MAGIC - full HD video installation with sound - 15 min., variable dimensions - 2013

 

»Conjuring boils down to the manipulation of perception and deliberately psychologically misleading the audience. When performing a magic trick, a meaning or truth is suggested which needn’t have anything to do with reality.
I spent over a year training with various magicians and conjurors in order to explore and learn their craft. I was particularly interested in the process of persuasion and being persuaded. How do we form an opinion, how are we guided in our perception by external influences? ‘Magic’ addresses precisely these mechanisms and their effects. The magician’s hands seem to be capable of anything. They have total control over the objects they touch. Press photos of demonstrations and military operations disappear into thin air, the Israeli flag is transformed into a Palestinian flag,
a dollar suddenly turns into a hundred dollars, etc. The political volatility of these objects quickly fades into the background. The fascination of magic, of the supernatural is simply too great. We easily forget it’s just an illusion. It’s all a question of perspective.« 

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Installation view at Deweer Gallery Otegem, Belgium and Blain/Southern Gallery, Berlin, Germany. 

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