Brought to Light: Photography and the Invisible, 1840-1900
11 Oct 2008 - 04 Jan 2009
© Josef Maria Eder and Eduard Valenta
Chamaeleon cristatus, 1896
Photogravure
Albertina, Vienna, permanent loan of the Höhere Graphische Bundes-Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt, Vienna
Chamaeleon cristatus, 1896
Photogravure
Albertina, Vienna, permanent loan of the Höhere Graphische Bundes-Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt, Vienna
BROUGHT TO LIGHT: PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE INVISIBLE, 1840-1900
Saturday, October 11, 2008 - Sunday, January 04, 2009
Modern science and photography flowered simultaneously in the early 19th century, and photography was adopted as a scientific tool from the first years of its invention. Over the course of the century, scientists made pictures using the microscope and the telescope, capturing previously hidden realms both infinitesimally small and unimaginably large. They used photography to analyze motion, to see into faraway galaxies, and to look inside the human body. Brought to Light includes examples of early scientific (and pseudoscientific) photography and considers what it meant in the 19th century to "see" photographically. Equally importantly, the exhibition invites you to imagine what pictures of the invisible might have meant at a time when the worlds revealed by contemporary technologies such as satellite imaging and PET scans were utterly unimaginable.
Saturday, October 11, 2008 - Sunday, January 04, 2009
Modern science and photography flowered simultaneously in the early 19th century, and photography was adopted as a scientific tool from the first years of its invention. Over the course of the century, scientists made pictures using the microscope and the telescope, capturing previously hidden realms both infinitesimally small and unimaginably large. They used photography to analyze motion, to see into faraway galaxies, and to look inside the human body. Brought to Light includes examples of early scientific (and pseudoscientific) photography and considers what it meant in the 19th century to "see" photographically. Equally importantly, the exhibition invites you to imagine what pictures of the invisible might have meant at a time when the worlds revealed by contemporary technologies such as satellite imaging and PET scans were utterly unimaginable.