Museum of the Moving Image

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Museum of the Moving Image

For the museum of the same name in New York, please see Museum of the Moving Image (New York City).

The Museum of the Moving Image was a museum of the history of technology and media, including cinema and its forerunners. MOMI was opened on 15 September 1988 by Prince Charles and became an instant international hit and winning 18 awards.The museum was sited below Waterloo Bridge
Waterloo Bridge

Waterloo Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the River Thames in London, England between Blackfriars Bridge and Hungerford Bridge....
and forming part of the cultural complex on the South Bank
South Bank

The South Bank is the area in London on the southern bank of the River Thames near Waterloo station that houses a number of important cultural buildings/institutions....
of the River Thames
River Thames

The Thames is a major river flowing through southern England. While best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows through several other towns and cities, including Oxford, Reading, Berkshire and Windsor, Berkshire....
, London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
, England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
.

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For the museum of the same name in New York, please see Museum of the Moving Image (New York City).
The Museum of the Moving Image was a museum of the history of technology and media, including cinema and its forerunners. MOMI was opened on 15 September 1988 by Prince Charles and became an instant international hit and winning 18 awards.The museum was sited below Waterloo Bridge
Waterloo Bridge

Waterloo Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the River Thames in London, England between Blackfriars Bridge and Hungerford Bridge....
and forming part of the cultural complex on the South Bank
South Bank

The South Bank is the area in London on the southern bank of the River Thames near Waterloo station that houses a number of important cultural buildings/institutions....
of the River Thames
River Thames

The Thames is a major river flowing through southern England. While best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows through several other towns and cities, including Oxford, Reading, Berkshire and Windsor, Berkshire....
, London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
, England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
. MOMI was mainly funded by private subscription and operated by the British Film Institute
British Film Institute

The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:...
. MOMI continued to be praised internationally but despite its world-wide acclaim, after the retirement of its founders, the British Film Institute simply lost interest in its popular appeal. MOMI was closed "temporarily" in 1999 (a letter to the London Evening Standard on 31 August 1999 claimed this was cultural vandalism by the BFI), with the closure becoming permanent soon after. An article in the Magic Lantern Society Journal claimed "(MOMI was)... born out of love and generosity, but it seems you have passed away stifled by mediocrity and indifference."

MOMI was the brain child of BFI South Bank Controller Leslie Hardcastle
Leslie Hardcastle

Leslie Hardcastle OBE Leslie Hardcastle was Controller of the British Film Institute?s National Film Theatre complex on London?s South Bank from it early beginnings through to his retirement in the mid 1990s....
OBE. The vision became real when the then Director of the BFI, Anthony Smith CBE raised all the money to pay for the production. Hardcastle was assisted in his interpretation by historians David Francis OBE and David Robinson
David Robinson (film critic and author)

David Robinson is a United Kingdom film critic and author. He started writing for Sight and Sound and the Monthly Film Bulletin in the 1950s, becoming Assistant Editor of Sight and Sound and Editor of the Monthly Film Bulletin in 1957-1958....
and transformed into environmental reality by designer Neal Potter. MOMI helped to change the concept of how entertainment and education can sit comfortably together in a museum context. MOMI was never about collections for collections' sake. Its objective was to tell the story of the moving image using collections as punctuation on that journey.

Content of MOMI included:
Tricking the Eye, Shadow puppets
Shadow Play

Shadow Play may refer to:*Shadow play, a technique of using shadows to tell stories*Shadow Play , a play by Noel Coward*Shadow Play , a PBS documentary about the rise and fall of the Suharto regime in Indonesia...
, Early optical device, The Phantasmagoria
Phantasmagoria

Phantasmagoria can refer to:* Phantasmagoria, a type of show using an optical device to display moving images* Phantasmagoria * Phantasmagoria , a Lewis Carroll poem...
, Optical toys, Photography
Photography

Photography is the process, activity and art of creating still or moving by recording radiation on a sensitive medium, such as a photographic film, or an ....
, Magic lantern
Magic Lantern

