Written by Brown University Italian Studies scholar, Massimo Riva, Italian Shadows conceives of an archaeology of virtual reality through a set of unique optical devices from the pre-digital age.

Focusing on four curious pieces of analog media — including Casanova's voyeuristic polemoscope (or jealousy glass); an eighteenth century peep show box, the Mondo Novo; the Great Belzoni's Aggrescopius, an enhancement of magic lantern theater; and the travelling panorama — Riva will draw connections between old forms of reality-altering technologies and today's virtual world.

Taking advantage of the capabilities of the web, Italian Shadows will include rich, interactive illustrations that capture the effects of these long abandoned optical tools and cut a hypertextual path across a variety of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century mediascapes. Mining the past for examples of “imaginary” technologies that provided a conduit for alternative imaginings, this study examines the complex relationship between technological innovations and the cultural imagination.

Italian Shadows is a project of CDS and the Brown University Digital Publishing Initiative

Contributors to this project include Massimo Riva (PI); Allison Levy (Mellon Editor, Library), Crystal Brusch (Designer), CDS staff, Library Digital Technologies staff

Funding for this project came from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.