interactive installation
custom software, scanner, television, paper, pencils, pens

Eadweard Muybridge's 1877 sequence of photographs 'The Horse in Motion' was a pioneering breakthrough in the development of 'chronophotography' - an early precursor to motion film.

The photographs were commissioned to prove that there is a point in a horse's stride where all four of its feet are off the ground, and also to record a more accurate depiction of movement which was too fast for the human eye to perceive. Over a century later, Muybridge's horse was finally animated into a moving image.

Using this photographic sequence as inspiration, an interactive animation activity was developed for the 2022 exhibition CEL: The Artist as Animator at Bathurst Regional Art Gallery.

Participants collect a blank paper template, featuring a faint image of Muybridge's horse. Using pencils or pens, the participant draws the horse in their own style and places the resulting drawing into a scanner. The horse then instantly comes to life as a looping animation on the screen.​

Courtesy of Bathurst Regional Art Gallery (BRAG).