How the V&A recreated an 18th-century Mechanical Theatre
An 18th-century mechanical theatre was a technology of tricks and devices that changed scenes almost miraculously. With nothing of this scale from history surviving, watch as exhibition designer, Patrick Burnier and his team recreate a spectacular mechanical theatre for the exhibition, Opera: Passion, Power and Politics. Visitors to the exhibition will be able to watch regular performances of a galleon cast adrift in a storm, with the odd mermaid.
When museum curators want to record or recreate an artifact, 3D scanning is incredibly useful because the artifact goes almost completely untouched in the process. Instead, the object of note is scanned with light. In...
After the ball drops in Times Square on New Year's Eve, the crowd cheers, couples kiss, confetti flies and the song you hear is "Auld Lang Syne." For Americans this song is associated with another year passing, but it...
It would be easy to mistake a ‘Micromosaic’ for a painting: put together from thousands of minute and very fine glass pieces, the finished product is characterised by such an astonishing level of detail that makes it ...
Magic lantern slides brought the world to life in pictures. The first lantern slides were created in the 1600s, around 200 years before photography was invented and they provided spectacular entertainment and educatio...
The city of Toulouse, France "has given itself over to an immersive form of street theater, bringing to life creatures like the giant spider and the Minotaur, the mythical monster from Greek mythology that is half bul...
Actors from the Italian theater company Ludovica Rambelli Teatro recreate paintings by Italian painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, or, more accurately, they're recreating how Caravaggio created scenes to paint ...
What did Versailles look like before Louis XIV? How did the small hunting lodge of Louis XIII become the largest Palace in Europe? What embellishments did the young Sun King want in his Palace of festivities and amuse...
Learn how to make a sugar sculpture, a small yet luxurious art spectacle from the Renaissance Period. Food historian Tasha Marks demonstrates how to create these displays from a sugar plate recipe in this episode of T...
Sachio Yoshioka is the fifth-generation head of the Somenotsukasa Yoshioka dye workshop in Fushimi, southern Kyoto. When he succeeded to the family business in 1988, he abandoned the use of synthetic colours in favour...
From seed to fabric: See how linen is pulled, dew-retted, bundled, scutched, heckled, spun, and woven in this excellent video from the Victoria & Albert Museum's 'Fashioned From Nature' exhibition, showing until Janua...
Search & enjoy 4,000+ smart & super-cool, “not-made-for-kids, but perfect for them” videos in the classroom or together at home, curated by Rion Nakaya with her 8 & 10 year olds. Click play and start a conversation.