robert houdin secrets of conjuring and magic

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. Dissimulation implies that the secret inner workings of apparatus were not simply concealed but were rendered absent. Magicians simulated the presence of supernational agency for public audiences, while dissimulating the underlying methods and mechanisms. 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. Also at this time, a modern style of conjuring emerged, characterized by minimal apparatus and a natural manner of performance. 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. The craft of stage magic is presented in this article as a site to study the interplay of people and technology.

Robert houdin secrets of conjuring and magic