Trugbilder / Mirages
On three video projection screens one can see magicians performing their tricks. The sequences have different setting sizes and image formats. There are no comments or explanations; only the noises of their actions can be heard. The setting is focused on the individual hand movements. Because of the simultaneity of the sequences it is hard to follow how the magic tricks work.
We know that magicians try to trick us by their skills and dexterity. Exactly for this reason, we follow their activities with great interest to detect the secret.
Film and magic art create illusions. Historically magic art can be considered as an precursor of cinematography. In 1888, the theatre of the magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin has been taken over by the illusionist and film pioneer George Meliés. The Lumière brothers have rent a studio in the same building. Inspired by their film screenings, Meliès changed his theatre 1896 into a cinema. Meliès produced several hundred movies in a row by combining his conjuring tricks with the animation effects of film.
Magicians: Jan Gerken, Kolja Kaldun, Lisa Spirit, Felix Wohlfarth;
director of photography: Thomas Kutschker; assistance: Elisa Goméz Alvarez, Büke Schwarz; editing: Anna Anders; post production: Franziska Röhlig; sound mixing: Christian Obermaier