Projecting Pathos

4 December 2020 

10:00 - 17:00
Online conference-workshop
Register by 2 December

Projecting Pathos will focus on the role of emotions in magic lantern performances. It will explore the emotional strategies used during lantern performances, as well as their impact on the spectators. 

It will bring together prominent scholars working in different fields related to the magic lantern and emotions: media archaeology and the history of emotions. 

Keynote lectures by 

• ​Anja Laukötter (Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin and University of Strasbourg)
• ​Richard Crangle (Independent researcher and Magic Lantern Society)
• ​Vito Adriaensens (Columbia University and ULB)
  

Live presentations by B-magic researchers
Q&A sessions
Organized by the Centre de recherche en Cinéma et Arts du Spectacle (CiASp) of the ULB

The magic lantern was used by performers, by teachers and by various social groups to entertain and propagate knowledge, emotional norms and values. In doing so, magic lantern performances did not only represent emotions visually and through voice and text, they also produced them, having effects on the emotional state of the spectator. The medium's potential to provide emotional experiences for diverse audiences lies at the core of its power and appeal. Recognizing the role of emotions is essential in order to explore the cultural impact of the magic lantern. So far, Belgian slide collections have yielded a wealth of material for this area of research. Yet, the emotional scope of the magic lantern performance and the strategies to stimulate and steer emotions have seldom been tackled in media studies.