Phenakistiscope is filmmaker Hollis Frampton’s hommage to early cinematic devices, a reinvention of the 19th century animated discs of the same name.  Printed with instructions to “Impale on Pencil. Peep through slots. Spin counter clockwise. Observe in the mirror,” the spinning disc becomes a hand-held movie set into motion by the hand of the viewer. Creating a whimsical play on this “first true cinema,” the artist used sequential 16mm film images to update the original hand-drawn phenakistiscopes and invent the first photographic one.


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