Showpeople as early adopters
26 January 2024
What role did science and technology once play at the fairground? And how were new technologies such as X-ray technology, photography, and film presented and disseminated through the travelling network of showpeople? PhD researcher Tim Overkempe is currently investigating all of the questions above for the period 1850-1914 within the Science at the Fair project at UAntwerp. While most of us might associate the funfair with nostalgia and perhaps a touch of old-world charm, this was certainly not always the case in the past. Instead, the fairground was often the place-to-be to wonder at new…