The
Rotoreliefs are optical discs created by Marcel
Duchamp, a French artist (1887-1968), which when
placed on the turntable of a phonograph produced
the illusion of motion in perspective. To make
the illusion work you have to keep staring at the
center of the discs
Mongolfière
Hot-air balloon
Poisson
Fish in aquarium
Eclipse
Verre
Stemmed glass
Hikone's
Phenakistiscope
A
Phenakistoscope is an optical toy. A Belgian named
Joseph Plateau invented it in 1832. Plateau calls
his invention the Phenakistiscope ('spindle
viewer'), but it is also known under other names
as: Fantascope, Phantamascope, Magic Disc or Kaleidorama.
The Phenakistiscope is a cardboard disc with slots
around the edge, and drawings between the slots,
and when it is spun on an axle in front of a mirror,
the viewer can see through the slots the reflections
of the sequence drawings arranged on one side of
the disc. The eye saw each picture only briefly
as it moved opposite to the slot, and the view
was then obscured by the disc until the next image
was seen through the next slot, and so on. The
sequence of images gives the impression of a continuous
motion because it was designed to be cyclic. Here
below is a GIF version of this toy drawn by Hikone.
• How
to make your own phenakistiscope toy.
• To see more optical toys click here.