Phenakistoscope
A spinning optical illusion device by South African artist William Kentridge, the Phenakistoscope employs lithography in colors on Chine collé of maps to create the impression of animated movement when rotated. Kentridge harnesses the 19th-century pre-cinematic technology of the phenakistoscope to merge his signature imagery with fragments of historical cartography, evoking themes of colonialism, memory, and transformation. The work exemplifies his ongoing exploration of time, motion, and the archaeology of images.
- Medium
- Kinetic multiple, comprised of lithograph in colors, on Chine collé of maps from
- Location
- Phillips, Salt Lake City, UT
- Spotted At
- Auction House · PhillipsView on map
🔨 Auction Lot
Evening & Day Editions
October 28, 2013
More by William Kentridge
Artists in conversation
Marcel Duchamp
French · b. 1887
Duchamp created Rotoreliefs and optical disc works that similarly exploit spinning pre-cinematic mechanisms to produce animated illusions, merging conceptual art with kinetic optical phenomena in a printmaking multiple format.
Kara Walker
American · b. 1969
Walker similarly employs printmaking and silhouette based imagery layered with historical cartography and archival materials to interrogate colonialism and racial memory, sharing Kentridge's approach of embedding political history within visually animated graphic works.
Christian Marclay
Swiss American · b. 1955
Marclay creates edition based kinetic and time oriented works that collapse historical media technologies with contemporary conceptual art, paralleling Kentridge's use of obsolete pre-cinematic devices to explore memory, transformation, and the passage of time.
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