Watching the Fireworks

Early Modern Observation of Natural and Artificial Spectacles

Bibliographic Data

ID4516297
AuthorsSimon Werrett (0000-0002-4074-5264, University of Washington, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume24
Issue2
Pages167-182
Publication date2011-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueScience in Context (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0269-8897 • E-ISSN: 1474-0664
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0269889711000056
OpenAlexW2163571396
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited25

ArgumentEarly modern Europeans routinely compared nature to a theater or spectacle, so it makes sense to examine the practices of observing real spectacles and performances in order to better comprehend acts of witnessing nature. Using examples from the history of fireworks, this essay explores acts of observing natural and artificial spectacles between the sixteenth and late eighteenth centuries and suggests these acts of observation were mutually constitutive and entailed ongoing and diverse exchanges. The essay follows the changing ways in which audiences were imagined or expected to react to fireworks and shows how these also shaped experiences of natural phenomena. Both natural and artificial spectacles were intended to teach morals about the state and nature, yet audiences rarely seemed to take away what they were expected to learn. The essay examines how performers thus sought to discipline audience observation, before exploring, in conclusion, how spectacle provided a vocabulary for discerning and articulating new natural phenomena, and sites for the pursuit of novel experiments

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Argument (complex analysis · Art · Fireworks · Natural (archaeology · Order (exchange · Political science · Sociology · Spectacle · Visual arts · Historical and Literary Analyses · Historical and Literary Studies · Historical Art and Culture Studies · History · Law

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