Course: 3 Units
Professor: Dr.
Tilman Baumgärtel
mail: mail at tilmanbaumgaertel dot net
Course Description: An overview of the optical apparatuses of the 18. and 19. century and how they shaped artistic and philosophical discourse
Course Goals: Optical apparatuses such as camera obscura,
stereoscope, laterna magica, zootrope, kaleidoscope and the phenakisticope were
considered to be “philosophical toys” in their time. They were wildly popular
in the 19th Century, especially the stereoscope created a big fad
with the upper class in Europe. These old “new media” made the latest
scientific discoveries on perception – such as the after-image or the
phi-Phenomenon - accessible in a practical, “hands-on” form. Not only were they
important steps in the development of photography and cinema, their methods
also influenced artists as diverse as Chardin, Duchamp, the Futurists, the
Cubists etc.
The class will conduct an expedition into the prehistory of modern media and explore the history and the aesthetics of these optical machines. It will also study examples of how these machines were used as metaphors in philosophical and artistic discourse and how these media influenced artists.
Requirements: Give a presentation in class on one of the machines in question and a paper at the end of the semester.
Readings
Ceram, C. W.: An Archeology of the Cinema, New York 1960
(Pantheon)
Crary, Jonathan: Techniques of the Observer. On vision and
modernity in the nineteenth century, Cambridge, Mass. (MIT University Press)
Foucault, Michel: The Order of Things, New York 1973 (Pantheon)
Gietelman, Lisa; Geoffrey B. Pingree (ed.): New Media 1740 - 1915, Boston 2004 (MIT Press)
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von: Theory of Colors, Cambridge,
Mas. 1970 (MIT Press)
Marx, Karl & Friedrich Engels: The German Ideology, New
York 1963 (International)
Panowsky, Erwin: Perspective As Symbolic Form, Boston 1997
(Zone Books)
Day 1
Topic: Introduction to the structure of the class, student
survery
Course Objective:
Describe the course, its procedures, requirements, and expectations
Day 2
Topic: Introduction to the topic of the class
Course Objective: Outline the development of optical media
in the 18. and 19. century
Day 3
Topic: Camera Obscura I
Course
Objective: Clarify how Camera Obscura developed historically. Discuss
Foucault´s analysis of Velaquez “Las Meninas” in relation to the “poin of view”
that the Camera Obscura prescribes
Requirement and reading:
Chapter on Camera Obscura in: Ceram, C. W.: An Archeology of
the Cinema, New York 1960 (Pantheon)
Foucault, Michel: The Order of Things, New York 1973
(Pantheon), 3 - 16
Day 4
Topic: Camera Obscura II
Course Objective:
Discuss how the Camera Obscura situates its viewer in relation to the
object viewed
Requirement and reading:
Crary, Jonathan: Techniques of the Observer. On vision and
modernity in the nineteenth century, Cambridge, Mass. (MIT University Press),
25 - 66
Day 5
Topic: Camera Obscura III
Course Objective: Discuss how the Camera Obscura generates
perspective
Requirement and reading:
Panowsky, Erwin: Perspective As Symbolic Form, Boston 1997
(Zone Books), 7 - 44
Day 6
Topic: Afterimages and Thaumatrope
Course Objective:
Understand the workings of afterimages; understand historical
development of Thaumatrope (Jan Purkinje)
Requirement and reading:
Chapter on Thaumatrope in Ceram, C. W.: An Archeology of the
Cinema, New York 1960 (Pantheon)
Day 7
Topic: Afterimages II
Course Objective: Discuss various concepts of subjectivity
and perception the early 19. century
Requirement and reading:
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von: Theory of Colors, Cambridge,
Mas. 1970 (MIT Press), 7 – 31
Day 8
Topic: Phenakistiscope and Zootrop
Course Objective:
Historical development by Plateaux and Newton,
Requirement and reading:
Chapter on Zootrop in: Ceram, C. W.: An Archeology of the
Cinema, New York 1960 (Pantheon)
Day 9
Topic: Phenakistiscope and Zootrop II
Course Objective: Discuss sequential patterns as made
possible in “Wheel of Life”
Requirement and reading:
Crary, Jonathan: Techniques of the Observer. On vision and
modernity in the nineteenth century, Cambridge, Mass. (MIT University Press),
67 - 96
Day 10
Topic: Laterna Magica
Course Objective:
The historical development of the Laterna Magica from Christian Huygens
to Anathasius Kirchner
Requirement and reading:
Chapter on Laterna Magica in: Ceram, C. W.: An Archeology of
the Cinema, New York 1960 (Pantheon)
Day 11
Topic: Laterna Magica II
Course Objective: Discuss the effect of Laterna Magica and
clarify its relationship to cinema
Day 12
Topic: Kaleidoscope
Course Objective:
Historical development by David Brewster, discuss conflicting
interpretations by Marx/Engels and Baudelaire
Requirement and reading:
Independent research on the kaleidoscope
Marx, Karl & Friedrich Engels: The German Ideology, New
York 1963 (International), 109 - 120
Charles Baudelaire: The Painter of Modern Life (Reader)
Day 13
Topic: Stereoscope
Course Objective:
Development of Stereoscope by Wheatstone and Brewster,
Requirement and reading:
Chapter on Stereoscope in: Ceram, C. W.: An Archeology of
the Cinema, New York 1960 (Pantheon)
Laura Burd Schiavo: From Phantom Image to Perfect Vision: Physiological
Optics, Commercial Photography, and the Popularization of the
Stereoscope, Gietelman/Pingree (ed.): New Media 1740 - 1915, a.a.O.,
113 - 138
Day 15
Topic: Class Sharing
Course Objective: Final
comments from the students on the class, share reflection on the course
Requirement and reading:
Give in paper