Laura Dunham
Beyond Site and Screen: The Magic Lantern and Effecting Change in New Zealand’s Built Environment, 1880–1950
The magic lantern has been a feature of group presentations about architecture since its invention in the 17th century. As the ancestor of the digital data projector, the device was used by speakers and lecturers to share architectural knowledge in a wide variety of education and entertainment contexts. Laura’s research explores how the magic lantern and its glass lantern slide transparencies (pictured below) were used by those sharing information about architectural ideas in Aotearoa New Zealand from the late 19th century until the mid-20th century. The study focuses on how speakers employed the technology to persuade communities to adopt the concepts they were explaining and examines the impacts of these dual verbal and visual presentations on New Zealand’s urban landscape.
Laura considers a number of questions surrounding the lantern medium’s role in architectural and cultural transmission, consumption, and its effects. By tracing surviving documentation of events where the lantern projected slides with images of architectural subjects onto a wall or screen, we can understand more about how these topics were presented to audiences in New Zealand and the subtle and explicit narratives that were intertwined with them.
Supervisors
Christine McCarthy & Professor Joanna Merwood-Salisbury
Qualifications
University of Canterbury (MA, Art History)