For decades, possibly centuries, magicians have fretted and argued over if and when it is acceptable to reveal the secrets of their tricks and illusions.
Now two British academics — who are magicians themselves — have written what is believed to be the first detailed study examining what is known in the trade as “exposure”.
Gustav Kuhn and Brian Rappert, academics from the universities of Plymouth and Exeter, asked hundreds of magicians from around the world about attitudes to exposure.
Photo: AFP
They found that exposing another magician’s trick when they are still alive was a big no-no, with fewer than 3 percent feeling this was acceptable.
However, it was deemed much more justifiable to expose a trick invented by a magician who was dead or to explain how an illusion you had developed yourself was done.
It was seen as wrong to reveal a trick for self-promotion and, while many thought it reasonable to pass on the secrets of a trick to a fellow magician, it was much less acceptable to draw back the curtain to someone who just wanted to know how it was done for the sake of it.
Photo: AP
Rappert and Kuhn, both members of the Magic Circle, are readying themselves for flak when their paper is published on Monday.
“It’s a huge, really controversial topic within the magic community,” said Kuhn, of the school of psychology at the University of Plymouth and an exponent of closeup and street magic. “Magicians get emotional about it.”
As in most aspects of modern life, money appears to come into it. Kuhn said: “If you pay for a magic trick, it’s OK to expose the magic secrets. If you pay me for the secrets, then I’m allowed to expose it, but if I give you the secret for free, then that’s not OK.
Photo: AFP
“Magic could only advance through the sharing of certain secrets and magicians need to make a living so that financial transaction seems to play a really important part.”
Kuhn was at the center of a storm in 2019 when the global charitable foundation Wellcome Trust ran a free exhibition called Smoke and Mirrors in London that explicitly explained general principles in magic, such as misdirection and forcing.
Kuhn, whose research featured in the show, said some magicians saw the free access to such information as a violation of the rules and he was formally investigated by the Magic Circle’s exposure committee.
“It seems very unlikely that the exhibition would have created the same kind of controversy had visitors been charged an entry fee,” he wrote in a paper.
It also examines some of the history of exposure, highlighting how the first president of the Magic Circle, David Devant, was forced to resign after extracts from his book Secrets of My Magic appeared in a popular magazine.
The paper investigates twisty tricks where some exposure arguably enhances a show. For example, the magician Caleb Morgan performed the classic trick in which he stuffed a silk bandana into his clenched hand only to open his fist to show the bandana had transformed into an egg.
Morgan then revealed the egg was plastic with a hole in the back for the bandana to enter — before cracking the egg to demonstrate it was, in fact, a normal egg.
Rappert, whose work includes using magic to convey how disclosure and concealment figure in everyday life and international relations, said this sort of exposure seemed acceptable.
“Some said it was perfectly fine to unveil a closely guarded secret if it’s in the context of performing a trick that relies on a different method.”
Kuhn and Rappert argue the study is needed because the internet has made it much easier for tricks to be exposed and therefore changes the rules of the game.
Their paper ends with a comment from the Magic Circle, which was shown the research before publication. The organization sternly makes it clear it was founded in 1905 upon the tenet of protecting the secrets of magicians.
But it adds: “The ramifications and implications of exposure are a grey area which are little understood and understudied. We welcome and applaud any research of this nature that helps us all to gain a better insight and understanding.”
The paper, Towards a Theory of Exposure, is available in the Journal of Performance Magic.
April 28 to May 4 During the Japanese colonial era, a city’s “first” high school typically served Japanese students, while Taiwanese attended the “second” high school. Only in Taichung was this reversed. That’s because when Taichung First High School opened its doors on May 1, 1915 to serve Taiwanese students who were previously barred from secondary education, it was the only high school in town. Former principal Hideo Azukisawa threatened to quit when the government in 1922 attempted to transfer the “first” designation to a new local high school for Japanese students, leading to this unusual situation. Prior to the Taichung First
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) hatched a bold plan to charge forward and seize the initiative when he held a protest in front of the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office. Though risky, because illegal, its success would help tackle at least six problems facing both himself and the KMT. What he did not see coming was Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (將萬安) tripping him up out of the gate. In spite of Chu being the most consequential and successful KMT chairman since the early 2010s — arguably saving the party from financial ruin and restoring its electoral viability —
The Ministry of Education last month proposed a nationwide ban on mobile devices in schools, aiming to curb concerns over student phone addiction. Under the revised regulation, which will take effect in August, teachers and schools will be required to collect mobile devices — including phones, laptops and wearables devices — for safekeeping during school hours, unless they are being used for educational purposes. For Chang Fong-ching (張鳳琴), the ban will have a positive impact. “It’s a good move,” says the professor in the department of
Toward the outside edge of Taichung City, in Wufeng District (霧峰去), sits a sprawling collection of single-story buildings with tiled roofs belonging to the Wufeng Lin (霧峰林家) family, who rose to prominence through success in military, commercial, and artistic endeavors in the 19th century. Most of these buildings have brick walls and tiled roofs in the traditional reddish-brown color, but in the middle is one incongruous property with bright white walls and a black tiled roof: Yipu Garden (頤圃). Purists may scoff at the Japanese-style exterior and its radical departure from the Fujianese architectural style of the surrounding buildings. However, the property
RSS