CineChine (2012) | CineChine performance (2014)

CineChine enables you to experience the physical proportions of optical sound. Optical sound was used a lot in the 20s on celluloid and synthesizers, particularly among the Russian avant-garde artists. In this form light and sound are inseparable from one another. In the exhibition space we see objects that look like the parts of a dismantled movie projector. Beams of light projected onto rotating discs create a dynamic black and white composition. The ever-changing light frequencies in the space are picked up by light sensors and transformed into sound. It soon becomes clear that the tones you hear correspond with the light you see. CineChine is an installation that plays an automated composition designed especially for the space. 

CineChine performance is a collaboration between the artists Mariska de Groot and Dieter Vandoren. During this performance the installation Cinechine is played by Vandoren with the aid of light sensors. A dynamic tension is created between De Groot’s operation of the machine’s revolving discs and Vandoren’s use of his body to ‘play’ the shadows created by the discs with the aid of light sensors. As such, it’s never quite clear who’s directing whom. 

CineChine performance is a site-specific performance which will be shown at regular intervals.

iii (Instrument Inventor Initiative) is an international artists’ initiative with headquarters in The Hague. iii operates as a production house. The organisation promotes radical, interdisciplinary works that transgress the borders of music, visual arts, theatre and media design. Through developing new instruments and innovative presentation forms that connect image, sound, space and the body, they strive to create a unique experience for a broad audience. 

Mariska de Groot received her Masters in ArtScience at The Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. De Groot has been a member of iii since 2013. Cinechine has been exhibited as part of various performance and sound festivals in, among others, the Netherlands, Russia, Germany and Austria.