THIS BLOG is created by the Arts & Media Archaeology team at the Antwerp Research Institute for the Arts (ARIA, UAntwerp) and associated colleagues. We want to offer a peek behind the scenes of our research, including visits to unique archives or remarkable private collectors, seminars with international speakers, media archaeological experiments, and inspiring cases. Our aim is to showcase the varied and challenging nature of our research process.
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LATEST ARTICLES
“What every young man should know and every young woman should see”. How you could learn all about pregnancy and childbirth at the fairground
The fair used to be a place to have fun, but also to discover something new. Young and old alike prepared to visit the lion tamer, the boxing stall, or the levitating lady, but they also learned about pregnancy and childbirth. Professor Nele Wynants (UAntwerp) and actor-magician Kobe Van Herwegen visited one of the oldest forains (showpeople) in Belgium: François Delforge. A seventh-generation forain, he can still vividly recount his fairground past throughout the 20th century.
From Congo atrocities to Ruwenzori heroism: The power of visual campaigns in Belgian colonial lantern lectures
One of the most arresting images from Belgian colonial history is the photograph of Nsala of Wala gazing at his daughter’s severed hand and foot, taken by…
Der Komet shines digitally, over more than 140 years of fairground history
Since 1883, Der Komet has been a pioneering journal, serving as a compass for fairground entrepreneurs and travelling traders. The periodical played a vital…
Politics on Show: The Magic Lantern Performances of Brussels Mayor Charles Buls
At the dawn of the twentieth century, Charles Buls, the forward-thinking mayor of Brussels, employed magic lantern performances not merely to display his…
About
This blog is an initiative of the Arts & Media Archaeology team at the Antwerp Research Institute for the Arts (UAntwerp) and associated colleagues.
We study the circulation of science, knowledge and visual culture through popular entertainment in the long nineteenth century. How were science and technology introduced to large audiences? What forms of knowledge were transmitted and disseminated through popular culture? What role did visual media play in the circulation of knowledge? At the same time, we look at how this culture continues to affect us today with attention to the changing relation between art and science.
Our interdisciplinary team brings together artists and researchers from Art and Performance Studies, Media Archaeology and Cultural History. We share an interest in the interactions between performance, science and technology, and their media archaeological entanglements.
FIND OUT MORE ON OUR RESEARCH PROJECTS
SciFair is a five-year research project (2021-2026) funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 948678 – SciFair).