Movement-colour: moments in a deep time media epistemology

Abstract

Color and movement present themselves as deeply different phenomena, yet an epistemological history of their concepts reveals how entangled they have been within the Western episteme. This appears not only in scientific or philosophical texts but also, and primarily, in the way specific devices, works of art, media and experimental protocols have been conceived and developed throughout history. This article proposes a deep time media epistemology based on the analysis of a few nodal apparatuses mobilizing both movement and color: Isaac Newton’s optical experiments, Joseph Plateau’s phenakisticope, and Charles Cros’ mid-19th century projects for the recording of colour and movement. These will show how colour and movement have been thought together in Western culture.

Keywords

• media technology
• media epistemology
• deep time media history
• color science
• optics