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Welcome to Issue 39 of New Light on Old Media
The mirror is often considered to be the oldest form of optical instrument and yet several millennia after its introduction it is still capable of producing amazement and wonder. The Light Barrier - Third Edition is a development created by Seoul based artists Kimchi and Chips. Presently installed at the ACT Center of Asia Culture Complex in Gwangju, South Korea, Light Barrier co-ordinates eight projectors, directing their light onto a concave cluster of 630 mirrors. The resultant 16 million ‘pixel beams’ of refocused light simulate shapes above the mirror in an area of light fog. You can see a short video of the effect here. Or, if you have the brain power to handle it - which sadly I lack - you can find out more about the engineering process behind it, with lots more pictures here.
Mervyn Heard : Editor
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Lou Hazelwood Bi-Visual
In 2015 Hull based artist Lou Hazelwood was awarded a one year Arts Council grant to enable her to work with children's toy lantern slides. The initial result was an exhibition Part Coded and the Bi-Visual which featured many familiar tiny grainy images magnified and occasionally overlaid onto other similar imagery. There are samples of her earlier work here. You can also see a video of the artist exhibiting and explaining her interest in these slides here. There is currently an up-to-date exhibition of her work at the Queens House Showcase in Hull, but only until September 1.
Frozen in Time
This e-book, available through Amazon, contains the images of 248 very rare and recently restored lantern slides featuring the polar expeditions of Roald Amundsen. They cover three epic explorations: the Northwest Passage (1903-1906), the conquest of the South Pole (1910-1912) and the Maud expedition (1918-1925). The slides were discovered by chance in 1986 and were restored in 2009 by Pietro Librici at the National Library of Norway. If you go to the Amazon site here and open up the 'More' tag at the end of the short description you will get some idea of the extensive content of this book. Unexpectedly, it contains an analytical description of slide making processes and concise introduction to the lantern in general.
Double Vision
Photographer Jim Naughton's new book offers 50 striking examples of human specimens on display at the Vrolik Museum in Amsterdam. These stereoscopic images have been chosen from over 5,000 immaculately preserved objects; one of the largest collections of anatomical specimens in the world. Purchase details can be found here.
This is a follow on from the author's previous book of stereo images Animal Kingdom and you can see a less recent video of the artist discussing his work and showing examples from this earlier book here.
More About the
Magic Lantern Society
If you have an interest in research or performance involving the magic lantern or other forms of vintage visual media you might want to consider joining The Magic Lantern Society. We publish a regular quarterly printed journal and meet on a regular basis in the UK and other parts of Europe.
For further information and back issues of this e-letter go to www.magiclantern.org.uk
Our sister organisation is The Magic Lantern Society of the US and Canada :
www.magiclanternsociety.org
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Jérome Seydoux-Pathé
The Fondation Jérome Seydoux-Pathé is an unusual building in the Gobelins district of Paris. This modern 5-storey complex was designed by the Centre Pompidou's architect, Renzo Piano and stands behind a former 19th century theatre sculpted by Rodin. The Fondation houses a 68-seat cinema room devoted to silent films and permanent collections of cinematic equipment. A biunial is featured in a promotional video here on their site, alongside an early film projector. It's only a brief sequence but very charming.
Tattoon
Phil Berge is a 29 year old Canadian tattoo artist who creates human flipbooks via Instagram. First he posts an animated design with around 20 images and invites clients to accept one of the 'frames' - usually on their arm. Gathering photographs of the finished tattoos, the final compilation takes the form of a flip-book cartoon. You can find examples of his work here, including the dancing skeleton shown above.
Middle of the Road Art
Putting speed bumps in the road was once seen as the best way of getting traffic to slow down especially near school gates. Now the thinking is that cars braking suddenly and then accelerating simply adds to the pollution problem. Which is why some transport experts from India to Canada are exploring the use of street art to encourage drivers to react in a more subconscious way. The above example from India warns the driver that they might be approaching something far more substantial than a speed bump. Even more effective is the sudden appearance of a small girl chasing a ball ? These ideas and more can be seen here in this Daily Mail feature.
Crazy Carpentry
And finally, I'm sure you're all familiar with the brain curling images of M C Escher, but here's something in photographic form to tease your mind. Are these two pieces of wood fixed side by side or one on top of the other ?
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