Paper Emersions. Pop-up books, games and ephemera
Itinerant meetings (Turin-Milan-Trento)
dissemination: public event
Paper Emersions. Pop-up books, games and ephemera
A substantial part of studies in the field of visual history concerns ‘unconventional’ sources, which remain largely uninvestigated to date. Among these, widely circulated illustrated prints and ephemera occupy a predominant place (Milano, 2018; Twyman, 2008). Then there are board games, which are only recently beginning to be valued as a valuable source for historical studies (Spanos, 2021; Seville, 2019; Keene, 2011), despite the existence of pioneering work dating back a long way (Shefrin, 1999a; Shefrin, 1999b; Girard, Quetel, 1982). Another example is pop-up books, both in the very first versions dedicated to a learned audience (astronomy and anatomy texts, which can be found as early as the 16th century, see Giacomelli, 2023, 2024; Crupi, Vagliani, 2019), and in the typically 19th-century versions aimed at children (Reid-Walsh, 2017).
The cycle Paper Emersions wants to focus on these kinds of sources, using the characteristic of ‘emersivity’ as a privileged perspective to study them.
The term ‘emersivity’ refers to that characteristic whereby a given medium transcends its physical boundaries, thus creating an effective interference between media space and the space of the observer (or reader, or user) - assuming that a clear line of separation can be drawn between medium and user. This is what happens today with augmented reality applications, through which the ‘real’ space comes alive with objects and content that are visible thanks to state-of-the-art optical devices - such as hololens for augmented reality. However, it is easy to see how this same characteristic can also be found in the past, in all those paper media capable of harnessing sophisticated technologies, thanks to which from a page or a game board one could enter the immediately surrounding environment (Modena, 2022; Pinotti, 2021).
Emersivity therefore also calls into question themes and problems of the history of science, books and reading: the need to understand, study and communicate natural phenomena stimulated the overcoming of the two-dimensionality of the printed page, proposing technical challenges destined to revolutionise the relationship with the book, no longer limited to reading but based on concrete interaction.
References
AMPOLLINI, I., “Ottocento immersivo. Giochi da tavolo e sapere scientifico nella Londra georgiana”. In: Ad limina: Frontiere e contaminazioni transdisciplinari nella storia delle scienze, a cura di C. Addabbo, E. Canadelli, L. Ingaliso, D. Musumeci, L. Tonetti, V. Vignieri, M. Vilardo. Milano: Editrice Bibliografica. 2023. ISBN 9788893575904, pp. 25-36.
CRUPI, G., VAGLIANI, P. (a cura di), Pop-app : science, art and play in the history of movable books from paper to apps. Torino: Fondazione Tancredi di Barolo, 2019.
FIELD, H., Playing with the book: Victorian movable picture books and the child reader, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2019.
GIACOMELLI, M. “Proposta di un modello descrittivo degli anatomical flap books. La raccolta della Fondazione Tancredi di Barolo di Torino (1)”. Journal of Interactive Books, 2, pp. 36-73, 2023. DOI: 10.57579/2024.4.
GIACOMELLI, M. “Proposta di un modello descrittivo degli anatomical flap books. La raccolta della Fondazione Tancredi di Barolo di Torino (2)”. Journal of Interactive Books, 3, pp. 72-106 2024. DOI: 10.57579/2024.4.
GIRARD A., QUETEL C., L'Histoire de France contée par le jeu de l'oie, Paris: Balland-Massin, 1982.
KEENE, M., Playing among the stars: Science in Sport, Or the Pleasures of Astronomy (1804), “History of Education”, 40/4, 521-542, 2011. Doi: doi.org/10.1080/0046760X.2011.562870
MARAZZI E., “Cheap Toys for All in Nineteenth-Century Europe”. Journal of Interactive Books, 1 (2022) [Online First], https://jib.pop-app.org/index.php/jib/article/view/38/20.
MILANO A., “Change of use, change of public, change of meaning: printed images travelling through Europe.” In: Reading books and prints as cultural objects, edited by Evanghelia Stead. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018, pp. 137-156.
MODENA, E., Nelle storie. Arte, cinema e media immersivi. Roma: Carocci, 2022.
PELACHAUD, G., Livres animés du papier au numérique, Paris: L’Harmattan, 2011.
PINOTTI, A., Alla soglia dell'immagine. Da Narciso alla realtà virtuale, Torino: Einaudi, 2021.
SPANOS, A., Games of History. Games and Gaming as Historical Sources, London/New York: Routledge, 2021.
SHEFRIN J., “ “Make it a Pleasure and Not a Task”: Educational Games for Children in Georgian”, The Princeton University Library Chronicle, 60/2, 1999, p. 251- 275.
SHEFRIN J., Neatly dissected for the instruction of young ladies and gentlemen in the knowledge of geography: John Spilsbury and early dissected puzzles, Los Angeles: Cotsen occasional press, 1999.
SHEFRIN J., The Dartons: Publishers of Educational Aids, Pastimes & Juvenile Ephemera, 1787 - 1876. A Bibliographical Checklist, Los Angeles: Cotsen occasional press, 2009.
TWYMAN M., “The long-term significance of printed ephemera.” RBM: A journal of rare books, manuscripts, and cultural heritage, 9/1, Spring 2008, p. 19-57
Program
December 12, 2024
FIRST EVENT with Ilaria Ampollini (UniMi), Lodovica Braida (UniTo), Elisa Marazzi (UniMi) and Pompeo Vagliani (Fond. Tancredi Barolo)
at MUSLI - Museum of School and Children's Books (TURIN)
dissemination: public event
Paper Emersions. Pop-up books, games and ephemera
Itinerant meetings (Turin-Milan-Trento)
A substantial part of studies in the field of visual history concerns ‘unconventional’ sources, which remain largely uninvestigated to date. Among these, widely circulated illustrated prints and ephemera occupy a predominant place (Milano, 2018; Twyman, 2008). Then there are board games, which are only recently beginning to be valued as a valuable source for historical studies (Spanos, 2021; Seville, 2019; Keene, 2011), despite the existence of pioneering work dating back a long way (Shefrin, 1999a; Shefrin, 1999b; Girard, Quetel, 1982). Another example is pop-up books, both in the very first versions dedicated to a learned audience (astronomy and anatomy texts, which can be found as early as the 16th century, see Giacomelli, 2023, 2024; Crupi, Vagliani, 2019), and in the typically 19th-century versions aimed at children (Reid-Walsh, 2017).
The cycle Paper Emersions wants to focus on these kinds of sources, using the characteristic of ‘emersivity’ as a privileged perspective to study them.
The term ‘emersivity’ refers to that characteristic whereby a given medium transcends its physical boundaries, thus creating an effective interference between media space and the space of the observer (or reader, or user) - assuming that a clear line of separation can be drawn between medium and user. This is what happens today with augmented reality applications, through which the ‘real’ space comes alive with objects and content that are visible thanks to state-of-the-art optical devices - such as hololens for augmented reality. However, it is easy to see how this same characteristic can also be found in the past, in all those paper media capable of harnessing sophisticated technologies, thanks to which from a page or a game board one could enter the immediately surrounding environment (Modena, 2022; Pinotti, 2021).
Emersivity therefore also calls into question themes and problems of the history of science, books and reading: the need to understand, study and communicate natural phenomena stimulated the overcoming of the two-dimensionality of the printed page, proposing technical challenges destined to revolutionise the relationship with the book, no longer limited to reading but based on concrete interaction.
MUSLI - Museum of School and Children's Books
Turin
Palazzo Barolo, via delle Orfane7/A
organized by