Guerilla Magic

1
Guerilla Magic

• Taking it to the streets

2
Magic as a performance art

• What is Magic?
• A performing art of the seeming manipulation and
  supernatural control of the natural world for the
  amusement and amazement of an audience.
  
• Magicians
• Magicians are also referred to by names
  reflecting the type of magical effects they
  typically perform
  
• conjurors,
• illusionists,
• mentalists, and
• escape artists, etc.
• Magic tricks
• sleight of hand, misdirection, deception,
  collusion with a member of the audience,
  apparatus with secret mechanisms, mirrors, and
  other trickery

3
The Magician and the Audience

• The Magician
• Creates an effect so clever and skillful that the
  audience is in disbelief as to how it defies
  reality. They cannot understand how the trick was
  done. This sense of confusion is essential to the
  success of the magician and the trick.
• The Audience
• A desire to believe the impossible becomes
  possible
  
• Connects with ones inner-child where one doesnt
  understand how the feat is created yet
  understands that it is still an illusion
  
• Paida vs. ludus

4
Categories of Illusion

• Production to produce something from nothing
• A rabbit from a hat
• The magician him/herself
• Vanishing to make something disappear
• A cage of doves
• An assistant from a cabinet
• A vanish, being the reverse of a production, may
  use a similar technique, in reverse.

5
Categories of Illusion

• Transformation to transform something from one
  state into another
  
• A lady turns into a tiger
• An indifferent card changes to the spectator's
  chosen card
  
• A transformation can be seen as a combination of
  a vanish and a production.
  
• Restoration to destroy an object and then
  restore it back to its original state
  
• A rope is cut and mended together
• A woman is sawed in half and appears fine

6
Categories of Illusion

• Teleportation to move something from one place
  to another
  
• A ring is found inside a sealed glass
• An assistant from a cabinet to the back of the
  theatre.
  
• When two objects exchange places, it is called a
  transposition a simultaneous or double
  teleportation
  
• Levitation to defy gravity
• either achieved by making something float in air
  or with the aid of another object (suspension)
  
• The magician floats in mid-air
• A scarf dances in a sealed bottle

7
Categories of Illusion

• Penetration to make a solid object pass through
  another
  
• A set of steel rings link and unlink
• Swords pass through an assistant in a basket
• Sometimes referred to as 'solid-through-solid'
• Prediction to predict the choice of a
  spectator, or the outcome of an event under
  seemingly impossible circumstances
  
• A newspaper headline is predicted
• A picture drawn on a slate.
• Prediction forms the basis for most 'pick-a-card'
  tricks

8
The Next Generation of Magic

• Performing Guerrilla Magic
• Magicians approach and perform for unsuspecting
  members of the public on the street
  
• There is no monetary remuneration involved
• Appearence of impromptu, unrehearsed, and
  experimental event
  
• The performance gains its impact from the wild
  reactions of the public
  
• TV shows
• David Blaine Street Magic (ABC, 1997)
• Criss Angel Mindfreak
• They created an image of the contemporary
  magician distinct from other magicians in recent
  television history, such as David Copperfield or
  Doug Henning