When Thomas Edison put the first kiss on film at his Black Maria studio in 1896, it was nothing short of scandalous. The 23-second, silent, black and white footage put the intimate on public display.
A new interactive multimedia project in Raleigh explores the intimacy of the kiss by inviting members of the public to have their kisses filmed in the same style as that first infamous lip-locking.
Raleigh's Flanders Gallery hosts the installation, Public Displays, on Sunday, Feb. 14, at 5 p.m.
Host Frank Stasio talks with three of the project's collaborators: North Carolina State University film professor Marsha Gordon; librarian and digital archivist Josephine McRobbie; and architect and visual artist Louis Cherry.
Take a look at the original video from 1896 below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUyTcpvTPu0
Below are some of the videos included in the installation:
