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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 7, 2001
(310) 440-6795
mcarino@getty.edu
INSIGHTFUL NEW BOOK INVESTIGATES THE ARTFUL MACHINES
WE USE TO VIEW THE WORLD
NEW! [Getty Web site shows
some of the displays in action --wait until the UniBot crawls
down the page!]
LOS ANGELES- Tracing the rich lineage of state-of-the-art
media machines, the new book Devices of Wonder: From the World
in a Box to Images on a Screen (Getty Research Institute,
$39.95) explores the captivating instruments and technologies
we have placed between our eyes and the world around us. The
book accompanies an innovative exhibition of the same name organized
by the Getty Research Institute and on view at the J. Paul Getty
Museum from November 13, 2001, through February 3, 2002. An interactive
website (www.getty.edu\???????) complements the book and the
exhibition.
Both playful and profound, Devices of Wonder discusses
an extraordinary range of the beautiful "eye machines"
that have allowed us to see more, better, farther, and in a different
way. Crossing the boundaries between art history and fields such
as optics, philosophy, natural history, and magic, co-authors
Barbara Maria Stafford and Frances Terpak, who also co-curated
the exhibition, examine objects from the 17th to the 21st centuries
selected from the collections of the Getty Research Institute,
the J. Paul Getty Museum, and other institutions and individuals
worldwide.
"Before cyberspace, humans created a host of gadgets to
enhance visual perception," Terpak and Stafford explain.
"Devices of Wonder brings together hundreds of objects
that possess the uncanny power to amplify experience, opening
our eyes to the stunning domains beyond the limits of the unaided
senses. Cut off from their historical roots, contemporary technologies
appear thin and disconnected from their antecedents, but Devices
of Wonder links today's 'worlds in a box' with their historical
counterparts."
Devices of Wonder showcases an array of these sense-extending
inventions and the images they have generated or inspired. Included
in the book-and the exhibition-are magic lanterns, anamorphic
paintings, shadow puppets, camera obscuras, perspective theaters,
antique automata, natural history books, zoological and mineral
specimens, microscopes, and historical prints. Among the works
featured are Lucas Samaras's Mirrored Room, Suzanne Anker's
Zoosemiotics, Mark Tilden's UniBug 3.1, boxes by
Joseph Cornell, panoramic works by Jeff Wall and Giovanni Lusieri,
paintings by Jean-Baptise Chardin and Joseph Wright of Derby,
projections by Diana Thater and James Turrell, and a pop-up book
by Kara Walker.
Stafford's introduction weaves many of these fascinating devices
into a provocative analysis of the social and cultural intersections
between old and new technologies. Her wide-ranging investigation
is complemented by 31 short essays in which Terpak tracks the
complex and often surprising connections among individual items.
Devices of Wonder ushers in the Getty Research Institute's
20012002 scholar year theme, "Frames of Viewing: Perception,
Experience, Judgment."
About the Authors
Barbara Maria Stafford is William B. Ogden Distinguished
Service Professor at the University of Chicago. Frances Terpak
is curator of photographs at the Getty Research Institute. Isotta
Poggi is associate collections curator at the Getty Research
Institute.
Publication Information:
Devices of Wonder
From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen
Barbara Maria Stafford and Frances Terpak
With an object list by Isotta Poggi
416 pages, 7 x 10 inches
77 color and 67 b/w illustrations, 1 line drawing
ISBN 0-89236-590-0, paper, $39.95
Publication Date: November 13, 2001
Published by Getty Research Institute, an imprint of Getty Publications
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Slides of photographs featured in the book are available upon
request.
Interviews with the authors may be arranged through Mia Cariño
at Getty Publications, (310) 440-6795, mcarino@getty.edu.
Kindly send two tearsheets of your review when published to
Publicity, Getty Publications, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite
500, Los Angeles, CA 90049-1682.
Available at bookstores or through Getty Publications (800-223-3431).
Distributed to the trade in the U.S. by Oxford University Press.
November 7, 2001
(310) 440-6795
mcarino@getty.edu
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