Althanasius KIRCHER (1601-1680)

CONSTRAINT : ϕ  without fixing the image + 360° angle of view + portability.

INVENTION : “Camerapanorama obscura mobilis”. A portable room with 4 paper walls on the inside and 4 wooden ones on the outside, each of the latter equipped with a lens. Full-scale model of Plato’s cave with you in it. Instructions for building one in Ars Magna lucis et umbrae (1646). Enormously popular in Europe in the 18th century, when sedan chairs were equipped with 360° paper inner walls. In 1862, Valentine BLANCHARD converted his London carriage into such a “taxirama obscura”. The OUPHOPO hopes one day to recreate such a horse-drawn “phenomenonoscope”.

WORKS : Breathtaking landscapes, all lost. Beware of xylographic reproductions.