Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Art Studies: Science, Experience, Education (ICASSEE 2018)

Automata: from Magic to Science and Back Again

Authors
Nikolai Molok
Corresponding Author
Nikolai Molok
Available Online December 2018.
DOI
10.2991/icassee-18.2018.5How to use a DOI?
Keywords
automata; Frankenstein; monsters; “magic lantern”; phantasmagoria; galvanism; moving anatomy; automaton; android
Abstract

The article considers a broad range of eighteenth-century art and culture phenomena that were responsible for the birth of Frankenstein, the great romantic monster. These include popular optical effects, such as the “magic lantern” and phantasmagoria, that filled the enlightened public with awe by the visual demonstration of spirits and the “resurrection of the dead”; galvanism and anatomical experiments in bringing the dead back to life with the help of electricity; enthusiastic invention of moving automatons that imitated the behavior and skills of living creatures and, last but not least, androids as the direct prototypes of the future monster. Shifting gradually from the outposts of scientific experiment to the sphere of entertainment culture, all these phenomena happened to be immediately related to the mythology of creating the ideal human being that, at the will of its creator – the scholarly magus – turned out to be the first monster in culture history.

Copyright
© 2018, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Art Studies: Science, Experience, Education (ICASSEE 2018)
Series
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research
Publication Date
December 2018
ISBN
978-94-6252-627-3
ISSN
2352-5398
DOI
10.2991/icassee-18.2018.5How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2018, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Cite this article

TY  - CONF
AU  - Nikolai Molok
PY  - 2018/12
DA  - 2018/12
TI  - Automata: from Magic to Science and Back Again
BT  - Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Art Studies: Science, Experience, Education (ICASSEE 2018)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 26
EP  - 34
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/icassee-18.2018.5
DO  - 10.2991/icassee-18.2018.5
ID  - Molok2018/12
ER  -