Curious Magic, at the RI Museum of Natural History Planetarium

Providence's Museum of Natural History and Curiouser present...
C U R I O U S    M A G I C : 

The Magic Lantern Slides of the Museum of Natural History

A multi-media performance curated by
Magic Lantern Cinema
 Featuring the Museum’s vintage magic lantern slides,
   16mm films, the Zeiss star projector
      + live music by Blevin Blectum and Alexander Dupuis

Two multi-media performances:    Thursday April 12, 2012  and  Friday April 13, 2012

At the Museum of Natural History’s Cormack Planetarium • Roger Williams Park • Providence, RI


April 2012, Providence, RI  -  Curious Magic.  In conjunction with the current Curiouser exhibit, Magic Lantern Cinema and the Museum of Natural History present “Curious Magic,” two multi-media performances featuring the antiquarian magic lantern slides of the Museum of Natural History.

Dovetailing with the current Curiouser exhibit, the Museum of Natural History and the exhibit’s curators will partner with Magic Lantern Cinema to stage two multi-media performances based around the Museum’s extensive collection of antique glass magic lantern slides. Utilizing a technology invented in the 1650s, glass lantern slides were highly popular in the late 19th century, offering Victorians vicarious, often romanticized, views of the world beyond their door. The Museum’s collection, which dates back to the late 1900s, includes over 4,800 slides covering subjects ranging from astronomy to zoology as well as historic images of Roger Williams Park. Curious Magic’s screening events will mark its first time on exhibit in nearly half a century.

For these events, Magic Lantern Cinema curators Josh Guilford and Colleen Doyle will use the Museum’s antique slide archive as well as 16mm films and the planetarium’s Zeiss star projector to create two live screenings that bring together the arts, sciences and humanities. Magic Lanern Cinema (MLC) was established in 2004 and has gained a reputation for its monthly screenings of local, national and international experimental film and video, incorporating both contemporary and archival cutting edge film into their thematically-curated programs. (Though MLC is named after the Victorian magic lantern, this is the first time the group has had the opportunity to work with the actual antique glass slides.)

As part of the ongoing Curiouser: Secret Lives of Specimens show, Curious Magic will examine natural history as a cultural phenomenon, training a contemporary, artistic lens on the Victorian passion for natural studies and exploring late 19th century methods of collecting, interpreting and exhibiting visual media. By extension, Curious Magic will also explore the ways in which our 21st century experience of the natural world is increasingly mediated through images and visual technologies.

There will be two performances – on Thursday April 12th and Friday April 13th -- taking place in the unique domed room of the Museum’s Cormack Planetarium.  Live audio accompaniment will be provided by Blevin Blectum + Alexander Dupuis (see bios below).  Each performance will begin at 7:30pm and last approximately 1 hour.  Doors open and tickets go on sale at 7pm, at which time the Museum’s galleries will be open for viewing.  Please note the seating for each performance is limited to 65 people.


Curiouser was created in 2010 by independent curators Erik Carlson and Erica Carpenter, with the goal of giving the public a glimpse into the Museum of Natural History’s vast vaulted collections.  The idea is not to show these seldom-seen items as arcane specimens, but rather as vivid evidence of a time when people were perhaps curiouser than we are today, thus freeing the Museum’s antique collections from the strict imperatives of science and analysis, releasing them “down the rabbit‐hole” of artistic production. Each year, a new group of artists are invited to create installations incorporating actual pieces from the Museum’s Victorian collections. Curiouser: The Secret Lives of Specimens opened in November 2011 with five new installations in the Museum’s Victorian-era lobby gallery, and will run through September 2012.
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The Museum of Natural History and Planetarium is located in Roger Williams Park, 1000 Elmwood Avenue, in Providence, RI.  It was founded in 1896 and is Rhode Island's only natural history Museum and home to the state's only public planetarium.  The Museum is open 7 days a week from 10am until 5pm (last admission is at 4:30pm) with planetarium shows on Saturdays and Sundays at 2pm. Admission is $2 (Free for children under 4.)  The Museum of Natural History and Planetarium are owned and operated by the City of Providence's Parks and Recreation Department. Robert F. McMahon, Superintendent. Angel Taveras, Mayor.

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Curious Magic is made possible through major funding support from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, an independent state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Malcolm S. Forbes Center for Culture and Media Studies at Brown University.


S U M M A R Y

What///     CURIOUS MAGIC: The Magic Lantern Slides of the Museum of Natural History
                    Two evenings of multi-media performance by Magic Lantern Cinema featuring the Museum of Natural History’s antique magic lantern slides + live music by Blevin Blectum + Alexander Dupuis

Who///      Curated by Magic Lantern Cinema, in conjunction with the Museum of Natural History’s current exhibit, Curiouser: The Secret Lives of Specimens.

When///    Thursday       April 12, 2012
Friday              April 13, 2012
            
Hours///    7:30pm – 8:30pm

Doors open at 7:00pm
Tickets go on sale the night of the performance at 7:00pm.
Admission will be first come, first served.
PLEASE NOTE:  The capacity of the planetarium is limited to 65 people.

Cost///       Admission is $3

Where//     Museum of Natural History and Planetarium
Roger Williams Park
1000 Elmwood Avenue
Providence, RI  02907
401.785.9457 Ext. 221
http://cityof.providenceri.com/museum

 Museum Info///   Renée Gamba, Museum Director at (401) 785.9457 Ext. 221
                                             or via email at r.gamba@musnathist.com