The Magic of Social Life

Abstract

Theglobal COVID-19 pandemic has compelled magicians to reconsider how they engage audiences.  The pivot to online delivery platforms hasserved as yet another occasion in the history of this art form to consider longrunning questions about its aims and means. This articleelaborates the reasoning behind one effort to produce an online, Zoom-basedresource prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic; namely a series of interactiverecorded performances titled The Magic ofSocial Life. It does so in two parts: (i) outlining the rationale for aform of academic magic that seeks to turn commonplace social practices andconventions into topics for discussion, and (ii) elaborating how this form ofmagic was adopted to promote reflection on technologically mediated forms ofsocial interaction.  Through examiningthe choices and commitments associated with both parts, this article considersthe possibilities for how magic can function as method for understandingourselves and others. 

Keywords

Zoom, magic, skill acquisition, learning, deception

How to Cite

Rappert, B., (2021) “The Magic of Social Life”, Journal of Performance Magic 6(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.5920/jpm.840

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Authors

Brian Rappert (University of Exeter)

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0

Competing Interests

n/a

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This article has been peer reviewed.

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