The world at a glance: Panoramic and PEEP Technologies

Registration for the 34th edition of the International Panorama Council (IPC) Conferences, an international reference event in the study of immersive visual technologies and historical optical devices, has been open since May 11. Registration will remain open until capacity is reached or, failing that, until May 31, 2025.

This important academic meeting will be held July 2-4, 2025 in Lisbon, Portugal, and will be jointly organized by the International Panorama Council, the Early Visual Media Lab of the Lusófona University, and the Institute of Art History (IHA, NOVA-FCSH/IN2PAST). The activities will take place at two emblematic venues in the city: the Lusófona University itself and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

Under the slogan “The world at a glance. Panoramic and peep technologies”, this edition takes as its inspiration a recasting of the original title of Robert Barker’s 1787 invention, ‘La Nature at a Glance’ (in French, ‘La Nature à Coup d’Œil’). The event proposes an in-depth exploration of the modern desire to experience the world visually through technologies such as panoramas, traveling peepshows, cosmoramas, neoramas, zograscopes, stereoscopic photography, graphoscopes and polyoramas.

These technologies, which offered immersive experiences in both public and domestic spaces, were instrumental in the development of art, education and science. They fostered new visual curiosity and observational skills, allowing the world – whether distant or near – to be admired “at a glance.” Moreover, many of these technologies not only challenged the visual sensorium, but also mobilized synaesthetic experiences, crossing media and expanding forms of perception.

The conference promises to shed new light on the intermediality and coexistence of these technologies, as well as on the visual cultures and worldviews they promoted. It will be a unique opportunity for researchers, artists and professionals interested in the history of visuality, technology and perception.

For those who wish to participate in this event, the organizers have made available the following link of interest:

https://panoramacouncil.org/