A workshop on how to create new magic effects and magic routines.
Required prerequisite knowledge: General knowledge about conjuring.

The Art of Magic workshop have so far been given in Sweden, Norway, England. It is primarily meant for long time professionals but is suitable for anyone who desire to take their magic a step further. Through a series of in-depth practical exercises (which often are hilarious and exciting), you’ll be led to re-examine and question old ‘truths’, get a better grasp of the techniques that makes magic deceptive and dramatic, and get your passion for the art rekindled. Not to mention that you’ll discover that you possess a creativity that you didn’t think you had.
None of the exercises rely on dexterity or sleight of hand.

Instructor

Your instructor is the Swedish magician Tom Stone, recipient of the Creative Fellowship award 2015, and author of several books on innovative magic. Tom is well versed in the magic theory and the practical performance craft, and his teaching method is fun and enabling.

Schedule

Monday, July 8

• 09:00 – 10:00 – Workshop: The Effect!
• 10:00 – 12:00 – Workshop: Dramatic & narrative tools
• 12:00 – 13:00 – Lunch.
• 13:00 – 14:00 – Workshop: Misdirection á la Ramsay.
• 14:00 – 16:00 – Workshop: The Science & Crossing the Gaze.

Tuesday, July 9

• 09:00 – 10:00 – Workshop: Deceptive Structures A
• 10:00 – 12:00 – Workshop: Deceptive Structures B
• 12:00 – 13:00 – Lunch.
• 13:00 – 14:00 – Workshop: Deceptive Structures C
• 14:00 – 16:00 – Workshop: Motion Vectors

Wednesday, July 10

• 09:00 – 12:00 – Bringing it all together.
• 09:00 – 12:00 – Applications in your own work
• 12:00 – 13:00 – Lunch.
• 13:00 – 14:00 – Performance.
• 14:00 – 15:00 – Evaluation.

Learning objective: On completion of the workshop, the student should:

• Be able to practice and apply misdirection, dramatic techniques and non-linear methods.
• Be able to confidently work with the brainstorming process in relation to any given theme.
• Be able to cogently discuss, research and experiment with colleagues in both magic and related artistic fields.

Guidelines

In general:
Make sure you have pen and notepad. You will get hundreds of ideas, and any idea not written down will be instantly forgotten.
You will probably want to document some of the work you do, so make sure you have plenty of free memory in your devices so you can film and photograph your ideas.
A good idea is that all participants collaborate with the notes and create a mutual document afterwards.

Exercises in misdirection:
Bring a few coins in a size that is comfortable to you to palm.
Also, bring a few identical small objects that are comfortable to finger palm (maybe small rubber balls, balls from Cups & Balls, small toys, marbles, pebbles from the ground… anything).
And one object that can act as a magic wand (a wand, a drumstick, a large pencil, a stirring stick for drinks… something).

Exercises in structure and routine construction:
You need to bring 2-3 simple and short tricks that you can perform. It does not need to be good or advanced tricks, it can even be something from a magic set for kids. But they should be different, not too similar. The purpose is to learn how to build the structure of a routine or an act, so the nature and quality of the actual tricks are not important. The simpler the better.

Creativity exercises:
Bring a small kit of your favorite solutions.
If you like to use magnets and strings to solve magic problems, bring magnets and strings.
If you often solve magic problems by gluing stuff together; bring glue.
If you tend to use black art; bring black material.
And if you don’t have any favorite solutions to magic problems, don’t worry; just bring yourself.

Application:
On the last day you will apply all the new knowledge on your own material, so bring a trick or routine you want to work on. Preferably, choose either a very old routine that you’ve become awfully tired of and want to breath new life into, or a rather new piece that you still are in the process of figuring out.

Music:
For some of the exercises you will likely want to add music, so load up your devices with a good assortment of music in various moods; upbeat, sad, happy, spooky, dramatic, soft, rhythmic…

The Venue

The workshop is held at Chicago Magic Lounge in the Andersonville area in Chicago.

Limited seats

The workshop is limited to 12 attendees, and the seats tend to go very fast.

Meals and Lodging

Meals are not included.
You will need to arrange lodging on your own. Search for “hotels near Andersonville” on Google, or enter the area “Andersonville, Chicago” into AirBNB, or check via our Facebook page whether there are any local participants that might have a guest room to rent out.

Cancelation policy

If you cancel before June 24, you will get the full amount reimbursed.
A cancelation June 24 or later, but before the July 1, you will get 50% returned.
Cancelation on July 1 or later, no reimbursment.

If you want to ask former participants questions, to figure out if this might be for you, several of them can be reached on this Facebook page.