16-18-4

Overview

It was shot through a toy 35mm camera with 16 lenses, which would take a series of 16 images consecutively within a few seconds in two rows on 35mm film, spreading on two regular 35mm frames for still photography – the mechanism is similar to the device that Eadweard Muybridge created to photograph a horse galloping in 1887, before the movie camera was invented. The film shows an event at Tokyo Racecourse when it was holding the 2008 Japanese Derby (Tokyo Yushun), the biggest event of the year, where the excitement of each race would last about 2 minutes and 30 seconds. This toy camera was not designed to produce a movie, so the bouncing visual displays the uniqueness of this particular toy camera, while it might also echo the vigorous movements of the racing horses.