Abstract
This article describes and examines a recent film about a cancelled theatre-magic show, with reference to a few significant artists working in visual art and cinema. The film in question, The Disappearing of Vincent Gambini (2021) by Augusto Corrieri and Hugo Glendinning, came about in response to the closure of UK theatres at the start of the pandemic in 2020. The article, written by one of the film’s makers, details the process that led to the collaborative work; it then focuses on two key scenes from the film, and discusses these in relation to the works of 20th and 21st century artists, including Chantal Akerman, Tacita Dean and Robert Rauschenberg. What emerges is an understanding of how artistic processes can embrace and work with disappearance and erasure; the essay concludes by proposing that amazement and wonder might lie less in the execution of successful magic, but rather in a mode of perception attuned to the present, whatever it may hold.
Keywords
Magic, Film, Presence, Absence
How to Cite
Corrieri, A., (2021) “Nothing is something”, Journal of Performance Magic 6(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.5920/jpm.992