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2015-07-07, 11:25
Modern Magician Turns To Tech For New Age Of Illusions
The excerpt below comes from Forbes/Wolfe Emerging Technology Report’s recent full-length interview with Marco Tempest, a Swiss magician based in New York who is known for his use of multimedia and interactive technology. A Director’s Fellow at the MIT Media Lab, Marco travels the world astonishing audiences with his “technoillusions” and shares with us the cutting-edge techniques that he uses to continually push the boundaries of his craft.
Tell us a bit about your background and how you first became passionate about magic.
I grew up in Switzerland and I did what all Swiss kids did: I spent a lot of time in school and a little bit on my hobby – trying to become a magician. During my vacation time, I was part of a circus that was made for children by children, and would tour Switzerland. When I was 10, I had an audience of 3,000 kids watching me perform magic. When I was 12, I saw a magician at a street fair and I went back stage and said “Hey! I’m a magician, too! We should work together.” This was my way of asking “Can you teach me?” Fortunately he agreed, and he came to my house and taught me the basics of magic every two weeks.
I had a really lovely path for easing into magic, and had lots of opportunities to perform and to explore. After completing the standard 12 years of school in Switzerland, I decided that I wanted to focus on becoming a professional magician.
What was your impetus to want to integrate modern technology into your magic?
Magic popularity comes and goes in waves. Back in the early ‘90s, being a magician meant pulling bunny rabbits out of hats as entertainment. I took that thought and considered how I could incorporate material that could capture the imaginations of the audience hoping that my magic will become relevant and more popular. This was during a time when movies had special effects. The first thing I tried was an act with boomerangs. I would throw boomerangs in a theater. I thought that it would be interesting if stuff came flying towards the audience from the stage. I started using aromas, having the theater smell like flowers. I tried all sorts of things to augment what I did on stage.
However, being a magician meant working out of a suitcase and not a large Hollywood production. I couldn’t do what I really wanted to do, but thought: what if I could use the massive pre-existing screens at all these big, corporate events and create something that would blur the lines between dreams and reality? That was the nucleus of my idea. Competing with the movies by adding movies to my magic.
When did you know that you were onto something, and that audiences were captivated by this new form of magic?
While I was putting my act together, nobody in my rehearsal studio was particularly impressed. I would record my hand going into a monitor and then pulling something out as a media to life routine. The moment it was on stage, however, it worked. The audience was asking for more, and asking to have it done with their particular products as well. That instantly became a way to continue my research and to have it financed.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshwolfe/20...uture-tech
The excerpt below comes from Forbes/Wolfe Emerging Technology Report’s recent full-length interview with Marco Tempest, a Swiss magician based in New York who is known for his use of multimedia and interactive technology. A Director’s Fellow at the MIT Media Lab, Marco travels the world astonishing audiences with his “technoillusions” and shares with us the cutting-edge techniques that he uses to continually push the boundaries of his craft.
Tell us a bit about your background and how you first became passionate about magic.
I grew up in Switzerland and I did what all Swiss kids did: I spent a lot of time in school and a little bit on my hobby – trying to become a magician. During my vacation time, I was part of a circus that was made for children by children, and would tour Switzerland. When I was 10, I had an audience of 3,000 kids watching me perform magic. When I was 12, I saw a magician at a street fair and I went back stage and said “Hey! I’m a magician, too! We should work together.” This was my way of asking “Can you teach me?” Fortunately he agreed, and he came to my house and taught me the basics of magic every two weeks.
I had a really lovely path for easing into magic, and had lots of opportunities to perform and to explore. After completing the standard 12 years of school in Switzerland, I decided that I wanted to focus on becoming a professional magician.
What was your impetus to want to integrate modern technology into your magic?
Magic popularity comes and goes in waves. Back in the early ‘90s, being a magician meant pulling bunny rabbits out of hats as entertainment. I took that thought and considered how I could incorporate material that could capture the imaginations of the audience hoping that my magic will become relevant and more popular. This was during a time when movies had special effects. The first thing I tried was an act with boomerangs. I would throw boomerangs in a theater. I thought that it would be interesting if stuff came flying towards the audience from the stage. I started using aromas, having the theater smell like flowers. I tried all sorts of things to augment what I did on stage.
However, being a magician meant working out of a suitcase and not a large Hollywood production. I couldn’t do what I really wanted to do, but thought: what if I could use the massive pre-existing screens at all these big, corporate events and create something that would blur the lines between dreams and reality? That was the nucleus of my idea. Competing with the movies by adding movies to my magic.
When did you know that you were onto something, and that audiences were captivated by this new form of magic?
While I was putting my act together, nobody in my rehearsal studio was particularly impressed. I would record my hand going into a monitor and then pulling something out as a media to life routine. The moment it was on stage, however, it worked. The audience was asking for more, and asking to have it done with their particular products as well. That instantly became a way to continue my research and to have it financed.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshwolfe/20...uture-tech