Magic lantern may mean:*magic lantern, the ancestor of the modern slide projector*Magic Lantern , the FBI's keylogger.*The Magic Lantern is the name of a theater in Prague which served as the headquarters for the reform movement ...
s, Projection
Projection

Projection can be any of:* The display of an image by devices such as:**Movie projector**Video projector**Overhead projector**Slide projector...
, Persistence of vision
Persistence of vision

Persistence of vision is the phenomenon of the eye by which even nanoseconds of exposure to an image result in milliseconds of reaction from the retina to the optic nerves....
, The arrival of Cinema (Lumiere Brothers), Early Technical advances, British Pioneers including Birt Acres
Birt Acres

Birt Acres , born in Richmond, Virginia, Virginia, United States of English parents was a photographer and film pioneer.He was the inventor of the first British 35 mm moving picture camera, the first daylight loading home movies camera and Movie projector, Birtac, was the first travelling newsreel reporter in international film history...
, Melies, The early cinemas World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
, The formation of Hollywood, The Temple to the Gods of the Silent Cinema
Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially spoken dialogue. The idea of combining motion pictures with recorded sound is nearly as old as film itself, but because of the technical challenges involved, synchronized dialogue was only made possible in the late 1920s with the introduction of the Vitaphone system....
, Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin

Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin, Jr. Order of the British Empire , better known as Charlie Chaplin, was an Academy Award-winning England comedy film actor and filmmaker....
, The Russian Agit prop Train, Experimental Film
Experimental film

Experimental film or experimental cinema describes a range of filmmaking styles that are generally quite different from, and often opposed to, the practices of mainstream commercial and documentary filmmaking....
, German Expressionism
German Expressionism

German Expressionism refers to a number of related creative movements which emerged in Germany before the first world war and reached a peak in 1920s Berlin, during the 1920s....
, The coming of sound film
Sound film

A sound film is a film with synchronization, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before reliable synchronization was made commercially practical....
, Censorship
Censorship

Censorship is the suppression of freedom of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable, harmful or sensitive, as determined by a censor....
, Newsreel
Newsreel

A newsreel was a form of short documentary film prevalent in the first half of the 20th century, regularly released in a public presentation place and containing filmed news stories and items of topical interest....
, The Documentary
Documentary film

Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to "document" reality. Although "documentary film" originally referred to movies shot on film stock, it has subsequently expanded to include video and new media productions that can be either direct-to-video or made for a televis...
Movement, Cinema of France
Cinema of France

The Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies, making within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad. France was the birthplace of cinema and saw many of its initial significant contributions....
, Animation
Animation

Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of Motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways....
, The Hollywood Studio System, The Great days of cinema going in Britain including Odeon Cinemas
Odeon Cinemas

Odeon Cinemas is the largest chain of movie theater in Europe and is wholly based within the United Kingdom. It is owned by Terra Firma Capital Partners....
, British film, World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, Cinema architecture, The arrival of television
Television

Television is a widely used telecommunication mass-media for transmitting and receiving moving , either monochrome or color, usually accompanied by sound....
, Expansion of television, Cinema fights television, World Cinema
World cinema

World cinema is a term used primarily in English language speaking countries to refer to the films and film industry of non-English speaking countries....
, Television heritage, Television today, a Doctor Who
Doctor Who

Doctor Who is a British Science fiction on television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious alien Time travel known as "Doctor " who travels in his space and time-ship, the TARDIS, which normally appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s police box....
exhibit that was used in several documentaries about the early years of the show, plus a temporary exhibition area

Interpretation was done through graphics, interactive exhibits, recreated environments, models and six 35mm film projections, two 16mm film projections, over 70 laser disc players for video play back.There was also a group of six actors who worked in period (eg a Victorian magic lanternist or a Hollywood director).

A few months before MOMI opened in 1988 the animator Chuck Jones
Chuck Jones

Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, film producer, and film director of animation films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros....
was invited to create a chase sequence directly onto the high walls of the museum. Jones spent several days working on high scaffolding to create the work. At the lowest level on a door is a smaller drawing (not part of the chase) which Jones used to try out the pens.

