Laterna Magika is a unique Czechoslovak cultural phenomenon that first emerged at the 1958 EXPO in Brussels. It was the world's first multimedia theatre and it remains an integral part of the National Theater in Prague ensemble.

Our task was to create a visual identity for a research project dedicated to capturing and preserving the complexity of the Laterna Magika phenomenon. One of the key visual outputs was a book, compiling film materials from both private and public collections, written archives, and interviews with contemporary witnesses — documenting this unique artistic project.

Let there be light

To fully understand the phenomenon of Laterna Magika, we had to define the fundamental question: Where lies its core magic? Laterna Magika is a synchronous fusion of theatre, film, and technology where everything is possible. Yet, the essence that shines consistently through its history is – light. Light is what allows us to perceive both film and theatre, and if we break the projected light into its three primary colors (Red, Green, and Blue) we unlock the visual key to the entire project.

Three primary colors divide the book into three chapters each revealing different thematic layers and introducing theatre as a complex phenomenon affected by many cultural, political, technical, and ideological transformations.

Follow the Sun

Most importantly – Laterna Magika is beautiful! Rather than overpowering it with with graphics, we aimed to emphasize its beauty letting the colorful beam of its “magic lamp“ shine through.
Additionally, we created a website for the project, designed to follow the Earth’s orbit around the Sun — after all, sunrise and sunset are quite possibly the oldest form of scenography ever witnessed by the human eye.