The Maréorama in the 1900 Universal Exhibition

A simulated Mediterranean voyage from the banks of the Seine

Bibliographic Data

ID12896127
AuthorsSonsoles Hernández Barbosa (0000-0002-4277-0578, Universitat de les Illes Balears, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume21
Issue3
Pages348-367
Publication date2022-11-25
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEarly Popular Visual Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1746-0654 • E-ISSN: 1746-0662
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17460654.2022.2146152
OpenAlexW4310055510
LanguageEN
References cited13

This article presents an exploration of the mechanisms that underpinned simulacrum in the 19th century. To do so, I take as a case study an attraction presented at the Universal Exhibition of 1900: the multi-sensory panorama known as the Maréorama. This device offered audiences the experience of a half-hour boat trip across the Mediterranean Sea. In this paper I shall argue that this simulation combines period-relevant codes that link with other artistic and cultural practices of the period – early cinema, prestidigitation, Wagnerian ‘total work of art’ – and a component of technological innovation oriented towards perfecting multi-sensoriality. This combination turned the Maréorama into one of the most sophisticated mimetic immersion devices at the time, blending the tradition of the great rotundas with the effects of mobile panoramas. Other features of this panorama were the physical shocks generated by the motion of the supporting platform and the interactive role assumed by the spectator, which, along with the mimesis, added an element of fiction. I shall argue that the simulation of new realities was stimulated by the imaginaries generated by contemporary novels such as Julius Verne’s, which illustrated future scenarios and the exploration of unknown landscapes. The Maréorama allowed the spectator to travel across the Mediterranean from the shores of the Seine in a record time. Panoramas, including the Maréorama, became exponents of the utopian capacity of conquering the world, overcoming the limitations of time and space

Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Exhibition · Movie theater · Panorama · Period (music · Shore · Simulacrum · Visual arts · Historical and Literary Analyses · Historical Art and Culture Studies · History · Visual Culture and Art Theory · Geology

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