The MAGICA project making-of
MAKING-OF MAGICA.mp4Duration: 16 min
News
Exhibition: MAGICA: Ciência e Espetáculo no Século XIX
12 February - 4 May | National Museum of Natural History and Science, Lisbon
Organised by our team and the National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC), this temporary exhibition will showcase some of the results of our research. It will feature an exciting Program of Activities with guided visits, roundtables specialised in several areas of our investigation, and magic lantern and optical theatre shows by the lanternist Abi Feijó, Elsa Cerqueira and Samuel Martins Coelho that will take place between February and April 2025.
More information HERE.
Posted on 30 January 2025
Visits & Roundtables at MUHNAC
We are organising three guided visits to the exhibition MAGICA: Ciência e Espetáculo no Século XIX, followed by roundtable discussions focused on different areas of our investigation at the National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC), Lisbon.
21 February | 6 pm - "The production and conservation of slides".
Visit and roundtable guided by Márcia Vilarigues.
21 March | 6 pm "Music, theatre and magic lantern".
Visit and roundtable guided by Luísa Cymbron.
11 April | 6 pm "The animation of slides".
Visit and roundtable guided by Marta Soares.
Visits & Magic Lantern and Optical Theatre Shows at MUHNAC
Given the strong relationship between the magic lantern and animation cinema, a partnership was established with MONSTRA - Animation Festival of Lisbon, to include in the MAGICA exhibition programme two shows of magic lantern and optical theatre, an instrument that combines the Praxinoscope with magic lantern projectors invented by Émile Reynaud and used in his Pantomimes Lumineuses (Luminous Pantomimes) shows at the end of the 19th century. Abi Feijó, a renowned animation film director and producer, is the author of the reconstruction of the optical theatre and the lanternist who guides us on a journey through his collection of slides and magic lanterns that can be visited at the Casa-Museu de Vilar in Lousada (Portugal).
28 March | Schools
10 am - Guided visit by the MUHNAC museum's educational service (PT)
11 am - Magic lantern and optical theatre show by Abi Feijó, Elsa Cerqueira and Samuel Martins Coelho (60 min)
29 March | Families
3 pm - Guided visit by Marta Soares (PT/EN)
4 pm - Magic lantern and optical theatre show by Abi Feijó, Elsa Cerqueira and Samuel Martins Coelho (60 min)
More information HERE.
Posted on 03 February 2025
MAGICA Conference & Featured Events
Our International Conference on the Magic Lantern: Study, Safeguard, Uses and Reuses, occurring from 2-4 April 2025 at the Science Museum of the University of Coimbra (Portugal), will not only feature an exciting program presenting the outcomes of the MAGICA project and invited lectures. It will also include a magic lantern performance and visits to the exhibitions at the Science Museum of the University of Coimbra (MCUC) and the National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC), as well as the National Archive of Moving Images (ANIM) of the Cinemateca Portuguesa – Museu do Cinema (Portuguese Cinematheque – Museum of Cinema).
4 April
4:30 pm - Visit to the exhibition MAGICA: Ciência e Espetáculo no Século XIX at the National Museum of Natural History and Science (Lisbon) guided by Márcia Vilarigues and Luísa Cymbron (EN)
6 pm - Magic lantern and optical theatre show by Abi Feijó, Elsa Cerqueira and Samuel Martins Coelho (~90 min)
More information HERE.
Posted on 03 February 2025
The Magic Lantern was the first optical instrument for the projection of moving images allied with sounds and music, used worldwide.
MAGICA is the first systematic and comprehensive study on the relation between the tangible and intangible facets of the art of painting magic lantern glass slides and its use at science academies and entertainment places in Portugal.
This project emerged from a set of repositories of magic lanterns' images, preserved in several Portuguese collections, and aims to develop preservation methods for those images and try to understand how they relate to academic and cultural life (with a special focus on performing arts) of the country during the 19th century.
With an interdisciplinary team of conservation scientists, musicologists, conservators, curators, media archaeologists, theatrologists and artists, the MAGICA project will impact on the preservation, interpretation, rehabilitation and valorisation of this precious heritage as well as other associated documents such as theatrical texts, scores and iconographic records.