MYSTIC SWING ANIMATION

MOST OFTEN ASKED QUESTIONS...

Q.WHERE DID THE MYSTIC SWING COME FROM? WHAT IS IT? WHAT HAPPENS INSIDE?

A Mystic Swing was an optical illusion fairground sideshow from the early 19th Century. In its day it would have been a rare and spectacular site, with crowds of spectators and people waiting to go inside. Riders would walk through an entrance, up some steps, through a small door into a giant revolving barrel and inside onto a platform or boat, where they would sit down on wooden seats. The barrel would have been made from painted canvas and wood. Inside the giant drum it would have been very dark, and once the door was closed the riders would have been completely enclosed inside the barrel which would then begin to spin, with the whole motion powered by weight and balance alone, turned by hand. The rocking or swing motion of the boat, inside a revolving background creates the illusion, as all riders believe they have turned 360 degrees through a fast spinning tunnel, and loose all sense of direction! - Ribtickler, 2000.

"Imagine yourself in an extremely dense crowd which swings you to and fro, and in and out, and every way but the right one; add to this the screams of women, the shouts of boys, the clanging of gongs, the firing of pistols, the ringing of bells, the bellowings of speaking trumpets, the squeeking of penny dittoes, the noise of a dozen bands with three drums in each, all playing different tunes at the same time, the hallooing of showmen and an occasional roar from the wild beastshows; and you are in the very center and heart of the fair."

Charles Dickens, 1836.

A completely unique blend of traditional Victorian fairground brushwork with spray-can street art.

ORDER RIBTICKLER VIDEO NOW !!!

For more information please send an email...