Between the point of view and the point of being: the space of the stereoscopic tours

One of the most interesting features of the travel stereoviews series is not the three-dimensional effect but rather the intertwined outcome of realism and “being-thereness” for the early-20th-century armchair traveler’s experience. On the set of Italy through the Stereoscope, the viewer’s “path of the gaze” was a novelty compared to with 2D photographs and stereoviews. The Underwood & Underwood publishing company created a stereoscopic multimodal tour to improve the impression of realism with a proprioceptive perception of the scene. The procedure of textual débrayage, the description of the experience as it is happening here and now, the direction of the viewer’s gaze with a narrative itinerary, the changing of the visual convergence along with the variation of the points of attention: All of these elements fostered a synesthesia for the spectator. The result is immersion in an explorable space between the “point of view” (2D images) and the “point of being” (virtual reality).