The Art of the Magic Lantern is a new collaborative project by Nicole Mollett and Frog Morris which re-purposes pre-cinema projection equipment to create a new live performance piece.

Original photographic glass slides  will be used and mixed with new hand-painted slides. The slides are projected using refurbished lanterns and accompanied with narration. The stories we tell mix traditional magic lantern show themes, such as phantasmagoria, moralistic folk tales and travel, with contemporary issues and humor.

The project will bring together heritage research, drawing, social­ly engaged art practice, stand­up performance, and story telling.

Frog Morris will be acting as the presenter or ‘ghost showman’. He brings to the project many years of experience as a performer. He has created live art events for Whitstable Biennale, Whitechapel Gallery, South London Gallery, Camberwell Arts Festival, Limbo Arts and many others. Frog also hosted a twice monthly shows at the Montague Arms pub from 2007 – 2012 and performed to packed venues at Edinburgh Fringe as part of comedy show The UnWrong Quiz.

Nicole Mollett is a skilled maker and drafter and will be using her technical skills to paint the magic lantern slides as well as refurbish and operate the projectors. Nicole make work in sculpture and drawing and has developed into an investigation of how contemporary art can manifest itself within the public realm. Her work often investigates hidden narratives, and myth. She has recently completed her multi layered ‘Kent Cultural Baton’ Olympiad commission which toured Kent. Her clients  include Chatham Historic Dockyard, Tunbridge Wells Museum and Gallery, Turner Contemporary, Historic Royal Palaces,The National Trust, and the Jerwood Drawing Prize.