TOMA.DE

1983 - 2000 - INVENTION - SKELETON PROJECTOR

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SLIDE SHOW

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An invention of mine that changed my professional career.

Hundreds of show between 1984 and 2000 was supported by this new medium.

Unfortunately the celluloid film disappeared in the world...

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SKELETON PROJECTOR STORY.

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1980 From the profile spotlights to the Slide Projectors

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I had always been a lover of cinema, but theater was another thing, the coexistence with the audience, which influenced the spirit of the show, and then the magical true three-dimensionality that I always missed a lot in cinema, but then I always wondered, how could one jump in a teatrical show from one location to another in the blink of an eye like in the cinema? In short, the challenge for me had always been to create something that combines Theater and Cinema.

I immediately began to prefer the light contours (Profile spotlights) with which it was possible to shape the beam of lights. With these shaped spotlights the light appears only where it is directed and without further space being illuminated. You could also draw geometric shapes of light. It was possible to play a scene and at the same time preparing the next scene in a the dark space. Actors appeared and disappeared suddenly in the blink of an eye.

These shaped spotlights were expensive and difficult to find in large quantities. During an installation I was missing 4 shaped spotlights, and at this crucial point I thought the idea to using slide projectors, the experimental Roman theaters called then "Roman Cellars" were small in size, a slide projector with 250 watts lamp was strong enough to illuminate a certain space.

The sky opened. I could shape the slides at will and color them with filters. I had 50 to 80 slide magazine available for each projector and I could control the various shutters of the projectors, which was impossible with the shaped spotlights where one could only dissolve the light but not close it in an instant. I remember going to Porta Portese (flea market) every Sunday to find other slide projectors.

It wasn't long before I started to insert letraset and other materials in the slides frame, coloring the glass of the slides with inks and so on..

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THE SLIDE LEARN TO MOVE

1983 SKELETON PROJECTOR 35MM VERSION 1 - X

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For few years I was working with the director Pippo Di Marca of the Meta Teatro as a lighting designer, set designer and assistant director. At 1983 Di Marca offered me the great opportunity to stage my own show in his theater. The moment I had been waiting with fury had arrived, but when it arrived I almost had a fever. :) Di Marca is one of the most recognized Experimental Theater Directors in Italy until now.

At this point I would not like to go into the details and contents of the show, because I am about to reconstruct above all the crucial moments that led to the birth of the Skeleton Projector.

I was about to imagine what a professional cyclist's nightmare might be. I imagined the cyclist pedaling in the sand of the infinite desert, but how could I bring this image on stage?

The idea passed quickly because it was not feasible. During tests that I was going to do with projectors a slide got stuck in the projector, I was searching desperately with a plastic ruler to remove it, the projector lamp was on so that I could see better inside the projector, at a certain point I saw my plastic ruler projected on the wall at move back and forth. I got a incredible Flash Back, remembering that little projector of mine that I had as a kid where cards equipped with slides could be moved horizontally to the next slide.

On the same night I started sawing a projector in two and the following days I spent them in Porta Portese (flea market) looking for motors, ball bearings, I knew that it was possible to develop much larger slides. My desert was served. For the scene, I took off the bicycle chain so that he could pedal, always staying in the same position and on the wall the desert was moving very slowly.

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1984 SKELETON PROJECTOR 35MM VERSION 2 - XY

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1984 During the construction of the first version of the Skeleton I already had the intention to moving the slides not only horizontally but also vertically, but then I only had 2 weeks available. After having debuted in 1983 with my own show "Game Over" with success, The director Angiola Janigro proposed me to stage a show together "Un Muro una Tigre".

The opportunity had come to build a new version "Skeleton 2 XY" . A projector that allowed me to move the content in both direction, horizontally and vertically, controlling the speeds of the 2 motors it was also possible to move diagonally. This show was very special for me, because not only I was on stage as an actor but I also controlled the images that flowed while I was acting. I had in action not only the new version of the Skeleton but also the first version. This combination allows me projections that never seen before.

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1984 SKELETON PROJECTOR 35MM VERSION 3 - XY M

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My brother Sebastiano Toma who was then a member of the German Tent Theater Group "Fliegende Bauten" came to visit me in Rome and was aware of my invention, the following year in 1985 they invited me to create the projections for their new show for the next year.

