Magic Lanterns

FEBRUARY 13 – SEPTEMBER 7, 2024

View Magic Lanterns online

Astrological Signs, Carpenter and Westley Magic Lantern Slides, ca. 1860

 

Magic Lanterns is an immersive exhibit containing luminous prints and projections of astronomical and astrological imagery sourced from 1860’s magic lantern slides from the Millington-Barnard Collection of Scientific Instruments. Magic Lanterns, a predecessor of modern slide projectors, was used to swindle, entertain, and enchant its audience for hundreds of years before the advent of moving pictures. Large projections of slides like these revolutionized teaching. With a single device that could fit in an average room a viewer could suddenly travel the globe or see through an observatory telescope lens.