Illusions of Mystery

A selection of the 40,000 archives held by the Conan Doyle Collection were used to produce The Illusions of Mystery. This is a creative light experience which took place in November 2021 as part of Portsmouth Creates' We Shine project.

This was the first exhibition created as part of The Detectives project  using volunteers (Detectives) who were involved in all aspects of the project. The Detectives were responsible researching the Collection and choosing the images, interviewing and working with the artists, marketing and evaluation.

Work in progress

We ran seven workshops for three people with learning disabilities, and a man, with quadraplegic cerebal palsy, who would like to gain employment as a projectionist. Working on this project helped him gain important skills such as learning how to use a projector. 

One workshop was focussed on the Conan Doyle Collection, handling archives & selecting images

Five workshops involved working with InterActive artist William Lindley and re-imagining the collection

The images were then scanned and adapted and projected onto the screen.

The final workshop involved using a laptop and keyboard to create a sound track to accompany the exhibition.

The finished project

The final exhibition was opened to the public during the Portsmouth Creates We Shine event in November 2021.

The Detectives used multiple projectors to create a Pepper's Ghost illusion on the black framed reflective screens:

Further images of Illusions of Mystery Exhibition (opens in a new window)