Piemonte Italia

In this exhibition the Venaria Reale presents rare glass slides from the 18th and 19th centuries, films dedicated to the precursor movie projector and several works and installations by important contemporary artists like Anthony McCall, Ugo Nespolo and Bill Viola. Following the success of the Parisian exhibition on the subject, this extended and amended Italian version of the show, to be held between 22 July and 7 November, offers a charming journey through images from the magic lantern and its links with cinema and avant-garde art. The magic lantern (lanterna magica) – for those not in the know – is the amazing machine invented in 1659 by the Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens which allowed the projection of fixed and moving images onto a screen for the first time in history.
The exhibition, split into ten themed sections, is accompanied by events and activities including: a review of magic lantern shows from the best-known “lanternisti”, a programme of screenings and workshops on avant-garde and experimental cinema and a tribute to contemporary Italian animated cinema which looks particularly closely at the technique of drawing directly onto the film.