Interactive film devices

Three children look at film equipment in the building together

Film was not invented by any one individual. Countless scientists, pioneers and entrepreneurs tried things out, and all of those separate inventions eventually led to the camera and the projector: still the two most fundamental pieces of film machinery today. You can see a number of these inventions in the corridors and on the stairs in Eye.

Two adults and one child look at film equipment in the building together

These devices have exotic names such as the phenakistiscope, the praxinoscope and the thaumatrope. They show magical images of a galloping horse, a girl jumping rope and Puss in Boots. Spin them, duck underneath or bend over them and discover for yourself the technology that formed the basis of film.

What is Film?

The interactive film devices are part of the permanent exhibition ‘What is Film?’.