VISUAL WONDERS: TRICKS, DECEPTION, AND ILLUSION

For centuries, people have been fascinated by optical illusions. Using tricks and deception, inventors have fooled their audiences, astonishing, amusing, or even terrifying them with remarkable visual devices. Inventions such as the peep show, the praxinoscope, and the flip book are considered groundbreaking in the transition from still to moving images. Starting in the 1780s, panoramas—the first mass media of their time—marked a milestone in the creation of illusory worlds. In today’s digitalized world, visual wonders and optical illusions have lost none of their magic: virtual experiences are not just a modern invention.

The two-part exhibition—a first-time collaboration between the Bourbaki Panorama Lucerne and the Thun Panorama—is dedicated to the fascination of optical achievements and invites visitors to explore with their own eyes. The Lucerne-based artist collective Seico presents contemporary interpretations through their installations, while students from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (Design & Art) complement the historical visual wonders with current perspectives.

Exhibition at the Bourbaki Panorama: May 9 – December 31, 2020

With generous support from: City of Lucerne, Regional Conference on Culture of the Lucerne Region, City of Thun, Canton of Bern, Thun Region Cultural Promotion, Energie Thun, Vivat, Seepark Thun Congress Hotel, Vetter Druck, Migros Culture Percentage / Migros Cooperative Lucerne, and other supporters