Performative Configurations of the Art of Projection for the Popular Transfer of Knowledge. Media Archaeological Case Studies in the History of 'Useful Media' and the Screen

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The project conducts basic research into the history of time-based 'useful media'. It aims at exploring the historical art of projection as visual and performative mass medium in the 'long' 19th Century. At that time, the popular transfer of knowledge became the dominant field of the art of projection and established the projection of images on a screen as a cultural technique. As ‘useful medium’, the art of projection served to convey diverse subjects in a lively way and to make educational content attractive. Among contemporaries, the art of projection was regarded as the ideal link between entertainment and instruction.The project starts from the hypothesis that the art of projection led to a performatization of the popular transfer of knowledge (Performativierung der populären Wissensvermittlung durch die Projektionskunst). This performatization was realized in multiple performative configurations that have shaped the development of modern time-based AV media for knowledge transfer considerably. To examine the art of projection as an exhibition event, the project adopts a media archaeological approach. It focuses on three widespread dispositifs of the art of projection and studies them as significant forms of performatization in the popular transfer of knowledge: 1) the transformation of phantasmagoria shows from the context of entertainment to the context of imparting knowledge (1820-1830); 2) the staging of knowledge transfer in spectacular performance events for popular education, taking the example of the so-called dissolving views (1858-1888); 3) the prevalence and institutionalization of the art of projection in its use as object lesson in popular education and teaching (1870-1919). Based on a selection of surviving works (series of lantern slides, lecture texts), historical devices and written sources, the project makes a basic contribution to contemporary research approaches towards an archaeology of the screen and performative ‘useful media’. Another aim of the project is to internationally valorize archival material held in German archives to which access has so far been limited by making it visible and accessible.The research project is carried out in cooperation with the department of Media Studies at the University of Marburg and the Trier Center for Digital Humanities (TCDH). The case studies on the performatization of the popular transfer of knowledge in the three examined dispositifs and the selected archival editions elaborated in Marburg will be published on the online platform eLaterna – Historical Art of Projection, which has been developed by the TCDH in cooperation with the department of Media Studies at the University of Trier.