Telescopes, Theater and the Instrumental Revelation of New Worlds

Florian Nelle:
"Instruments have a double function in the seventeenth century. They are a source of wonder and at the same time are intended to aid orientation in the new reality that they reveal. This applies to scientific instruments such as the telescope and microscope, which reveal a new nature. It applies to poetic instruments like the mannerist metaphor, which is meant to open up a new form of intellectual experience. However, it applies especially to instruments of political culture, which reveal new forms of society. In particular, this includes the theater of machines, which not only visualizes the transformation of literary myths into the world of the absolutist state, but also performs it on stage. Thus, an instrument for the manifest astaging of anew world is established beyond the mere visuality of writings and pictures. This accessible utopia can become the scene for satgings of faith, power and science."

[Instruments in Art and Science. On the Architectonics of Cultural Bounderies in the 17th Century. Volume 2. Edited by Helmar Schamm, Ludger Schwarte, Jan Lazardzig. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin. NY, 2008]
[Image: Alma Project, Chjanantor, Chile. Connie Mendoza, 2007]