Diascoop blows dust off the magic lantern.

Diascoop blows the dust off the magic lantern

Diascoop consists of:
Anne Marie van Sprang
Jop Horst
Ida Lohman
Yarre Stooker

The collective is regularly extended with some guest artists.

The beginning of the nineteenth century. An old, strolling lanternist does his tricks. It seems that the spectators have forgotten the world around them completely. They peer with a mixture of amazement and respect at the screen. The magician on the picture there waves his magic wand a lot and then, suddenly, coming from thin air, an ugly green, smirking devil appears, just in front of their very eyes. The visitors of the inn start back frightened. Some of them leave the messy bar as fast as they can.

Two centuries afterwards Diascoop, a Dutch artists' collective which 'blows the dust off the magic lantern', makes the magic of the moving lantern slides visible again. Whereas most modern lanternists try to resemble the atmosphere and contents of the early performances as best they can, Diascoop succeeds in creating a brand new art form using an age-old medium. In a direct relationship with their audience, miniature images are enlarged to two meter high projections with an unequalled sharpness and magnificent display of colour.

The spectators see several magic lanterns, which throw their beams of light through the auditorium in a dynamic way. The artists also accompany the self made glass lantern slides, painted with transparent colours or pasted with paper, pieces of string or whatever else, with exciting stories, melancholic songs or disturbing sounds. For the receptive viewer it's a real treat for the senses: a cow can suddenly change colour, a ballet-dancer dances over the heads of the audience towards the silver screen and Mirabella does some tricks with a seal or a lion.

It was the simple technique of the magic lantern that stimulated the members of Diascoop to develop their 'miniature performances' in which images, sound, voice and movement are forged together to a surprising, complex show.

Most of all the transparency of the magic lantern as an artistic medium fascinates them. The performances create a convincing, but also at he same time transparent illusion of motion. It's clear that the projections are set up from artificial, hand made images, like a small cardboard boat, cut-outs and painted pictures. The spectator is, just like two centuries ago, thrilled to enter this artificial world and to experience this as reality.

Members of DIASCOOP running a magic lantern show for the children of a primary school on the island of Curacao.