A selection of the 40,000 archives held by the Conan Doyle Collection were used to produce The Illusions of Mystery. This was 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![Peper's Ghost workshop 1](/dbimgs/Conan Doyle/The Detectives/hands and drawings - 500.jpg)
Five workshops involved working with InterActive artist William Lindley and re-imagining the collection
![The Detectives - Kim](/dbimgs/Conan Doyle/Kim - 500 (1).jpg)
![The Detectives - John](/dbimgs/Conan Doyle/John - 500.jpg)
![The Detectives - John 2](/dbimgs/Conan Doyle/John 2 - 500.jpg)
The images were then scanned and adapted and projected onto the screen.
![Illusions of Mystery](/dbimgs/Conan Doyle/The Detectives/Pepper's Ghost %26 GH - 500(1).jpg)
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.
![Pepper's Ghost exhibition](/dbimgs/Conan Doyle/The Detectives/exhibition 1 500.jpg)
![Pepper's Ghost](/dbimgs/Conan Doyle/The Detectives/Exhibition 2 500.jpg)
The Detectives used multiple projectors to create a Pepper's Ghost illusion on the black framed reflective screens:
![Pepper's Ghost](/dbimgs/Conan Doyle/The Detectives/Exhibition 3 500.jpg)
Further images of Illusions of Mystery Exhibition (opens in a new window)