Joel Schlemowitz (P/T Associate Teaching Professor, The New School) can provide academic lecture/demonstrations related to the magic lantern, from a short 15-20 minute presentation to an hour-long talk with demonstrations for departments and programs in the fields of cinema studies, media studies, and/or media archeology.
PowerPoint is used for the lectures, along with a magic lantern and slides for demonstrations. An acoustically amplified wind-up Victrola record player and 78 records are used to accompany magic lantern projections.
Academic presentations have included: NYU Cinema Studies, New York NY; the Teen Council at Museum of the Moving Image, Astoria NY.
History of the magic lantern
A history of the magic lantern, from its invention to the early 20th century, beginning with the Huygens/Kircher controversy, the growth of the magic lantern as popular entertainment, and concluding with its use for projecting coming attraction slides in movie theaters.
A short 20 minute version uses magic lantern slides only. The longer version of this presentation is 40-60 minutes, with a combination of PowerPoint and magic lantern demonstrations.
History of the Phantasmagoria
A 40-60 minute presentation. A copiously illustrated history of the phantasmagoria in PowerPoint format, primarily focusing on the work of Etienne-Gaspard Robertson and his innovations in projected image technology and the content of his Fantasmagorie, along with the pseudo-seances of Johann Georg Schröpfer and phantasmagoria of Philior/Paul de Philipsthal. (A short - 5 to 10 minute - demonstration with magic lantern and reproduction slides optional at the end).
The moving image before the movies
A 40-60 minute presentation. Uses a combination of PowerPoint and magic lantern demonstrations. Begins with history of the magic lantern (PowerPoint). The technical magic lantern innovations of Christiaan Huygens, Pieter van Musschenbroek, Etienne-Gaspard Robertson, Henry Langdon Childe, and John Beale are described. The PowerPoint lecture then switches to demonstration, with use of magic lantern and slides to present a visual catalogue of the moving image devices of the magic lantern: Slip-slides, lever slides, gearwork slides, dissolving views, chromatropes, ending with a demonstration of the Choreutoscope.
A short 20 minute version uses magic lantern slides only. The longer version of this presentation is 40-60 minutes, with a combination of PowerPoint and magic lantern demonstrations.
Media archeology and the magic lantern: Elliott and Schlemowitz's magic lantern shows
A lecture/demonstration regarding the creation of Elliott and Schlemowitz's magic lantern presentations, including selection of repertoire, adaptation of period readings, restoration of slides and projection equipment, and creation of the Elliott and Schlemowitz's Phantasmagoria. The presentation examines these processes of delving into this bygone form of presentation and performance as media archeology: detailing the historic insights gained through engaging with magic lantern media as practitioner.