Postdoc: JONCKHEERE Evelien (UA) | Supervisor: VANHOUTTE Kurt (UA)
Alongside theatre venues and lecture halls, magic lantern projections were also often integrated into spectacular attractions at different kinds of popular culture. Large crowds gathered in these popular places to experience the thrill of spectacle but also to test out codes of conduct and behaviour. Based on lantern manuals, newspaper reports, posters and program booklets, Evelien Jonckheere demonstrates that the ‘hidden lantern' has different spectacular derivatives in theatre, the fairground, music hall, artistic cabaret and international exhibitions. With her analyses concerning luminous fountains, serpentine dance, métempsychose and shadow play, she illustrates how the development in lantern techniques such as dissolving views and colour projections result in late-nineteenth century innovative shows or ‘attractions’. Similarly, she analyses lantern shows in occupied Belgium during the First World War, to identify how distractive shows were employed to disseminate subtle messages of activism.