oa Hugo d’Alesi’s Maréorama

In the year 1900, graphic designer Hugo d’Alesi staged a voyage on a steamship that crossed the Mediterranean Sea, for the diverse crowd of the World’s Fair in Paris. In this essay, designer Sofie Deckers dissects this illusionary voyage by both recapturing the voyage as a passenger aboard the Maréorama and deconstructing this multidisciplinary spectacle in relation to its geopolitical context. This essay aims for a nuanced understanding of the Eurocentric representation of a pleasure trip to the authentic and sensual Orient, the supposed counterpole of the industrialized West.