TOM — Theater of Magic

Theater of Magic is a road show — an installation in which the pinball machine is central. In TOM, Bracke shows images he has recorded with a camera obscura on the inside of pinball machines (Twilight Zone and The Addams Family, to name the most important).

This technique gives the photographs an extra dimension: they become scenic images that can represent an opera, a theatre, a cabaret or even a cityscape — images that make the viewer dream away in a pseudo-futuristic world. The spectator is invited to find out where and how the photos came about.

The use of color lighting creates the illusion of a flickering pinball machine. As a result the static plane (the canvas) becomes almost three-dimensional and enhances the impression of a space, an interior, a cityscape — the images acquire an architectural dimension. Although it gradually becomes clear that the photos are photographed from very close, they also radiate a certain distance, because the viewer lacks starting points from the real world.

Shown at: Berliner Liste — Postbahnhof, Berlin · De Voorste Venne, ’s-Hertogenbosch (Dutch Pinball Open) · Hopduvel & Coupure, Ghent.