As Digital Prisoners with Naomi Morris

The Cabinet of Luminosities (My River) was a contemporary twist on a magic lantern commissioned by Museum of Oxford, produced by OVADA, for the museum’s 40th anniversary.

Over a period of 3 months, video selfies along Oxford’s waterways were crowd-sourced from museum visitors and city residents. These videos were linked to slides that could be inserted into our “magic lantern”. Built using some genuine magic lantern parts (from a broken lantern!), our lantern included a tiny computer and LED projector.

Visitors to the exhibition could sort through and choose slides to insert into the lantern in order to see and hear the videos. Various sensors built into the lantern allowed them to play with the projected image.