Category: media archaeology
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New Media in Deep History
Originally published on my initial research blog, The Appeal of the Unreal, in april 2019, this (recently re-edited) post is part of a lineage of thoughts and research on how contemporary (media) art practice may relate to the widest possible scope of art history.
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Exhibiting Absence and The Trail of Hansel & Gretel
This chapter (in progress) touches upon the contradictory nature of the habitat diorama in particular. Featuring Karen Wonders, Donna Haraway, Palais de Tokyo and Ludwig Museum Budapest.
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Digital dioramas at the Moesgaard Museum (DK)
A report on a research visit to the Moesgaard Museum, and its digital stereoscopic prehistory dioramas. Augustus 2021. Aarhus, Denmark.
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Living Planet, Dead Space
The representation of biodiversity, animals, and ecologies at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels. A critical review of the Living Planet hall at the Brussels Museum of Natural Sciences (“…resembles a high-end shopping mall more than a natural history museum”), which opened in the Fall of 2020.
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Mistakes: the artist talk
‘Mistakes: the artist talk’ (2020) is a video essay (or rather: Powerpoint on steroids), made during the first Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. It responds with immediacy to the unusual situation, connecting the European spruce bark beetle outbreaks to the human respiratory virus, and pop culture to eco-anxieties.
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The dioramas of the AMNH
The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York is famous for its dioramas. This post is a report of my research visit to the AMNH in March, 2019. It was part of a residency, which unfortunately was cut short due to the Covid pandemic. See also: Mistakes. The artist talk.
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A life-sized doll house.
Château de Breteuil near Paris, houses a collection of automata and period room dioramas, depicting historical events that may or may not have taken place in the castle. Visited Oct. 2019.
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Choir of a gothic church diorama
Report of a research visit to Daguerre and Bouton’s only remaining diorama at the church of Bry-sur-Marne: a 19th century high-tech religious theatre experience.
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Titanic sinks in real time
Here are some highlights from a YouTube playlist I made for animation and film students of LUCA in Brussels, in the hopes it would help them understand (digital) media art better.
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Hark! The clock of Notre Dame strikes!
A review, published in 1844, of the Diorama theatre show in London by reporter J. Saunders: a lively account of this pre-cinematic, immersive experience. Diorama theatres showed enormous, semi-translucent paintings that were animated using light- and sound-effects.
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The Artist in His Museum
In different ways, Peale’s 1822 self-portrait ‘The Artist in his Museum’ finds itself on a threshold. I like to use the painting as an analogy for artistic research, lifting the curtain to reveal the knowledge of other disciplines to feed the art.
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Himalaya at Dawn
Powell Cotton Museum | Quex House & Gardens | Birchington, UK | quexmuseum.org | Visited June 2019 | Himalaya at dawn (constructed in 1905) is considered to be ‘the oldest untouched diorama of its type in any museum around the world’ (1: PC Museum Souvenir Guide, page 6) All animals on display were collected by…
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On screens as dioramas as screens
Note: this is a repost of an April 2019 entry on my portfolio website. Illusions behind glass The screen has become omnipresent in our lives: starting with TVs entering our homes, then computer monitors, smartphones, tablets, VR sets. We’re all looking through glass walls at illusions. The illusion is not confined to films, tv programs,…
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Dark Rides
A meandering reflection on the many problems with Dutch theme park Efteling’s ‘dark ride’ “Droomvlucht” – a favorite ride of Dutch extreme right wing politician Geert Wilders. Do note: the Efteling’s fairy tale theme and use of special effects occupy a special place in my artistic trajectory. It is a love/hate relationship.
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