Public Exhibition: Celluloid Dreams Silentscapes
19 November – 4 December 2026
University College London
Inspired by the AHRC-funded research project Museum of Dreamworlds (which is systematically investigating all the silent films in the BFI National Archive that concern ancient Greece or Rome), our project member Aylin Atacan is staging the exhibition Celluloid Dreams, Silentscapes in University College London from 19 November to 4 December 2026.
The project has created an open access website as a place of reference and a departure point for further research. It includes direct access to around 40 digitised versions of antiquity films from the BFI and analyses of many of them – currently some 25 essays totalling 150,000 words. We are also exploring a future use for these materials beyond academia and the archive, as learning resources in cinemas, schools, heritage sites, and museums.
The exhibition juxtaposes some of the antiquity films preserved in the BFI with contemporary responses to them. These works are interconnected through their depictions of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. for architecture lies at the heart of these imagined worlds. Monumental temples, ruined cities, and spectacular landscapes became visual stages where historical knowledge intertwined with artistic interpretation. The exhibition reveals how early filmmakers reimagined the past, blurring the boundaries between archaeological evidence, architecture and cinematic invention.
Monday to Friday 9am-5pm; Saturday and Sunday 11am-3pm
The UCL Bartlett School of Architecture (Exhibition Space), London WC1H 0QB.
Free admission
No booking required
Note: this is not a Classical Association event – please contact the organisers directly with any enquiries.
