The first moving images were painted or printed images on glass; by the late 1600s they were being shown in public presentations called magic lantern shows. In these shows mechanical slides were manipulated to simulate various forms of motion or change in the images; later, through the use of two or more projectors to superimpose or cross-dissolve a series of images, dissolving views were introduced. Duration of the cross-dissolves and superimpositions varied with occasion and context—sometimes they were quite brief (for example, when simulating lightning over a landscape), but dissolves were frequently executed slowly. They were thereby not only able to visually depict complex sequential pictorial developments but also accentuate the movement of light, the passage of time, and the magical quality of a visual transformation.

The eighty-seven individual slides that compose Panoramas of the Moving Image were handcrafted and depict human or fantasy figures and landscapes, beautifully detailed with magnificent, bright colors. Historically these slides would have been presented in a storytelling context that included live narration, music, and sound effects. In this five-screen video installation, Gehr presents his own magic lantern slides, collected since the 1970s, as silent artifacts of another era.