‘The Third Image’ Exhibition

Stereo & Immersive Media — 2015 International Conference will present in its opening plenary session the final results of the research project Stereo Visual Culture dedicated to the first national study of stereo photography in Portugal.

The conference venue, the National Archive of Torre do Tombo, will host the exhibition ‘The Third Image — Stereoscopic Photography in Portugal and the Desire for 3D’, presenting the main authors, themes and compositions from 31 stereo collections of 9 national Portuguese archives and museums.

The Stereo Visual Culture project studied stereoscopic photography collections available in Portuguese public archives and museums, as well as the discourses about stereoscopy published in newspapers and magazines specialized in photography of the late nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century.

Stereoscopic media allowed photographers to achieve the equivalent of 3D effects (tridimensionality, depth and volume) over 100 years ago, with the production of two slightly different images that are reunited in the observer’s brain. Stereoscopy was introduced in 1838 by Charles Wheatstone and was widely used in combination with photography after 1849.

By the turn of the nineteenth century, the commercial distribution of stereo cameras, viewers and cards made stereoscopic media considerably popular among professional and amateur photographers and collectors.

The exhibition “A Terceira Imagem” promotes the rediscovery of a 3D past, in collaboration with Arquivo Nacional Torre do Tombo, Cinemateca Portuguesa-Museu do Cinema, Mimo-Museu da imagem em Movimento, Museu Carlos Machado (Açores), Museu da Ciência da Universidade do Porto, Centro Português de fotografia and EcoMuseu do Seixal.

Alongside the showcasing of original images and large bidimensional prints, the exhibition provides visitors with stereoscopic viewers for an appropriate visualization of these images.

Furthermore, contemporary 3D television sets allow visitors to view selected series focusing on relevant themes, effects and author collections.

Portuguese photographers include Aurélio Paz dos Reis, Emílio Biel, Alberto Marçal Brandão, Arthur Benarus, Arthur Freire, among others.