Join us for an evening of beauty, education, Victorian nostalgia, humour and a spot of technical wizardry!

Andrew Gill of the Magic Lantern Society presents a series of magic lantern performances throughout the evening taking visitors back to the era of the magic lantern’s heyday, when it was a dynamic tool for storytelling, sharing scientific knowledge and ideas.

There will be three 40-minute shows starting at 5.30, 7 and 8.30pm.

Please check the times and make sure to arrive for the show you have tickets booked for, as places are very limited.

Please cancel your booking if you are unable to come.

The spectacular Magic Lantern shows will be accompanied by two drop-in events running from 5-10pm.

In the Gallery, a unique public display of newly re-discovered Edwardian-era magic lanterns from the University’s collections will be presented by Claire Jones, Director of the Museum of the History of Science at the University of Leeds, using some of the thousands of magic lantern slides and related scientific objects also preserved in the collection.

Outside the Gallery, visitors who have not booked a place or are just passing by will be invited to contribute to a collaborative illustration of a story, Arthur Ransom’s Swallows and Amazons, relating to the Gallery exhibition at that time, Austerity and Invention: Illustrators between the Wars.

Visitors can draw on acetate in response to a short extract from a book - a character from the story, a part of the scenery, a prop. They are then invited to place these on overhead projectors that will project on to the walls outside the Gallery.

This activity is suitable for all ages and abilities.