The Lumiere Institute in Lyon, France explores the early history of moving pictures in the home of two of the main pioneers in the field.
Notice that expression: ‘moving pictures,’ not film, cinema or movies, because some of the earliest moving pictures were various forms of literally moving a series of pictures fast enough to make them appear to show characters and objects in motion.
While the world has moved on with film and digital in ways far away from the spinning shadows and zoetropes, French artist Emilie Tolot has created a fascinating throwback. Trained as a sculptor, Tolot has also been fascinated with motion as well as form.
At the Lumiere, her giant Zoetrope is on display, with hundreds of her sculptural figures, created in fast-hardening clay giving almost the appearance of a giant wedding cake—until you click on the video and watch the magic happen.
