Book Chapters by Evelien Jonckheere
Magical Minard. Evenings of Wonder, 2023
Magical Minard. Evenings of Wonder, 2023
IL TEATRI DELLE RIVISTE , LE THEATRE DES REVUES (1870-2000), 2014
Pour une numérisation des revues théâtrales Bibliografia generale / Bibliographie generale Note b... more Pour une numérisation des revues théâtrales Bibliografia generale / Bibliographie generale Note bio-bibliografiche / Notices bio-bibliographies Indice delle riviste teatrali / Index des revues théâtrales Indice dei nomi / Index des noms
James Ensor, Stoutste Dromen: het impressionisme voorbij / James Ensor, Rêves Fantasque. Au-delà de l’impressionnisme / James Ensor, In your wildest dreams. Ensor beyond impressionism, 2024
Chapter in catalogue exhibition James Ensor, In your wildest dreams. Ensor beyond impressionism (... more Chapter in catalogue exhibition James Ensor, In your wildest dreams. Ensor beyond impressionism (KMSKA)
Faith in a Beam of Light: Magic Lantern and Belief in Western Europe, 1860-1940, 2022
By focusing on three popular fin-de-siècle ‘apparitions’, metempsychosis, serpentine dances, and ... more By focusing on three popular fin-de-siècle ‘apparitions’, metempsychosis, serpentine dances, and ombres chinoises, this contribution unveils the complexity of fin-de-siècle illusionist spectacle in Belgium and France. By analyzing their ‘hidden lantern’ technology and iconography in relation to its historical context and reception, a complex ‘crisis of faith’ will be demonstrated. Even though Catholicism was by far the most popular religion in Belgium and France, spiritualism and occultist societies gained considerable popularity during the fin-de-siècle. By analyzing fin-de-siècle ‘phantasmagoric illusions’ performed by ‘hidden lanterns’ at various locations such as the fairground, theater, cabaret, and even the living room, this contribution demonstrates the complexity of spectatorship and (dis)belief(s).
The Magic Lantern at Work: Witnessing, Persuading, Experiencing and Connecting, 2020
Considerable research in visual media has been devoted to the 'secret life' 1 of the magic lanter... more Considerable research in visual media has been devoted to the 'secret life' 1 of the magic lantern, the phantasmagoria or 'ghost show'. Very little is known, however, about the métempsycose, a very peculiar ghostly attraction that, on closer inspection, was deeply rooted in popular culture as a set of practices, beliefs and amusements. The technique was part of a repertoire that used magic lanterns to evoke ghosts. In the French publication Le Grand manuel de projection, guide de l'amateur (a sort of user guide compiled in 1897 by the magician Alber and the editor A. Hegé, on commission from the lantern manufacturer Mazo), the optical illusion known as 'métempsycose' is regarded as a 'dérivé de la projection', along with microscopic projection, scientific projection, stereoscopic projection, panoramic projection, shadow play, and 'spectres'. 2 In the second volume of La pratique des projections by H. Fourtier (1893), which also contains explanations of various projection devices, the métempsycose is discussed under the heading "la fantasmagorie et les projections au théâtre." 3 It is also worthwhile examining the attraction as an independent practice. Métempsycose was an optical illusion that was popular among the broad public in France and Belgium, as well as in Spain and the Netherlands beginning in 1880. It received particularly high praise at carnivals. In the final decades of the nineteenth century, the classical spirits that had been populating the stage were transformed into successive dissolving images of a beautiful young lady, a rose bush, a plaster bust, and a skull. Taken together, this narrative form and iconographic sequence expressed a spiritual belief in reincarnation and evolution rather than a belief in death and the great beyond.
Tussen beleving en verbeelding. De stad in de negentiende-eeuwse literatuur, 2013
Overdruk uit TUSSEN BELEVING EN VERBEELDING-ISBN 978 90 5867 969 7
Gent 1913: op het breukvlak van de moderniteit , 2013
de school in het senegalese dorp.
Debatfiches van de Vlaamse elite, 2022
Vlaanderen Excelleert!? , 2020
Belichte stad: over dag, licht en nacht, 2010
Onnoemelijke dingen. Over taboe en verbod in het fin de siècle , 2014
Het spel voorbij de waanzin. Een theatrale praktijk? , 2010
Bastard or playmate? Adapting Theatre, Mutating Media and the Contemporary Performing Arts, 2012
Historische Avant-Garde en het theater in het interbellum , 2011
Pietpraat. Over zwarte piet in België, 2018
Etherisch strijkersensemble Parisiana, 2014
Articles by Evelien Jonckheere
Journal of Belgian History, 2023
“In order to appreciate the good, one must know the bad...” On 2 December 1917, Paul Smekens (18... more “In order to appreciate the good, one must know the bad...” On 2 December 1917, Paul Smekens (1890-1983) gave a lecture with lichtbeelden (projected images) on modern architecture at the Vlaamsche Kring (Flemish Circle) in Mortsel. “The architecture of the nineteenth century was the negation of all originality. Fixed rules were set according to which each building had to be built in a certain style according to its purpose : churches in gothic style, town halls in renaissance style, etc. The society that is constantly progressing did not understand much about this art of plagiarism and did not bother at all. This art was outside living life. (...) The lecturer distinguishes in today’s architecture two directions : the one that is still under the influence of the XIXth century and is bad, and the one that has made itself free, and therefore good” . With lectures on modern architecture, avant-garde art, science, and commerce, the Vlaamsche Kring moralized with seemingly ‘neutral’ images and by using a comparative strategy of contrasting images of a seemingly neutral subject such as architecture, subtle activist messages were dispersed by an organisation that declared itself “independent of any political colour” . As such, it paved the way for the dissemination of radical politics in occupied Belgium during the First World War, supported by lantern slides as well as one of the major Flemish entrepreneurs of his time (and a producer of slides) Lieven Gevaert (1868-1935).
Participations: Journal of Audience & Reception Studies, 2019
This article reveals the substantial presence of all kinds of foreigners among the audiences in B... more This article reveals the substantial presence of all kinds of foreigners among the audiences in Belgian café-concerts and their position in ambitious urban and national politics in fin-de-siècle Belgian cities. Although ignored by academics for decades, Belgian fin-de-siècle café-concerts and their hedonistic atmosphere were highly influential, and even imitated, abroad. By combining quantitative and qualitative data from a wide range of research fields, it is possible to comprehend the café-concert and its audiences as transgressive identities, challenging concepts of social space, as well as nationalities, class and gender. By recognizing foreigners' unique position in modern Belgian cities and also the café-concert as their favoured place for social encounters, new light is shed on the international community, urban economy, nationhood and modern identities.
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Book Chapters by Evelien Jonckheere
Articles by Evelien Jonckheere
Jean Delville (1867-1953), a Belgian symbolist artist and a pivotal figure in fin-de-siècle occultism in Brussels, was inspired by numerous synaesthetic performances: shadow plays, serpentine dance, and colour organs. These performances were perceived as musical paintings or experiments with colour-hearing, audition-colorée, or farbenhören and often made use of projection techniques. This contribution sheds light on the artistic, spiritual, and even therapeutic context of synaesthetic projection closely intertwined with Jean Delville’s interests and activities. It demonstrates how the lantern projector turned into a ‘magic lantern’ in synaesthetic performances. By materialising (in)visible vibrations, it paradoxically propagated an antimaterialist vision of life.