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Ahead of Time: Muybridge in Kingston

Eadweard Muybridge (Kingston upon Thames 1830 - 1904) was one of the world's most innovative and influential photographic pioneers. Pushing technological boundaries he proved - controversially at the time - that all four of a horse's hooves leave the ground whilst galloping; and his subsequent extensive studies of humans and animals in motion played a critical role in the history of photography and the moving image, and continue to inspire to this day.

For most of his professional career, Muybridge lived and worked in the United States, but bequeathed his personal collection of material to his hometown in England, now held at Kingston Museum & Archive. This important collection includes Muybridge's original Zoöpraxiscope machine and 68 of only 71 glass Zoöpraxiscope discs known to exist worldwide. In addition, the archive holds many personalised lantern slides, hundreds of collotype prints, rare early albums, Muybridge's own scrapbook in which he charts his entire career, a copy of his epic San Franscisco Panorama, and many other items that make the Kingston Muybridge bequest a collection of major international significance.

Muybridge in Kingston is an exciting collaborative research and development partnership between Kingston University and the Royal Borough of Kingston that aims to celebrate and investigate Kingston Museum's world-class collection. This ongoing partnership aims to broaden access to the collection and understanding of it through a programme of innovative research projects including special exhibitions, publications, web-resources, conferences, symposia and other public events.

Earlier this year the partnership launched an groundbreaking new website, supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, which aims to provide a definitive research resource surrounding the work of Muybridge, mapping material held in collections around the world, and setting his achievements within the social and historical context of the 19th Century.

Opening this autumn, Tate Britain is hosting the first major UK retrospective of Muybridge's career. The Tate show features some key objects from the Kingston Museum collection, and the accompanying events programme includes a lecture by Kingston University Visiting Professor Marta Braun. To mark this special occasion Muybridge in Kingston is staging a series of free exhibitions and events aimed at the widest possible audience. Launched exactly one hundred years after the very first Muybridge exhibition at Kingston Museum, and supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Muybridge Revolutions focuses on Muybridge's beautiful handpainted glass Zoöpraxiscope discs, placing them within the context of both his own career and the history of moving image projection.

To accompany the Kingston Museum exhibition, and to highlight the ongoing influence of his life's work, the Stanley Picker Gallery (see page...) has invited the contemporary artists Becky Beasley and Trevor Appleson to create new work in direct response to rare Muybridge material held at Kingston Museum Archives.