Laterna Magica

"Laterna Magica" is a fantastic audiovisual installation projected onto the walls surrounding the historic Dicks-Lentz monument using video-mapping techniques. It features a selection of historical photos from the Luxembourg City's Photothèque collection. Using the latest video-mapping technologies, the artist Melting Pol has reworked and modified the photographs so that they perfectly match the architectural elements making up the façade of the Cour des Comptes (on the Square Jan Palach side), transforming this space into a giant dynamic screen where the projected images seem to interact with the existing shapes and reliefs. Using artificial intelligence, historical photos beget new interpretations that ride the boundary between utopia and dystopia. The projections are synchronised to a soundtrack by Pierrick Grobéty, creating an immersive audiovisual experience. The project was named after the forefather of projection devices, the magic lantern, which bore this name because of the fascinating effect it had on the public. It was invented in the 17^th century, and used the light of a candle or oil lamp to project images painted onto glass plates through a lens.