PHMX

Phenakistoscope was an early animation device that used a spinning disk of sequential images and the persistence of vision principle to create an illusion of motion. Original phenakistoscope discs had slits cut into them and had to be viewed using a mirror. Phenakistomixer appropriates this by precisely synchronising disc rotation with the shutter of a video camera to achieve similar effect, and is used as a live visual performative tool. Inspired by early 30s visual synthesizer Variophone in which light intensity was directly translated to sound waves, a software-based sound engine translates camera pixels to sound, thus keeping looping video and audio permanently in sync. The sound becomes mechanic to the extreme, but at the same time it is warm and comforting as it results from partially analog process.