Exposures examines the transformation process of visual experiences in connection with the discursive contexts and performative process in the United States since the mid-nineteenth century. The central point in this book ist hat one dominant mode in the visual culture in this periode was the tendency to enclose reality in manageable forms, to contain it within a theatrical space, an enclosed exposition, or an immersion into a visual space, such as the space of a panorama, an entertainment palace, or a photographic picture frame . The book contributes substantially to increasing the understanding oft he pictorial turn and the cultural history of the modernization process in the United States.