ABSTRACT
This chapter documents and examines the use of portable film projectors at the New York World’s Fair, 1939–1940, and its surprising range of industrial display practices, including government, public relations and advertising films shown in big and small temporary theatres, and other applications like the use of film projectors to direct pedestrian traffic and to create multimedial and “immersive” experiences and events. The fair is seen as a culmination of decades of industrial film use, multimedial exhibition and display for advertising strategies, while the role of industrial designers and their interest in film is highlighted. The importance of contextualizing “industrial film” within technologies, practices and aesthetics, especially in the fields of industrial design, exhibition and architecture, will be demonstrated.
