Phenakistiscope disc (Politeness) Interactive

Object On display
Photograph by Egmont Contreras

This is one of the first devices to create the illusion of motion from still images. A stroboscopic cardboard disc featuring a sequence of slightly different pictures is mounted on a handle. Around the disc’s rim, above the images, are equally spaced slots. Nothing magical happens when you spin the disc, but the images flicker to life when you peer through the slots at the disc’s reflection in a mirror.

Invented almost simultaneously in 1832 by Joseph Plateau in Brussels and Simon von Stampfer in Berlin, the phenakistoscope was an important predecessor of the zoetrope, and its infinitely looping animation is reminiscent of today’s GIFs.

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

On display until

16 February 2031

ACMI: Gallery 1

Appears in

Group of items

Phenakistiscope discs

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Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

P181402

Curatorial section

The Story of the Moving Image → Moving Pictures → MI-02. Play and Illusion → MI-02-C02

Measurements

369 x 200 x 200mm

Object Types

3D Object

Exhibition Prop

Optical Toy

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If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/99902--phenakistoscope-disk-interactive-23/ |title=Phenakistiscope disc (Politeness) |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=14 November 2024 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}