A 1¢ PEEP-SHOW
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The disembodied eroticism in A 1¢ Peep Show pays sybiline homage to the history of the cinema: a braid of optical illusions, soft-core porn, and novelty. Edging the boundaries of value and taste in art, the complete, hyper-colour 16mm film can be taken in for as little as 1¢ per 30 seconds; the entire film is 9 minutes long.
The peep-shows' most recent materialization was completely digital. The coin mechanism was installed on St. Laurent Boulevard in Montréal, Québec, all through the month of August 2012. A micro-controller detects the amount of coinage inserted, and the digitized 16mm film is visible through a slit in the storefront window of LaCentrale Galerie Powerhouse.
Below are images from the original, all-analog version of A 1¢ Peep Show. Patrons simply slip into the Peep Show booth's white velvet trunk and pop a penny into the coin slot, triggering a relay-switch circuit and illuminating the bulb in a 16mm film projector for 30 seconds-per-penny. A custom-made 16mm film looper continuously loops the film, randomizing the start/end points for the viewer, in a manner similar to the 8mm peep-show booths that could be found at the Lion's Den Arcade on Granville Street in Vancouver, BC.
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Many thanks to the artist Stephanie Bjornson crafted the luxurious white velvet Peep Show coverlet, artist/engineer Bobbi Kozinuk, and John's Jukes of Vancouver, BC.