The Birth of the Visual Venus
OR IS IT?
It is true that this is the very first sequential photographic series put to motion ever produced, there is an elephant in the room that needs to be addressed. The tragedy is that this is not actually the heavenly body of Venus passing before the great burning day ball in the sky. It is in fact, the world's first screen test, as these are only models, placeholders made to test the plates which would be used for the real deal. Regrettably, the actual footage of the Venusian transit may be lost forever. According to Wikipedia, "A 2005 study of the surviving material concluded that all the extant plates made with the photographic revolver are practice plates shot with a model and that none of the many plates successfully exposed during the eclipse seem to have survived."
Yet we must interpret it as it is: A film. Indeed, it is fitting that man's first foray into something so invariably groundbreaking in influence, cultural impact and importance to art as film is indeed, baby steps, waddling up towards the stars. Or at least, the pretend ones spinning above the nascent medium's crib in its nursery. If we play along with this vision, we cannot help but be in awe of man's great scope for this technology's use, to chart astrological and scientific phenomena, to revolutionize the preservation of once in a lifetime events, and indeed attain near-apotheosis in achieving the ability to preserve, simulate and replay life itself as long as the powers and mediums employed would hold. It is staggering in and of itself that this alone survived into the age where it could be immortalized nearly forever, to inspire every generation with proof that even in simulacra, man has always been driven to achievement by gazing upon the wonders within the stars.
It is true that this is the very first sequential photographic series put to motion ever produced, there is an elephant in the room that needs to be addressed. The tragedy is that this is not actually the heavenly body of Venus passing before the great burning day ball in the sky. It is in fact, the world's first screen test, as these are only models, placeholders made to test the plates which would be used for the real deal. Regrettably, the actual footage of the Venusian transit may be lost forever. According to Wikipedia, "A 2005 study of the surviving material concluded that all the extant plates made with the photographic revolver are practice plates shot with a model and that none of the many plates successfully exposed during the eclipse seem to have survived."
Yet we must interpret it as it is: A film. Indeed, it is fitting that man's first foray into something so invariably groundbreaking in influence, cultural impact and importance to art as film is indeed, baby steps, waddling up towards the stars. Or at least, the pretend ones spinning above the nascent medium's crib in its nursery. If we play along with this vision, we cannot help but be in awe of man's great scope for this technology's use, to chart astrological and scientific phenomena, to revolutionize the preservation of once in a lifetime events, and indeed attain near-apotheosis in achieving the ability to preserve, simulate and replay life itself as long as the powers and mediums employed would hold. It is staggering in and of itself that this alone survived into the age where it could be immortalized nearly forever, to inspire every generation with proof that even in simulacra, man has always been driven to achievement by gazing upon the wonders within the stars.
- benrossg
- Nov 12, 2020