The Cultures of Early Television
John Wyver writes: Just ahead of the publication of Magic Rays of Light on Thursday, and the accompanying BFI Southbank season that starts the same day, I am delighted to share the first news of an international conference, The Cultures of Early Television, to be held at the University of Westminster in July.
With the invaluable support of the British Academy Conference scheme, this two-day conference on 2 and 3 July in central London is intended to initiate a transnational dialogue about television in the years before World War Two.
Marking the centenary later this month of the first public presentation of what John Logie Baird called ‘true television’, the event will explore the imaginaries and achievements of the first years of the medium.
With contributions from a range of distinguished speakers from here and abroad, the programme will feature presentations, discussions and screenings addressed to early television in Britain, the United States, Europe and the Soviet Union.
More news will be made available here, and registration, which is free, will open in the early spring. But to express your interest, e-mail me at [email protected], and I will mail you back when further details are confirmed.
Header image: Starlight, 1937 by Harry Rutherford, a detail of which graces the cover of Magic Rays of Light. The painting, which hangs in the Reading Room of the BBC Written Archives Centre, is of a studio scene at the BBC Television Station at Alexandra Palace; © Estate of Harry Rutherford.
Leave a Reply