The Magic Lantern: A History and Demonstration

An engraving of a magic lantern setup, with an image of a mother and baby on the screen.

The Magic Lantern: A History and Demonstration

Wednesday, September 12 at 6:30 pm
Michelson Theater
721 Broadway, 6th Floor

Joel Schlemowitz provides a brief history of the magic lantern while demonstrating its unique attributes: animated slip-slides, dissolving views, and gear-work mechanical lantern slides. Original 19th century hand-colored slides will be projected with the use of early 20th century glass slide projectors.

Free and open to the public.

Artist Biography

Joel Schlemowitz is an experimental filmmaker based in Brooklyn who works with 16mm film, shadowplay, magic lanterns, and stereographic media. His first feature film, 78rpm, is an experimental documentary about the gramophone. His short works have been shown at the Ann Arbor Film Festival, New York Film Festival, and Tribeca Film Festival and have received awards from the Chicago Underground Film Festival, The Dallas Video Festival, and elsewhere. Shows of installation artworks include Anthology Film Archives, and Microscope Gallery. He teaches experimental filmmaking at The New School and was the Resident Film Programmer and Arcane Media Specialist at the Morbid Anatomy Museum. www.joelschlemowitz.com