Mikrogeschichte eines Weltereignisses

Semantische Strukturen und das Problem der Wahrnehmung auf der Pariser Weltausstellung von 1867

Abstract

Universal exhibitions are almost exclusively described as representations of an outside reality. The authenticity of the exhibits and the relation between the display and the real thing are considered in order to investigate the political aims and ambitions of the organisers. However, records written by spectators show that visitors to exhibitions were more likely to evaluate the objects according to other criteria. Here exhibitions reveal themselves as events that were not judged in the first place for their capacity to represent but for their ability to create. Visitors used them to develop pleasing mental images in accordance with their own individual and hedonistic motives. In this sense, the exhibitions point towards an evolving imaginary inside the viewer. This article focuses on the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1867 to explore what the spectators made of what they saw. Moreover, the aim is to analyse exhibitions like this as independent imaginary worlds, which serve as starting points for creative cultural acts that had little to do with the ‚realness‘ of the display.