The Theater of Electricity: Technology and Spectacle in the Late 19th Century

Description

Since the 1880s, electrical energies started circulating in European theaters, generated from fossil fuels in urban power plants. A mysterious force, which was still traded as romantic life force by some and for others had already come to stand in for progress, entered performance venues. Engineering knowledge, control techniques and supply chains changed fundamentally how theater was made and thought of. The mechanical image machine from Renaissance and Baroque times was transformed into a thermodynamic engine. Modern theater turned out to be electrified theater. – Retracing what happened backstage before the Avantgarde took to the front stage, this book proposes to write the genealogy of theaters modernity as a cultural history of theater technology. Preface Contents Introduction Appearance of Electricity Theatricality and Electricity Electrification of the Theater 1: Incandescence 1.1 Installations: Technical Apparatus and Aesthetic Continuities (Frankfurt 1891) 1.2 Legitimations: Interests of Directors, Industry and Monarchy (Munich 1883) 1.3 Sensualities: The Meaning of Light Colors and Chandeliers (Paris 1881) 1.4 Purifications: Oxygen Consumption and Nervous Disorders (London 1881) 1.5 Combustions: Catastrophe Simulations and Safety Measures (Vienna 1881) 2: Oxidation 2.1 Gas Burners: Lamps and Street Lighting (1817/1818) 2.2 Reflectors: Chemical Reactions and Enlightened Light (1781–1784) 2.3 Foot Ramps: Natural Figures and Unnatural Light Sources (1757) 2.4 Showcases: Optical Techniques and Artistic Light Changes (1760–1822) 2.5 Pyrotechnics: Color Plays and Fatigue Phenomena 3: Regulators 3.1 Expectations of Salvation: Festivals of Incandescence (Wagner) 3.2 Power Transmission: Vertical Integration and Avant-Garde (Appia) 3.3 Parallel Circuits: Dividing the Light and Controlling the Current 3.4 Switching Operations: Button Pressing and Weather Lighting (Benjamin) 4: Fabrication 4.1 Engineering Knowledge: Stage Engineering and Industrial Operations 4.2 Transport Systems: Patent Stages and Image Changes 4.3 Projection Surfaces: Cloud Apparatuses and Broadening Horizons (Fortuny) 4.4 Soul Vibrations: Stage Walls and Cloud Apparatuses 4.5 Atmospheric Arts: Rotation and Elfin Forest (Reinhardt) 5: Attractions 5.1 Rollercoasters: Power Transmission and Amusement Parks (Frankfurt 1891) 5.2 Water Forces: Fountains and Rays of Light (Frankfurt 1891) 5.3 Arts and Crafts: Upholstery and Total Works of Art (Munich 1882 and Frankfurt 1891) 5.4 Festivals of Light: Enlightenment and Orientalism (London 1851–Paris 1900) 5.5 Dynamos: Epiphany and Energy (Paris 1900) 6: Industrial Ballets 6.1 Newspaper Reports: Poetry and Technology 6.2 Twilight of the Gods: Electrical Engineering and the Process of Civilization 6.3 Dances of Progress: Culture Industry and Colonialism 6.4 Luminous Jewels: Féerie and Industry 6.5 Luminoclasts: Machismo and Avant-Garde 7: Luminous Bodies 7.1 Allegories: Trademarks and Women’s Bodies 7.2 Dispositives: Bodies on Display and Unidirectional Glances 7.3 Specialties: Attraction and Scandal 7.4 Salomania: Exoticism and Projection 7.5 Maenads: Classical Philology and Psychoanalysis 8: Projection Arts 8.1 Serpentines: Belly Dances and Light Shows 8.2 Textiles: Fabric Webs and Whitewashing 8.3 Motors: Patented Art and Extensions of the Body 8.4 Effects: Spotlights and Ghostly Apparitions 8.5 Cinema: Serpentines and Images of Movement 9: Conclusion: Aesthetics of Electricity 9.1 Industrial Culture 9.2 Alienation Effects (Brecht)