Exploring the edges of animation: The colour disc experiments of Joseph Plateau

Nineteenth century Belgian physicist Joseph Plateau developed a series of colour discs as part of his PhD thesis exploring retinal persistence. In histories of science, animation and film, these perceptual experiments are often only briefly alluded to, due to the outdated cause of retinal persistence on motion perception and its lingering misattribution in moving-image histories. As an artist-researcher interested in Plateau’s experimental oeuvre, engaging firsthand with his colour discs provided an opportunity to develop creative reconstructions of Plateau’s collection of colour disc experiments. This practice-enabled investigation, culminating in the artwork Plateau’s Dream , provides new insight into the significance of these discs for theories and practices of expanded animation. It discusses how Plateau’s colour disc experiments present a kind of ‘animation thinking’ and how his interest in and ability to imagine the in-between state of things aligns with the concept of metamorphosis. Additionally, the article relates how developing Plateau’s Dream , revealed resemblances between the hand-painted discs and digital techniques for reducing frame rates. Lastly, it speculates on how Plateau’s disc experiments inadvertently created a system of harmonics of virtual colour.