Science (non)fiction (2018)

Two-channel magic lantern installation/performance

Antique magic lanterns and handmade magic lantern slides (laser cut wood, acrylic, hand-drawn pastel printed on transparency)

 

Installed at Automata (Los Angeles)

Dissolving Sights: An Exhibition of Projection Art

 

Science (non)fiction seeks to employ magic lantern as a mode of experimental educational/factual film. The history of the magic lantern as a pre-cinematic vessel for either fantastic or scientific narrative is extended to address contemporary intersections of folklore, science, and cryptozoology. A curation of handmade illustrated/animated slides and nonfiction text excavates the historiography and potential conflict of fact, fiction and lore in shifting perspectives on science and mythology. The colliding projections of two antique lanterns strive to embrace the emotional resonance of compelling scientific and cryptozoological facts in a way that critically reevaluates perceptions of the past and present while simultaneously kindling the viewer’s sense of wonder and discovery.

 

Directed by Melissa Ferrari

Magic Lanternists: Gina Maude & Melissa Ferrari 

 

 

Exhibition Website:

http://v1b3.com/project/dissolving-sites-an-exhibition-of-projection-art/

http://v1b3.com/melissa-ferrari/