The Peepshow in Hangzhou, China
Dear Visual Media visitors,
Visual Media are full of surprises!
(although members of the 'magic_lantern@yahoogroups' are since long
familiar with the former, thanks to researchers such as Dr. Mervyn Heard)
Dr. Heard recently published a book on the Phantasmagoria which could be
regarded as the forerunner of the Horror movie.
See http://www.visual-media.be/publications.html for information on this
book.
However, topic of this e-mail is the PEEPSHOW. (boîte d'optique . rarekiek
. mondo nuovo . guckkasten)
Today I received by a friend, based in Shanghai, China, some images of a
modern Peepshow operated by an itinerant peepshowman.
See: http://www.visual-media.be/vue-optique.html on the bottom of this
page.
The peepshow should be of interest to all serious, both, Pre-Cinema, Film
and Photo collectors.
For the latter, it's interesting to know that a 19th. century
photographical version of the Peepshow exist, known as the Megalethoscopio
Ponti.
The Peepshow illustrate a very old 'viewing tradition' also seen at the
dawn of cinema with the Lumière's Kinora viewing apparatus before film was
projected for large audiences.
Earlier Peepshows where offering hand coloured Vue-d'Optiqes from the 17th.
& 18th. century, often based on images made by Piranesi. (1720-1778)
In the 19th. century, Ponti's Megalethoscopio became a spectacular novelty
featuring photographical vue-d'optiqes..
Even at the dawn of television round 1925, the earliest mechanical
televisions where a kind of peepshow devices since the 30-line screens
where very small and often seen behind a lens to enlarge the moving images.
More information on this Televisors can be read on
http://www.visual-media.be/television.html
The Peepshow images from Hangzhou, taken on the first of May 2006, prove
that this old device is still in use and vivid!
I would welcome all world travellers to send photographs if they should
come across suchlike today's uses of old media in any country.
Please send images to [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
Or register and post your findings on the Visual-Media GOOGLE group.
http://groups.google.com/group/visual-media
Visual Media welcomes all invitations for lecturing an overview of the
covered subjects with the aid of slides.
See http://www.visual-media.be/lectures.html for an overview of past
lectures in Belgium and abroad.
Another topic just comes to my mind.
It would be great if some of the more scientific members could focus on
Joseph Plateau's stereoscopic images (made by A.L. Neyt, Ghent, about 1880)
See <http://www.visual-media.be/plateau-intro.html>
http://www.visual-media.be/plateau-intro.html &
<http://www.visual-media.be/scientific-stereo.html>
http://www.visual-media.be/scientific-stereo.html for more information.
Besides their scientific value, these images demonstrate a high aesthetic
appearance. Just a suggestion. Contact the Science Museum of the University
in Gent, Belgium.
<http://www.luminous-lint.com/> http://www.luminous-lint.com/ will be the
ideal website to do so!
"The bigger the Web - The smaller the World"
Thank you very much,
Thomas
http://www.visual-media.be/
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