Media Magica (1): Durchsehekunst

About the Camera Obscura, the peep-show, anamorphoses, shadow theatre and much more. The principle of the Camera Obscura was already known in the fourth century: a dark room where a picture of the outside world passes through a small hole and is pictured back-to-front and upside-down on the opposite wall. This is the principle that, approximately 1500 years later, made the development of the photo and movie cameras possible. The principle of the Camera Obscura played a role in the research of the laws of perspective. On the other hand, the peep-box is often a reversal of the principle of the Camera Obscura. In the Camera Obscura, or rather, with its help, wievs are sketched - in the peep-show, such views are observed. However, research on perspectives awakens an interest in its irregularities, in distorted pictures - anamorphoses. Already prior to the play with perspective, the play with light and shadow is developed. The thousand-year old shadow theatre with its rich tradition lives on today, especially in oriental cultures.