Nervous System and Nervous Magic Lantern - Text 5A
Ken Jacobs: Eternalism
“Eternalism” is the name given by Ken Jacobs to a visual effect resulting from his research into perception and his experiments in the manipulation of images. He defines it as “unfrozen slices of time, sustained movements going nowhere, unlike anything in life... without discernable start and stop and repeat points.”[6] Born with the Nervous System performances, Eternalism was initially produced by joining high-frequency flicker and the controlled unspooling of two identical films projected in alternation, image by image, with a one-photogram gap between them. To these contradictory movements was added the perception of an illusory third dimension in such a way that it was virtually impossible to separate the two effects.
In an effort to preserve something of these ephemeral works, Jacobs sought to transpose the effect to video, initiating another phase of experimentation, this time with computer software. This was the start to the final stage of his career, during which he devoted himself exclusively to digital video and to a protean exploration of Eternalism, which he patented. Three elements or “series” took shape in this output: “reproductions” of projection performances; videos made out of personal photographs (family and other photos); and videos which reuse early twentieth-century stereoscopic cards.
