Modern Spectacles 1790 - Present

Drawing on landscape painting, theater, carnival, and scientific demonstration, modern spectacles immerse viewers in a particularly European imaginary of identity and otherness. This seminar addresses three periods: 19th-century boulevard spectacles (magic lantern, panorama, etc.); 20th-century habitat dioramas that present species and cultures in place and time; and contemporary installations that seek to recreate the 'spectacle experience' with new tools. Case studies are discussed in relation to themes that traverse period, including colonialism, magic, anti-modernism, urban lighting, and the experience of time. Students will participate in the weekly seminar, as well as writing and presenting an original research paper in the final weeks of the course.