A Film of Real Time: A Light-Sound Environment

Short Film (Full Length) – 1971

Before he was an acclaimed cinematographer, Leon Narbey was another kind of artist. Narbey shot this film to document Real Time, an immersive light and sound installation he created for the opening of New Plymouth's Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in 1970. Real Time took over the entire gallery: viewers entered an altered landscape of glittering materials, neon flashes and an industrial soundtrack triggered by the movements of the crowd. The film opens with quickfire shots of the official opening ceremony, before the camera enters a new and strange world of sensory thrills.

The film captures the ripple and sway of the exhibition, the buzz of neon light and the rhythmic clank of machinery. Children run, giggling, through this fantastic playground. Shadowy figures emerge from the maze of light, with faces illuminated by red and blue neon.
– The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery website, on Leon Narbey's exhibition Real Time