The cycle of life. through the phenakistoscope
October 28, 2013 12:59 PM   Subscribe

 
Not sure I'm digging the spin (pun grudgingly intended) of these as proto-GIFs. I'd rather think of them as kooky Victorian-era moving mandalas. But, they are lovely, thanks.
posted by iotic at 1:17 PM on October 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


If you are ever in Padova, Italy, there is the marvelous Museum of Precinema where you can see and even play with some of these devices.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 1:25 PM on October 28, 2013 [6 favorites]


These are really cool!
posted by carter at 1:52 PM on October 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


They are cool, and Balzer sounds like a cool guy himself. These phenakistoscopes sound like the sort of ephemera that would vanish without a trace if somebody like Balzer didn't go to the trouble of preserving them. Thanks to him (and Duffy for animating the phenakistoscopes and zoetropes online) we can continue to appreciate a little more clearly how weird the past really was.
posted by Kevin Street at 2:22 PM on October 28, 2013 [2 favorites]


These are fantastic, thank you so much. The ones linked to from the Verge are absolutely stunning- an almost Man Rayish abstract, freaky trompe l'oeil rats, and the delicate detail on the shadow of the jumping frog! We tend to skim over these optical toys in animation history but clearly there were artists doing amazing things decades before Windsor McKay etc.
posted by Erasmouse at 2:54 PM on October 28, 2013 [4 favorites]


I wonder if there was... a transition point, between the time when truly weird visualizations could only be captured in still images (and the occasional magic show), and the point where you could actually see frogs transform into princes before your eyes with animation. Like a sea change in the mass imagination. It must have felt really weird and hallucinatory for people who weren't used to imagining the unreal.
posted by Kevin Street at 3:11 PM on October 28, 2013 [3 favorites]


I am used to imagining the unreal and find these really trippy. Thanks!
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 3:22 PM on October 28, 2013


I bought a praxinoscope kit last year - which is similar but slightly different and doesn't work that well - and made some incredibly rudimentary animations with it. These are pretty mindblowing in comparison (unsurprisingly).
posted by dng at 3:44 PM on October 28, 2013 [3 favorites]


I happen to be a big Reynaud fan (he had a very sad end, however), so I'm glad there's someone out there preserving these glorious bits of proto-filmic animations!
posted by droplet at 4:14 PM on October 28, 2013


Oh my word, they should totally make records like this again.
posted by maggieb at 5:33 PM on October 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


This is the one I tumblrd... I was re-rewatching Jurassic Park at the time.
posted by maggieb at 5:36 PM on October 28, 2013


I'd seen one of those images going around tumblr, so I'm glad to get some history to put with it.
posted by immlass at 5:49 PM on October 28, 2013


That guy with the balls coming out of his mouth and the hopping bird on his head.

The head on the lamppost with the endless stream of helpful silhouette people climbing in his mouth.

The happy, fortunate lion with the guy hopping, like a frog, into his mouth.

How do you even come up with such weird images? I feel like I should be taking lessons.
posted by JHarris at 6:42 PM on October 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


If I was in a band, I'd totally use one of these as background visuals for a show. Awesome find.
posted by Fig at 7:46 PM on October 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


Hey, that's me!
posted by zoetrope at 8:48 PM on October 28, 2013 [3 favorites]



I believe I have seen these praxinoscopes and zoetropes, but never the phenakistoscopes. (I bet you've never read that sentence before.)

The mouths in the very first one appear to be saying, "Help me, help me. . . "; or possibly "Oh, m' gah-, oh, m' gah-". (Lip-reading is iffy enough with real lips.)

Thanks Flapjax, this's one to file away.

Sike-a-delic, indeed.


Lifesaver, Lifesaver, fun to eat,
Super flavours can't be beat,
Hey, Lifesavers . . .

posted by Herodios at 8:24 AM on October 29, 2013


I was hired by Mr. Balzer fresh out of art school, and while I'd like to say that I could never have imagined how rewarding the experience would become, I had a pretty good feeling about it as soon as I walked into the barn.

Dick's collection is apparently somewhere in the top 5 worldwide. Zoetropes and phenakistoscopes are just one small portion. His biggest passion is for the magic lantern, a projector of highly modular and diverse, often hand-painted glass slides that ranged from a child's toy with a candle to a city theatre with tungsten bulbs and multiple lenses. The collection goes further into Peepshow picture boxes, shadow puppets, optical perspective tricks, and pretty much anything that involves pictures changing or moving

Even the stuff on the website being linked to is less than 5% of the total collection. More entries from the archives will be moved into the public sections over the coming months.

Dick also posts occasionally on a separate, more in-depth blog. We plan on maintaining the tumblr as a breezy, purely visual showcase of the most unique and essential pieces of the collection.

I'm glad you all dig what we've been working on. I'd be happy to answer any questions!
posted by Duffalo at 2:26 PM on October 29, 2013 [8 favorites]


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