Devices of Wonder: From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen [Paperback]

Barbara Stafford (Author), Frances Terpak (Author), Isotta Poggi (Compiler)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 6, 2001

An inquiry into emergent media's rich lineage, Devices of Wonder explores the artful machines humans have used to augment visual perception.
The encyclopedic cabinet of curiosities serves as a model for this study of the archaic instruments lurking in state-of-the art technology. Featured in Devices of Wonder are android automata, lunar landscapes, perspective theaters, vues d'optique, microscopes, magnetic games, magic lanterns, camera obscuras, boxes by Joseph Cornell, Lucas Samaras's Mirrored Room, Suzanne Anker's Zoosemiotics, Mark Tilden's UniBug 3.1, panoramic works by Jeff Wall and Giovanni Lusieri, paintings by Jean-Baptiste Chardin and Joseph Wright of Derby, projections by Diana Thater and James Turrell, and a pop-up book by Kara Walker.
Barbara Stafford's introduction weaves these fascinating artifacts into a provocative narrative analyzing the complex links between old and new media. Her wide-ranging investigation is complemented by thirty-one short essays in which Frances Terpak tracks the often surprising connections among individual items. Like the cabinet of curiosities, Devices of Wonder functions as an analogical instrument, reframing the beautiful "eye machines" that continue to mediate our encounters with the world.
This book is published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Getty Museum from November 13, 2001, through February 6, 2002.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

That historical precursors to modern technology deserve careful investigation is the pretext for this encyclopedic survey of post-Renaissance curios. Stafford, a professor at the University of Chicago, and Terpak, a curator at the Getty Research Institute, say their goal is to find the "ghosts lurking even in state-of-the-art devices" and demonstrate how "media machines... constrain what it is possible to see [and] also determine what can be thought. " But mostly it seems like they just want to chat about weird old gizmos. Take, for instance, the famous Vaucanson duck, a quacking automaton that wowed 18th-century audiences with its seeming ability to swallow, digest and defecate food. (It was later proved a sham.) Or the 18th- and 19th-century "panoramas," immense paintings that surrounded the viewer in three dimensions (in 1794, one naval panorama was so overwhelming that the Queen of England claimed it made her seasick). Stafford and Terpak love all these strange artifacts, even when, as with a complicated kind of German cabinet called the Kabinettscr„nke, the subject is less than enthralling. But the authors may have sacrificed tightness to comprehensiveness; there's little sense of connection between the disparate objects. Another problem lies with the book's structure: because Stafford wrote the first half and Terpak the second, there is considerable overlap of material. Add to this the authors' high academic tone, and the result is an informative text that will appeal only to museum-goers and antiquarians with extremely obscure tastes. Color and b&w illus. (Nov.)the Getty Museum in L.A. from November 13, 2001, to February 6,

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Somewhere between the science of optics and the world of visual amusements lies the material to be featured in an upcoming exhibition at the Getty Research Institute, as documented here. The show will gather inventions that alter or enhance visual perception, from the Renaissance to the present, including a startling variety of "eye machines," from mirrors and microscopes to dioramas and panoramas. Among the more familiar tools of perception are curiosity cabinets, faceted lenses, anamorphic images, and clockwork automatons. Joseph Cornell's boxes, Diana Thater's video projections, and paintings by Jean-Baptiste Chardin further extend the idea of visual perception, taking it from the mechanical into the artistic realm. Stafford (Univ. of Chicago) admirably condenses centuries of experimentation into a short essay. Unfortunately, despite many intelligent observations, her attempt to deconstruct these objects philosophically and her academic writing style often detract from the wonder of the subject at hand. Terpak (curator of photography, Getty Research Inst.) relates a more straightforward history, dividing the disparate inventions by type. Despite the drawbacks, the subject matter is compelling and there is much to be gleaned factually, making the volume worth consideration for all art collections. Susan Lense, Upper Arlington P.L., OH
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Getty Research Institute; 1 edition (December 6, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892365900
• ISBN-13: 978-0892365906
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #251,987 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Devices of Wonder: playful, engaging, instructive., November 21, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Devices of Wonder: From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen (Paperback)

The book, "Devices of Wonder: From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen", is the catalog for an exhibition that has just opened. The first two reviews provide perspectives and understanding that are quite different from those offered in the preceding review from Publishers Weekly.

Leah Ollman (LA Times, 11/18/01) comments that, "We want to know the world and have experiences beyond the ordinary. We want to extend our vision beyond its familiar capacity. These are timeless desires, born with the species. They thrive on wonder, ... 'Devices of Wonder' traces those impulses and the technologies designed to act on them during the past 400 years. Full of serious toys, marvelous instruments and art resonant with the theme of discovery, the show [and catalog] track a history of visual thinking, 'from the world in a box to images on a screen,'..."

Speaking of both the exhibition and the catalog, the hard-nosed and insightful reviewer, Christopher Knight (Los Angeles Times, November 19, 2001) remarks that, "The Wunderkabinett is back, their show asserts--bigger, now nearly ubiquitous and considerably more far-reaching than any Baroque prince could ever have dreamed. Today's Wunderkabinett is sitting on your desk at home or in the office, or perhaps it's resting in your briefcase or on your lap." "Looking at wondrous things in a Wunderkabinett becomes the launch pad for the wonders of looking. Sight connects with insight. Mirrors facilitate reflection. Images are themselves ideas. ... Playful and unexpected connections get drawn. ... The show [and the catalog] is filled with these sorts of surprising delights, which can send your mind off in unexpected directions."

...

6 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Devices of Wonder: playful, engaging, instructive., November 21, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Devices of Wonder: From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen (Paperback)

The book, "Devices of Wonder: From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen", is the catalog for an exhibition that has just opened. The first two reviews provide perspectives and understanding that are quite different from those offered in the preceding review from Publishers Weekly.

Leah Ollman (LA Times, 11/18/01) comments that, "We want to know the world and have experiences beyond the ordinary. We want to extend our vision beyond its familiar capacity. These are timeless desires, born with the species. They thrive on wonder, ... 'Devices of Wonder' traces those impulses and the technologies designed to act on them during the past 400 years. Full of serious toys, marvelous instruments and art resonant with the theme of discovery, the show [and catalog] track a history of visual thinking, 'from the world in a box to images on a screen,'..."

Speaking of both the exhibition and the catalog, the hard-nosed and insightful reviewer, Christopher Knight (Los Angeles Times, November 19, 2001) remarks that, "The Wunderkabinett is back, their show asserts--bigger, now nearly ubiquitous and considerably more far-reaching than any Baroque prince could ever have dreamed. Today's Wunderkabinett is sitting on your desk at home or in the office, or perhaps it's resting in your briefcase or on your lap." "Looking at wondrous things in a Wunderkabinett becomes the launch pad for the wonders of looking. Sight connects with insight. Mirrors facilitate reflection. Images are themselves ideas. ... Playful and unexpected connections get drawn. ... The show [and the catalog] is filled with these sorts of surprising delights, which can send your mind off in unexpected directions." (...)