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The Museum as a Cinematic Space: The Display of Moving Images in Exhibitions

Elisa Mandelli

Moving images have become a common feature in museums, where visitors are now accustomed to finding a broad variety of projections and screens. But when did films start to be displayed in history, ... More

Moving images have become a common feature in museums, where visitors are now accustomed to finding a broad variety of projections and screens. But when did films start to be displayed in history, science or natural history museums? How did visitors react to the transformation of static displays by means of moving images? And what are the current stakes of showing audio-visuals in exhibition spaces? The Museum as a Cinematic Space is an extensive investigation of the use of moving images in exhibition design outside the art field. It explores how museums have incorporated films and audio-visuals in their display from the beginning of the twentieth century up to the present. The Museum as a Cinematic Space investigates the inclusion of cinematic elements (films, screens, projections) within the display. In addition to describing the strategies used by the curators to exhibit films, the book identifies the practical, technical and discursive conditions that made possible the use of moving images in museum galleries during the twentieth and twenty-first century. By opening itself to moving images, the exhibition becomes a place where cinema and museum spectatorships converge, reshaping the relations between the public, the images, and viewing space.Less