Erkki Huhtamo’s collection

With an office full of antique projectors known as “magic lanterns” and a conviction to retell media history, Erkki Huhtamo has pioneered the field of media archaeology, compelling us to think about the cultural history of 21st century media through the machines that were the precursors to today’s digital cams and movie projectors.

Having begun this quest more than 20 years ago in his native Finland, Huhtamo, a professor of design media arts as well as film, television and digital media, has sought not only to record the history of media through his writings, art and exhibitions, but to entertain modern-day audiences with productions using these antique machines.