Possible Display Methods

I have been thinking about how I want to display my work for the Final Major Project and the Free Range exhibition. My original idea was to do a mutoscope so I looked at how they worked and whether it is a possible display method for my work. I have also looked at Olive Edis and her developmebt of the diascope which was a way of displaying images. Olive Edis was a photographer who lived 1876 - 1955, she received her first camera from her sister in 1900. Five years later she opened her studio on Church Street, Sheringham. Five years after that her photography was appearing in national newspapers. She was one of the first women to use the autochrome process and she went on to develop her own autochrome viewer known as a diascope which she patented. Olive Edis was commissioned by the Imperial War Museum in 1919 as the only women photographer to document the war work of the women's services. Examples of her work in the Imperial War Museum are held also by the National Media Museum and the National Portrait Gallery.

Fig.1. Edis, O. (1900's). Olive Edis. Half Plate Autochrome. National Portrait Gallery.

The Cromer Museum had the opportunity to purchase a collection of her work with the funding provided by several organisations including The Art Fund and Friends of Cromer Museum. The collection includes sepia images of Cromer and Sheringham fisherman and a rare series of autochromes which are the some of the first true colour photographs. The collection also includes a selection of portraits including King George VI, Thomas Hardy and David Lloyd George.

A mutoscope is also known as a 'what the butler saw' machine. These machines were penny peep shows ranging in subject matter and how risque they were. They were great money makers for those who owned them. These machines held hundreds of pieces of film with a hand crank mechanism to make the pieces of film become a short silent movie. The machine was backlit allowing the film to be seen more clearly. I would have to adapt this machine to create something that would use a similar design but hold fewer pieces than the original. This would allow me to create an interactive piece of art, which would in theory have my viewers remember my work more. 

Fig 2: Spashett, L. (2009). What The Butler Saw. Photograph. Wikipedia.

Another idea that I have been toying with is to make an enlarged version of a poster display for a shop. It would be like a large book attached to the wall. I like the idea of this set up as it is still interactive but more accessible than my mutoscope idea. I have been looking at whether I should buy one or make one with the help of the woodworking lecturers. My final idea that I am thinking of is to have two images, one of the images of the landscape of Dartmoor, conveying the peace and calmness that it makes me feel. The second image would be of the city center and I would use a crystal ball to make the image look twisted and inverted. This would convey to the viewers how being around people makes me feel in comparison to how I feel when on Dartmoor. Having these two images side by side and large prints would ideally make the viewer think. I have been thinking about pairing my images with text to help convey what I want the viewers to feel. I am keeping a diary to see if anything I write can be paired with my images. If the writing is isn't suitable for this I plan on using text from an early Taylor Swift song which is about being on the outside looking in. I feel that this would be an ideal text pairing for my images.