Animation played an important role in MOMI. Channel Four funded the Channel Four/MOMI animator in residence
Channel Four/MOMI animator in residence

HistoryThe Channel Four/MOMI animator in residence scheme was housed in the MOMI on the Southbank. Starting in 1990. It ran for thirteen years commissioning over forty films which were transmitted throughout the World....
scheme. Winners of the competition developed a short film in the 'goldfish bowl', a three meter square glass box, this allowed the public to see the animators every move. Over forty films were produced and they won many awards wordwide.

The excitement which grew as MOMI neared opening was fueled when the Museum bought Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model, and a sex symbol.After spending much of her childhood in foster homes, Monroe began a career as a model, which led to a film contract in 1946....
's black dress from Some Like it Hot
Some Like It Hot

Some Like It Hot is an Cinema of the United States comedy film directed by Billy Wilder and starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon....
, for £19,800. The event captured the front page of many UK newspapers

There was a busy Education Department with two education rooms and a small cinema for special events. The museum was very popular for private hire - corporate events or parties.

Temporary exhibitions at MOMI included: Charlie Chaplin's Centenary, Ray Harryhausen
Ray Harryhausen

Ray Harryhausen is an United States film producer and, most notably, a special effects creator most famous for his brand of stop-motion model animation....
, Pop Video
Music video

A music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music, most commonly a pop music or rock music song with lyrics. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings....
, The Western Film, Judy Garland
Judy Garland

Judy Garland was an American actress and alto singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage....
, George Melies, Special Effects in the Cinema and Imagine (the next 100 years of the moving image).

MOMI was housed in a glass-sided steel framed metal-clad building (designed by Avery Associates), with distinctive red roofs running along each side of Waterloo Bridge
Waterloo Bridge

Waterloo Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the River Thames in London, England between Blackfriars Bridge and Hungerford Bridge....
. The playful hybrid of high-tech and post-modern style in the design of the MOMI building makes a vigorous contrast with the Brutalist architecture
Brutalist architecture

Brutalist architecture is a style of architecture which flourished from the 1950s to the mid 1970s, spawned from the Modern architecture movement....
of much of the neighbouring South Bank Centre
South Bank Centre

Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues located in London, UK, on the South Bank of the River Thames between County Hall, London and Waterloo Bridge....
and National Theatre
Royal National Theatre

The Royal National Theatre, London, England, is generally known as the National Theatre and commonly as The National. It is located on the The South Bank in the London Borough of Lambeth, England, immediately east of the southern end of Waterloo Bridge....
and the Art Deco
Art Deco

Art Deco was a popular international design movement from 1925 until 1939, affecting the decorative arts such as architecture, interior design, and industrial design, as well as the visual arts such as fashion, painting, the graphic arts and film....
Waterloo Bridge
Waterloo Bridge

Waterloo Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the River Thames in London, England between Blackfriars Bridge and Hungerford Bridge....
.

Although there was talk that Bradford
Bradford

Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield....
's National Media Museum planned to open a London venue, London still has no film museum. The MOMI site reopened as BFI Southbank
BFI Southbank

BFI Southbank is the leading repertory cinema in the UK specialising in seasons of classic, independent and non-English language films and is operated by the British Film Institute....
on 14 March 2007, providing a new entrance to the National Film Theatre complex. In addition to the existing three cinemas showcasing the best historical and contemporary film from around the world, the BFI Southbank site boasts a gallery, a mediatheque of British film and television, and a bookshop within an active programme that includes the annual London Film Festival. However, the lack of a broader historical context for the history of the moving image means that the old MOMI is still sorely missed among cinema afcionados and film students.

External links

from the 24 Hour Museum
24 Hour Museum

24 Hour Museum is an online guide to public museums, galleries, libraries, archives, heritage sites and science centres in the United Kingdom. It operates independently, but is sponsored by the government....

, BBC News
BBC News

BBC News, formerly BBC News and Current Affairs, is the department within the BBC responsible for the corporation's news-gathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online....
, 7 October 2002
, The Independent
The Independent

The Independent is a United Kingdom Compact newspaper published by Tony O'Reilly's Independent News & Media. It is nicknamed the Indy, with the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, being the Sindy....
, 13 October 2002