18 Sept 2010 - 19 Mar 2011
Opening exactly a century after the first Muybridge exhibition at Kingston Museum, this exhibition focuses on some of the rarest surviving objects within the museum’s collection: Muybridge’s beautiful hand-painted glass Zoöpraxiscope discs. The museum owns 68 of the 71 known Zoöpraxiscope discs worldwide - a stunning collection never before exhibited as the focus of a major exhibition, much of which will be displayed here for the first time since production by Muybridge himself.
Informed by true photographic sequences, Muybridge’s Zoöpraxiscope discs straddle the disciplinary boundaries between photography, animation and film and were designed to confirm the validity of Muybridge's moving image work. However, compared to Muybridge's photographic work, the discs are possibly the least well known or understood part of his career and consequently can be overlooked in terms of their significance.
This exhibition will place Muybridge’s unique discs within the context of both his career and the history of moving image projection. Displayed alongside the discs will be some of the original photographic sequences that informed them, represented as collotype prints and images on glass. The relationship between the original photographic sequences and the discs form an integral part of a new interpretation of his work, the result of new research into the Kingston Muybridge collection.
Other items on display will include examples of Muybridge’s rare and intriguing 'coded' lecture slides, some of his equipment and a unique scrapbook charting his phenomenal career. Many of these objects have never been seen on public display before, providing an exciting opportunity to provide people with rare access to new knowledge through this important collection.
To accompany the original objects, a beautiful replica of the Zoöpraxiscope will form a central part of the exhibition, alongside a specially commissioned set of animations which will emulate the original experience afforded Muybridge’s audience through the Zoöpraxiscope.
Supporting the main exhibition will be a re-display of the permanent Muybridge Gallery, providing an overview of the key moments within his extensive career. Accompanying the shows will be an innovative and exploratory public programme, to include a series of lectures around Muybridge and the history of projection and the moving image, a brand new learning programme for schools, plus exciting workshops designed to appeal to a wide audience.
Kingston Museum Muybridge Collection
