Artist and filmmaker Eric Dyer gave a wonderful TED talk about his love of the zoetrope, sharing a number of stories about what inspired him to create such beautiful but complicated kinetic works of art, how he was able to soothe the hours he put in on the computer by building these animations and his own plans for a completely immersive zoetrope tunnel.
…I think that it’s no mistake that zoetrope translates into “wheel of life.”…I tried to imagine a way that animated sculpture could be experienced as such, and also a completely immersive kind of animated sculpture. And that’s where I came up with the idea for the zoetrope tunnel. You walk through with a handheld strobe, and wherever you point the flashlight, the animation pops to life. I plan to finish this project in the next 30 to 40 years.
Examples of Dyer’s incredible work over the years.