16.09.2025 | JAN KULKA: ARCHEOSCOPE

Special | Film is the articulation of light

PREFILM

CZ 2016, D: Jan Kulka, 25’, no film, masks, filters, flicker

PATTERNS

CZ 2022, D: Jan Kulka, 42’, 60mm

Jan Kulka is coming from Prague, bringing his Archeoscope with him. The Archeoscope is an analogue, hand-operated live projection machine that he designed and built to explore and redefine what it means to experience films. The machine can project all common film formats – 8, 16, 35, 70 mm – as well as special formats and all kinds of materials such as transparent tape, bandages, shoelaces, fabrics, packaging tape, bubble wrap and barrier tape.

The Archeoscope has four independent light sources arranged side by side. The film does not run through the projector from top to bottom as is usually the case, but rather across it. The four light sources make it possible to project four different areas of an image or film strip simultaneously. This allows for countless combinations, rhythms and polyrhythms in which the four lamps can be switched together. The frame rate is no longer fixed to a regular, monotonous pattern, as is normally the case, but can be composed “musically” – in shorter, cyclical structures or larger, linear intervals. In the end, no two projections are alike, so what you see is a truly unique experience. The Archeoscope can fundamentally change the way we think about cinema.

Jan Kulka is showing and performing two of his works at GEGENkino: PREFILM and PATTERNS. PREFILM works with light. Broken down to a most basic level, film is a temporal sequence of light and dark intervals. When the cycle is fast, flickering occurs, a visual phenomenon with transcendent potential. In PREFILM, no film material is projected; instead, materials, stencils, filters and nuanced lighting are used. This tickles specific points of perception, resulting in a stimulating massage for the eyes. PATTERNS, on the other hand, is an experimental, handmade film created using a printing process on a 60 mm film base. It explores the cinematic potential of patterns – what regular, repetitive structures on film can do when projected in different ways. It thus offers a unique opportunity to experience the essence of patterns directly in live action. PATTERNS is an audiovisual struggle between chaos and order, a logos brought to life, embedded in an intense light spectacle. The film is an immersive play on the senses, in which the eye is constantly busy taking everything in, while the brain simultaneously tries to make sense of it all. The visual creations, variations and modulations of the patterns on the screen and subsequently in the minds of the audience give rise to something new that cannot be seen anywhere else. The live projection of this film is technically irreproducible and can only be experienced with the naked eye. Following the performance, Jan Kulka will give a shortlecture about his work and make the special features of the Archeoscope accessible to the audience.

Wed 17 Sept	UT Connewitz
8 PM	€ 7,50 (6,50 reduced) Following the performance, Jan Kulka will give a short lecture about his work and make the special features of the Archeoscope accessible to the audience.