In the heart of the National Cinema Museum of Turin, the section dedicated to Cinema Archaeology tells an enchanted story of optical illusions, magic lanterns, and the first three-dimensional experiments. Even before cinema as we know it was born, the public was thrilled by spectacular devices capable of animating still images. This is where our journey into the history of viewers begins — a path that leads us today to Mixed Reality.
Stereoscopes and Optical Wonder: the Origins of 3D
One of the most iconic objects on display is the stereoscope by David Brewster, a headset that enabled three-dimensional viewing of photographs taken from slightly different angles. Presented at the Universal Exposition in London in 1851, it sold over 250,000 units in three months.
An impressive success, especially when compared to the 420,000 units sold by Apple Vision Pro in its first year, despite the brand power, today's distribution capacity, and technological hype. The comparison is eloquent: the 19th-century stereoscope was a social as well as a visual revolution. Just like today's MR viewers, it offered a sense of “presence” within the image. The medium changes, not the emotion.
Magic Lanterns and Optical Theaters: XR Ante Litteram
Alongside the stereoscopes, the collection displays magic lanterns, optical theaters, and sequential images — genuine pre-cinematic devices. These spectacular tools played with light, shadow, and transparency to animate scenes. The experience offered by these objects can be considered a primitive form of Augmented Reality: physical elements transformed into movement through light, with visual and sound effects designed to amaze.
18th-Century Optical Illusions: the “Animated View” as First Special Effect
An extraordinary example is the pierced optical view of Piazza Navona, made in Paris between 1750 and 1800.
This pierced, backlit, and hand-colored print creates a surprising day/night effect. Depending on the light, the image completely changes its appearance. It is the direct ancestor of modern Mixed Reality special effects, today created with technologies like LUTs (Look-Up Tables): digital filters that modify colors, lighting, and atmosphere in real time.
Even today with new viewers, “LUTs” become narrative tools, transforming MR scenes on Meta Quest to guide the user from one phase of the experience to the next — just like a lantern used to do in the past.
A New Medium or a New Cinema?
Today, with increasingly advanced XR headsets, we face a fundamental question: is Mixed Reality an evolution of cinema or a new medium?
A question we at Metagate are also exploring together with Maria Grazia Mattei, director of the MEET, the international center for digital culture. It’s a reflection that goes beyond technology, questioning the very nature of storytelling and experience.
An open question that concerns us all. So why not find the answer together?
📍 You are invited to the New Atlas of Digital Art 2025 by MEET, onJune 19 and 20, to live, discuss, and experience firsthand the emerging language of Mixed Reality. Because some answers are not found in books but in shared spaces.
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