Aeroscopics: Media of the Bird’s-Eye View"In 1900, Paris had no tourist helicopters, no skyscrapers, no drones; and yet, visitors to the city had many opportunities for a bird's-eye view. They could ride on a tethered balloon or rise to the pinnacle of the Eiffel Tower. They could visit a panorama painting depicting the view from Notre-Dame or take in a 'panstereorama,' a model of the city built in miniature, replicating a balloon view. In short, there were countless aerial options available on ground level, well before aviation made such views widely accessible. In Aeroscopics, Patrick Ellis offers a history of the view from above, written from below. Premised upon extensive archival work and richly illustrated, this interdisciplinary study reveals the forgotten media that were available to the public in the Balloon Era and after. Ellis resurrects these neglected spectacles as 'aeroscopics,' opening up new possibilities for the history of aerial vision" |
Contents
the panoramic altitude | 17 |
the panstereorama | 49 |
vertigo effects | 72 |
observation rides | 95 |
the aeroplane gaze | 116 |
first flights | 137 |
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aerial view aerial vision aero Aeronautics aeroplane gaze Aeroscope airplane airsickness amusement apparatus astronomical aviation balloon view balloonists Belden's Berkeley bird's-eye view California Press camera obscura cartography chapter Chicago Cinéorama device display effect Eiffel Tower Erkki Huhtamo exhibit experience Ferris wheel Figure film history flight flying machine Friedrich Kittler gazers genre historian Hornor Ibid immense instance intoxication Le Corbusier literature London looking Lorraine Daston Media Archaeology media metaphor media pathologies medium miniature model city Modernity motion sickness Museum nineteenth century noted objects observation ride observatory sciences Oettermann offered Oxford pano Panorama Mesdag panorama painting panoramic altitude panstereorama Paris Paul Virilio perspective photographs plan-relief popular postcard PPIE Roland Barthes San Francisco scale screen sensation simulation space spectacle spectator Stephan Oettermann telescope tion University of California University Press urban panorama Vanessa Schwartz vertigo viewer visitors Visual Culture world's fairs York