Moving Picture Panorama

360° ∞ loop projection with multiple 16mm projectors

The "Moving Picture Panorama" is a dreamed construction with 16 film projectors projecting a 16mm film in a circle on a projector canvas. The 16mm projectors, synchronized by a central motor, project a film circular around, in a loop without beginning and end, like an installation. The film runs from one projector to another, one out, the next in, and after the last back in the first.

Film technician Nico Komen worked on this machine until his death in 2022. Artists and technicians from the Rotterdam-based, artist-run lab Filmwerkplaats took charge of the installation, perfecting the first eight projectors and turning a working 180° panorama into a reality. During this process, several film artists were invited to develop a work and shed light on the machine's possibilities. The films by Lichun Tseng, Ieke Trinks, Esther Urlus, Richard Tuohy & Dianna Barrie, Nan Wang, Luis Macias and Els van Riel range from panoramic and urban landscapes to a game of sun and moon towards completely abstract, rythmic light projections. Each piece has a unique signature dictated by the parameters of the machine: a continuous projection of eight parts of the 50 meter long filmstrip. The “Moving Picture Panorama” is like a cinematic time machine.

Grande Finale - Esther Urlus - 2021

Moving Picture Panorama is a project by Filmwerkplaats Rotterdam
Created by Nico Komen
Project coordination: Esther Urlus, Erwin van ’t Hart
Technical production: Erwin van ’t Hart, Els van Riel, WORM/Filmwerkplaats Rotterdam
Films by: Lichun Tseng (2017), Ieke Trinks (2017), Esther Urlus (2021), Richard Tuohy & Dianna Barrie (2023), Nan Wang (2024), Luis Macias (2025), Els van Riel (2026)




Presentations Moving Picture Panorama:

2017 - WORM/UBIK Rotterdam - Back to the Future Festival #1 - Ieke Trinks, Lichun Tseng
2021 - WORM/UBIK Rotterdam - Back to the Future Festival #2 - Esther Urlus
2023 - WORM/UBIK Rotterdam - Back to the Future Festival #3 - Richard Tuohy & Dianna Barrie
2024 - WORM/UBIK Rotterdam - Spectral Members Residency Showcase - Nan Wang
2025 - WORM/UBIK Rotterdam - Back to the Future Festival #4 - Luis Macias
2026 - Courtisane Festival Ghent / Belgium - Els van Riel

Richard Tuohy & Dianna Barrie - 2023

Collide on Film - Ieke Trinks - 2017

It's not the sun who is moving - Luis Macias - 2025

Erwin van ’t Hart working at the installation 'It's not the sun who is moving' by Luis Macias

Richard Tuohy & Erwin van ’t Hart working at the installation, 2023

Nan Wang - 2024

Els van Riel at Courtisane Festival Ghent / Belgium, 2026

Els van Riel at Courtisane Festival Ghent / Belgium, 2026