Article ID: CBB846708658

Echnologies of Stage Magic: Simulation and Dissimulation (2015)

unapi

The craft of stage magic is presented in this article as a site to study the interplay of people and technology. The focus is on conjuring in the 19th and early 20th centuries, a time when magicians eagerly appropriated new optical, mechanical and electrical technologies into their acts. Also at this time, a modern style of conjuring emerged, characterized by minimal apparatus and a natural manner of performance. Applying Lucy Suchman’s perspective of human-machine reconfigurations, conjuring in this modern style is interpreted as an early form of simulation, coupled with techniques of dissimulation. Magicians simulated the presence of supernational agency for public audiences, while dissimulating the underlying methods and mechanisms. Dissimulation implies that the secret inner workings of apparatus were not simply concealed but were rendered absent. This, in turn, obscured the production of supernatural effects in the translation of agencies within an assembly of performers, assistants, apparatus, apparatus-builders, and so on. How this was achieved is investigated through an analysis of key instructional texts written by and for magicians working in the modern style. Techniques of dissimulation are identified in the design of apparatus for three stage illusions, and in the new naturalness of the performer’s manner. To explore the significance of this picture of stage magic, and its reliance on techniques of dissimulation, a parallel is drawn between conjuring and recent performances of computerized life forms, especially those of social robotics. The paper concludes by considering what is revealed about the production of agency in stage magic’s peculiar human-machine assemblies.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB846708658/

Similar Citations

Thesis Nadis, Fred Robert; (2002)
Wonder Shows: Science, Religion, and Magic on the American stage, 1845--2001 (/isis/citation/CBB001562051/)

Book Sofie Lachapelle; (2015)
Conjuring Science: A History of Scientific Entertainment and Stage Magic in Modern France (/isis/citation/CBB730677721/)

Article Lachapelle, Sofie; (2008)
From the Stage to the Laboratory: Magicians, Psychologists, and the Science of Illusion (/isis/citation/CBB000930182/)

Article Watt-Smith, Tiffany; (2013)
Cardboard, Conjuring and “A Very Curious Experiment” (/isis/citation/CBB001201229/)

Chapter Adriana Di Leo; (2014)
Meccanica e società (/isis/citation/CBB010133090/)

Chapter Gianfrancesco Biggioggero; Edoardo Rovida; (2014)
Scuole di meccanica (/isis/citation/CBB862923043/)

Chapter Edoardo Rovida; (2014)
Ruote e motori (/isis/citation/CBB795309358/)

Chapter Umberto Cugini; Giancarlo Genta; (2014)
Progettazione di macchine (/isis/citation/CBB607521051/)

Chapter Roberto C. Garberi; (2014)
L’evoluzione della tecnologia dell’ala rotante e il contributo di Agusta Westland (/isis/citation/CBB484250053/)

Chapter Emilio Chirone; (2014)
Note sulla storia del disegno di macchine (/isis/citation/CBB046114968/)

Chapter Attilio Selvini; Peter Dannecker; (2014)
La meccanica delle armi da fuoco portatili (/isis/citation/CBB976001827/)

Book Virginio Cantoni; Vittorio Marchis; Edoardo Rovida; (2014)
Storia della Meccanica (/isis/citation/CBB405054620/)

Thesis Dawson, Paul Louis; (2005)
Luis de Florez and the Special Devices Division (/isis/citation/CBB001560871/)

Article Fillerup, Jessie; (2013)
Ravel and Robert-Houdin, Magicians (/isis/citation/CBB001320651/)

Book Peter Adey; (2017)
Levitation: The Science, Myth and Magic of Suspension (/isis/citation/CBB255782789/)

Article Julie Jebeile; (2018)
Explaining with Simulations: Why Visual Representations Matter (/isis/citation/CBB882900028/)

Book Turkle, Sherry; (2009)
Simulation and Its Discontents (/isis/citation/CBB000952779/)

Book Andrea Bernardoni; (2020)
Leonardo ingegnere (/isis/citation/CBB332632638/)

Chapter Oreskes, Naomi; (2007)
From Scaling to Simulation: Changing Meanings and Ambitions of Models in Geology (/isis/citation/CBB000900058/)

Authors & Contributors
Rovida, Edoardo
Lachapelle, Sofie
Dannecker, Peter
Cugini, Umberto
Adey, Peter
Genta, Giancarlo
Concepts
Machines
Technology
Mechanics
Engineering
Industry
Science and industry
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
21st century
Renaissance
Early modern
Medieval
Places
Italy
United States
France
Europe
Institutions
United States Navy
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment