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SUMMARY:The 'Aeroplane Gaze': looking up in 1909 - Patrick Ellis (Universi
 ty of California\, Berkeley)
DTSTART:20150312T130000Z
DTEND:20150312T140000Z
UID:TALK57282@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Richard Staley
DESCRIPTION:In 1909\, aeroplanes first began to be seen with some frequenc
 y above cities. Citizens correspondingly looked heavenward\, tracking this
  novel technology with a special fanaticism: an unblinking stare\, which\,
  so the press claimed\, produced chaos on the ground. This was the 'Aeropl
 ane Gaze'. Often framed within the language of pathology (file next to the
  'Balloonatic') the Aeroplane Gaze was an obsessed\, distracted\, and impr
 omptu form of distributed spectatorship. In the long history of heavenly s
 pectacles – from meteorological events to fireworks – the Aeroplane Ga
 ze was relatively short lived. My talk zooms in on the moment during which
  this mode of looking was identified in the broader culture. Working from 
 several collections of aeronautica\, as well as newspaper accounts\, I pay
  particular attention to the representation of the Aeroplane Gaze as it wa
 s figured in early film and animation. These still-new media were perhaps 
 uniquely capable of simulating this outlook\, of rendering the strange phy
 sics of aviation\, and of envisaging crowded skyways of the future.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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