spectacle is not just for one 'performance'
'image-action', speeding-up or retarding the expression only; rather it is a 'token piece'. But for many people this
of the image itself; at the same time this supplementary is more a method whereby each creator finds his own
light may perhaps itself constitute the image. form of expression.
And there are many more techniques, methods and I would like to show in our work an aspiration towards
ways of working. a deeper, more exact expression, through new artistic
But this cinema-spectacle is distinguished from ordinary embodiments, of contemporary man's spiritual world, an
films by the fact that its content is itself the spirit of the aspiration to communicate the dynamism and differentia-
`film'. (Even the most experimental cinemas are experi- tions of our epoch in forms that more accurately corres-
mental not so much in their technical aspects as in their pond to it. Our search is not so much for new forms and
so-called scenarios.) technical means of artistic expression as for new symbols,
But none of this research will reveal its true value—it for a symbolism which will, I believe, mirror the spirit
will lack inner cohension—unless the people themselves of the mid-twentieth century.
participate directly. What was previously demonstrated Lev Nusberg, Moscow 1965
in dances, mysteries, pantomimes, theatrical productions,