Theater group Lichtbende uses the magic lantern in a special way and lets the audience experience how such a magic lantern performance works. The magic lantern players stand in front of the big screen so that everyone can see what they do with the old magic lanterns and other projectors. The result of all these actions can be seen enlarged on the screen.
Instead of traditional magic lantern slides, Lichtbende uses everyday objects and materials such as PET bottles, beads, buttons and threads. These are used to create mini dolls or objects that can be moved in the magic lantern. The manipulation of these is like puppetry, but with minute movements. The whole thing is projected onto a large screen, bringing the figure to life like a puppeteer does. Because the projection lens in the magic lantern mirrors the image, all figures and objects must be played upside down and in mirror image in the magic lantern.
The music breathes even more life into it because the performance uses no text. You hear a lot of different and self-made instruments live.
During our educational projects with children, we discovered how exciting it is to build fantastic projections with waste materials and to bring everyday objects to life. The amazement on the faces of children in particular can be read when they discover that you can conjure up an entire castle with candy wrappers. We have experienced that children effortlessly interpret even the most abstract projection images and place them in a story
Lichtbende also uses small magic lanterns that are held in the hand and are easy to move. This is an old Japanese technique. The magic lantern came to Japan through trade and formed the beginning of animé there.
De Japanse techniek is te zien op Utsushi-e
Long ago there was no film or video, no television and no cinema. People watched a magic lantern show together.
In a magic lantern, light shines through a glass plate with a drawing. Behind the glass plate, the light is bundled by a lens and projected onto the wall, making the drawing visible there enlarged.
We call those first projectors ‘magic lantern’ because the spectators initially did not understand where those colorful images came from and thought that the lantern could conjure up those pictures. Another name for magic lantern is Laterna Magica.
The oldest magic lantern had a candle or oil lamp as a light source, a lantern slide and a projection lens.
The oldest magic lantern had a candle or oil lamp as a light source, a lantern slide and a projection lens.
The magic lantern was invented around 1659 by the Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens (history canon) and is part of the Dutch cultural heritage. He was a prominent mathematician, physicist and astronomer from the Dutch Golden Age. He developed scientific instruments with lenses such as the telescope. He also wrote early science fiction. Christiaan himself did not think the lantern suited his status as a serious scientist. He could not have imagined that the lantern would undergo such a great development, from film projector to beamer, which still works on the same principle.
Christiaan Huygens’ father worked at the French Court and brought the magic lantern to the attention of the Sun King. The lantern was used there to entertain the king and the elite.
At first, glass plates on which a drawing was painted were used in the magic lantern. The plates were initially made by the magic lantern player or lanternist. But also by instrument makers and opticians, who made and sold the magic lanterns. Later, artists were trained to paint plates. It was extremely precise work because the smallest errors were magnified during projection.
Later the pictures were printed lithographically on the glass. And later this was taken over by photography. The image was printed directly on the glass and then often colored by hand with watercolor or ink.
Until the second half of the 18th century, the magic lantern was mainly used by scientists. Later in the 19th century, everyone could see magic lantern shows at the annual fair. They were shown by Liège Walloons, itinerant magic lantern players and storytellers from Liège in Wallonia (Belgium). The magic lantern was also used to give lessons. Many people could not read and write at that time. After industrialization, living room shows were also given in ordinary family circles.
A sketch of a magic lantern with 2 lenses by Christiaan Huygens from 1694 with from left to right: concave mirror, lamp, glass lens, projection plate, other lens and the wall.
Huygens already made simple movement effects by quickly showing two images in succession: a skeleton that takes off its head in the next picture. Dance of Death after the example of Hans Holbein 1659.
By quickly sliding the plates back and forth you can see the movement of the arm.
This gear plate allows the mill sails to rotate.
