I have absolutely adored magic lantern shows and all old forms of Victorian street entertainment and Georgian optical illusions for years. From camera obscura’s to zoetropes, magic lantern shows to witches mirrors, punch & Judy, death vanitas and thaumatropes, the whole carnival of spectacle is joyful. I sometimes wonder if I would like to have a room in the apartment that’s crammed with these kinds of objects but alas we just don’t have the space for such spectacle.

In homage to my love of magic lantern slides, I thought I would share one of my favourite purchases of the last year. You can pick up an array of weird and wonderful magic lantern slides on eBay really cheap if you look regularly. I picked up three slides (pictured above) that detailed a surreal set of human-animal behaviours inverted for under a tenner. I was really pleased with them but they sat in a box for a while whilst I thought what to do with them. Joy of joys on a trip to Ikea to buy picture frames I came across LED light strips that fitted their Ribba 50X50 frame, eh voila a few cuts on a black mount and some blue-tac later we have a miniature magic lantern light installation for the apartment.