Henri Grünkorn: een geschiedenis van spektakel op de kermis voor de ‘Electrische Kinematograaf’1

Henri Grünkorn: A History of Fairground Spectacle Prior to the ‘Electrische Kinematograaf’

This article historicises early film experiences by examining them within the context of the late nineteenth-century culture of spectacle. The work of fairground showman Henri Grünkorn in the period from 1888–1898 serves as a case study, illustrating how the emerging medium of film wove together a number of elements from the culture of spectacle: mechanical movement, vision and observation, and reality as spectacle. Using the conceptual framework established by Anne Friedberg, Grünkorn’s fairground attractions (a rollercoaster, a mechanical diorama, tableaux vivants, and ultimately the ‘electrical cinématographe’) are revealed as variations on the mobilised gaze and virtual mobility.