I hadn't set foot in Germany for over 10 years, and the decision to accept this invitation completely changed my destiny, even today I am continue to ask me what would have happened if I had stayed in Rome.

1986 During the winter in Hamburg we worked on the new show and then in the spring the tour began, traveling between the various cities, Berlin Frankfurt, Cologne, Aachen, Muenchen etc.

I had brought with me the two versions of the Skeleton with which I created the projections for the show "Die Ausserirdischen" in English "The Extraterrestrial" which was a great success. I decided to stay for another season and creating the projections for the next show "Helden" in English "HEROES", During this touring period, I not only operated the projections during the daily shows but also built the third version of Skeleton that I would then leave to them for the future.

It was really very difficult to build this version in my home on wheels size: 4 x 2 Meter and traveling from one city to another. This third version was equipped with 2 light sources, it was possible to dissolve from one content to another during the movement, another novelty was that being stepping motors it was possible, through a navigation system similar to a jostick, to create circular movements. it was also equipped with a layers of mask that could be changed via stepmotor control

Once the tour was over, the construction of the new Skeleton projector was finish. During the winter I created the projections for the new show BANG BANG. Once I gave a member of the Fliegende Bauten control lessons of the new projector, I left the Fliegende Bauten,

I could not bear to repeat a show for almost the whole year and I needed a new challenge.

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1988 SKELETON PROJECTOR 70MM VERSION 4 - XY 76

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1989 shortly after the Berlin wall fell I went to live in Cologne, I began to design and build a new version called Skeleton Projector Version 70 MM XY 76. It took all my experience to complete this version which satisfied all my desires.

At first I decided to use a much more powerful light source, by using the light sources of the most performing projector on the market at that time. The Goetschmann company had put on the market the Projector G 8585 - 6x7 which had as its light source a 400 Watt lamp, which illuminated a 60 X 70 MM rectangle of slide. on screen 150 Square meter with god result.

I built this new version with my own hands using only products that were already successfully in action in the professional market, I only had to model some parts and relocate certain elements in other positions.

Regarding instead the navigation of the various stepper motors, there was nothing on the market that could show my needs, because something indispensable for me was not possible. It was impossible to navigate creating corners and at the same time control cornering speed in any way.

On the market this is not considered at all, because for the industry the interest was only to arrive as soon as possible in a predetermined position. Possible was only to manipulate the speed ramp at the start and the finish.

The navigation system of the various stepper motors was designed and built according to my needs by Robert Schoerghuber who was then a passionate expert in Laser control.

Apart the computer control system, Hi managed to create me a navigator similar to a Joystick with which I could navigate with every possible movement, and the extraordinary thing was that I could memorize my navigation exhibited with the joystick, including all the variations of speed exhibited.

I don't think there is anything like this on the market until yet.

with this latest version I produced more than one hundred productions during the 90s, of which I list a few:

1990 Phoenix Theater - Linz - Austria "Titanic" in collaboration with the caricaturist Gerhard Harderer

1991 Ars Electronica - Linz - Austria "The sick room"

1992 German Rock Star Udo Lindenberg "Die Show" German Tour 1992

1992 Photokina - Cologne - Germany "A day at the beach"

1992 Rubens Price Awards - Siegen - Germany "In Media Rubens"

1994 The Seagull Jonathan - Dance Festival - Basel - Swiss

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There were also many fashion shows that were supported by this new medium, of which I list a few:

1993 Opening Fashion Fair - Cologne - Germany

1993 Opening Fashion House - Duesseldorf - Germany 1994

1994 Esprit Collection Fall 94 - Duesseldorf - Germany

1994 Joop Collection Fall 94 - Muenster - Germany

, to continue ................

I want to thank all those who have supported me both financially and productively to achieve the various versions of SKELETON PROJECTORS * THE ART OF IMAGE IN MOTION * Angiola Janigro, Pippo Di Marca, Fliegende Bauten, Kane Kampmann, Michael Menschel, Robert Schoerghuber, The Company Goetschmann Projectors, The Company Electrosonic Theo Thome, Luzi Rageth that suggested me the Brand name "Skeleton" and many Roman artisans whose names I unfortunately can't remember Thank you so much Roma for all your inspiration that you have given to me and which I still draw until now.