“Thus is one who apparently accomplishes the impossible in an entertainer manner. It naturally follows that the performer who demonstrates a few tricks without playing with the imagination of his audience is not strictly speaking a conjurer at all, but a trickster. … Where the imagination is not stimulated there is no real mystery.” NeoMagic S.H. Sharpe 1932” BETWEEN LOVE…
On the ART VS ENTERTAINMENT debate in magic.
I do believe entertainment it’s at its best when it no only entertains. I could finish the article right here but will try to elaborate a little bit more. From my experience as receptor, I don’t think there such thing as pure entertainment, that would be something like anesthesia, almost always there is something else besides amusement. The key is…
DECEMBER 2018: MAGIC IS NOT A GOOD EXCUSE TO LIE
Recently (and not for the first time) I got into a debate about whether stooges and, more broadly, lying are defensible strategies in magic. As is often the case, the opposing positions taken in such a debate help bring us to a much deeper understanding of the issue, but also of our basic understanding of magic as an art form…
DECEMBER 2017: GOOD MAGICIAN VS BAD MAGICIAN
The good magician first seduces you honestly, without deception, with charisma, with his inner universe, with his vision of the world, with a beautiful idea, with his scenic presence, with the plasticity of his movements … and set your imagination free. Your mind starts hinting and building, finding and putting meaning… and then the magician just makes happen this that…
MARCH 2017: PERVERSE SILVER
Hi there!
Hope you like this! Comments on this routine very soon 🙂
Best
Pipo
FEBRUARY 2017: INTENTION AND MEANING I
We can always choose to show off with our instrument, and it really doesn’t take that much time to be able to do it, we can collect moves and licks, develop our amazing speed and precision. Give ourselves to the discipline of finger building and receive our compliment and “wows” when we perform. There is other way to approach it…
JANUARY 2017: ARTURO DE ASCANIO
The Magic Atmosphere
“Magic begins with resistance, at the point where resistance is overcome.” It was that night in Madrid of 1954 when everything changed. I was not there but I’ve heard the tale many times and I’ve recreated it in my mind many more. The great Fred Kaps (1926-1980) was there performing a clandestine close-up session for a little crowd. They were…
DECEMBER 2016: THE ART OF MAGIC
It seems that the art of magic has to do with getting spectators attribute an impossible and fascinating meaning to the ordinary things they are actually witnessing. In order to manipulate the spectator mind, or rather, in order to make the spectator manipulate his own mind, the magician first must know how his own mind works because it is something…
DECEMBER 2015: ON TV MAGIC, ETHICS IN MAGIC AND CHAMBER MUSIC
“The XXIst century TV magician is an actor playing the part of a magician, who pretends that the guy he’s asking to freely select a card is not another actor playing the part of a spectator” Well I guess everyone can interpret Houdin the way they want… Don’t get me wrong, I do like some magicians who occasionally perform on…
NOVEMBER 2015: A MAGIC RITUAL YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW
It’s been a few months already, always talking about magic, magic this, magic that, blah blah blah… IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO DO SOME MAGIC!! This is a Magic Ritual, grab any deck you have at hand and join me for five minutes, if you do this right it may help you to achieve an unspeakable desire* of yours.…