This article studies the virtual world(s) that Belgian audiences encountered through the multimodal mass medium of the projection lantern in the early twentieth century. In contrast to previous work, we move from studying the visual representation of a single place in a small number of projection slides to examining the virtual world(s) that the lantern medium enabled. To achieve this overview, we produce and analyze a database of announcements and reviews of 5673 unique lectures lantern lectures published in Antwerp and Brussels newspapers in three sample periods (1902–1904, 1914–1918, and 1922–1924). Oscillating between distant reading the database and close reading individual announcements, we chart the virtual world(s) of this multimodal mass medium in Belgium: the parts of the globe that became visible – be it in a positive or negative projection light – and the parts that remained underexposed. We show that in this virtual world, the Belgian colony of Congo was relatively close, while it was almost impossible to visit South America. While previous research has underlined the representation of far-away and exotic places, our research demonstrates that audiences most prominently used the projection lantern to take trips in their own country. By analyzing the virtual geography on multiple scales —continents, countries, and cities— we show how Belgian audiences experienced the world through the lens of a particular medium, uncovering the complex interplay between technology, media, and geographical imagination.

中文翻译：

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投影世界：比利时投影灯笼的中介地理学，约 1900 年至 1920 年


本文研究了 20 世纪初比利时观众通过投影灯的多模态质量介质所遇到的虚拟世界。与以前的工作相比，我们从研究少量投影幻灯片中单个地方的视觉表示转向研究灯笼媒介所支持的虚拟世界。为了实现这一概述，我们制作并分析了一个公告和评论数据库，其中包含在三个样本时期（1902-1904 年、1914-1918 年和 1922-1924 年）在安特卫普和布鲁塞尔报纸上发表的 5673 场独特讲座灯笼讲座。在远程阅读数据库和近距离阅读单个公告之间摇摆不定，我们绘制了比利时这种多模态大众媒体的虚拟世界：地球上变得可见的部分——无论是在正投影光还是负投影光下——以及仍然曝光不足的部分。我们表明，在这个虚拟世界中，比利时殖民地刚果相对较近，而访问南美洲几乎是不可能的。虽然以前的研究强调了遥远和异国情调的地方的表现，但我们的研究表明，观众最突出地使用投影灯在他们自己的国家旅行。通过分析多个尺度（大洲、国家和城市）的虚拟地理，我们展示了比利时观众如何通过特定媒介的镜头体验世界，揭示了技术、媒体和地理想象之间的复杂相互作用。