Phantasmagoria: Lighting the World Beyond

Come experience a phantasmagoria! In this live interactive presentation, a 19th century magic lantern show meets a 21st century haunted house. Professional magic lanternist Melissa Ferrari and English and Communication alum Emma Straus, ’24, will give performances that explore the line between fact and fiction and utilize antique technologies that challenge our assumptions about our own contemporary systems of understanding.

Ferrari is an experimental animator and magic lanternist who uses antique and reconstructed magic lanterns to explore the boundaries between science, folklore, and belief in contemporary culture. Using antique projectors and slides, as well as slides of her own making, Ferrari creates original phantasmagoria shows probing such topics as cryptozoology, “fake news,” and the intersections of fact and fiction. The event will include a companion talk and performance by Straus, who – inspired by Ferrari's example – created and performed her own magic lantern show during her senior year. Straus has gone on to write about the importance of antique technologies, such as magic lanterns, to developing a critical awareness of our own contemporary systems of understanding.

Registration is requested, but not required. This event is made possible by contributions from the Center for the Humanities, English Department, Visual and Performing Arts Department, Education for Life, Associate Dean of Humanities, and Associate Dean of Natural and Applied Sciences.

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Co-hosted with: English Department, Center for the Humanities

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