Flying Change

Eadweard Muybridge's photographic series, The Horse in Motion, was commissioned by Leland Stanford in the late 19th century. The study's purpose was to resolve the historic myth of the "flying gallop." The common belief of the time had suggested that within a horse's gallop all four hooves are at one point simultaneously suspended in the air. His photographs confirmed that a horse indeed leaves the ground while galloping; however, his photographs documented a truth at odds with the popular perception.

He revealed that all four of the horse’s hooves are tucked beneath its barrel. This imagery corrected the posture depicted throughout most of art history, which had envisaged the horse’s legs extending forward and backward, much like in the gait of a dog.

Flying Change revises the stop-motion documentation of The Horse in Motion series, opting instead for the art historical conception. This falsehood is articulated with the same objective formatting of Muybridge’s photographic motion studies, however, with the posture reconfigured to align with the antiquated perspective.