This paper offers a conceptual outline of contemporary magic practice that is applicable to magic performed, experienced, and commercialized as a form of entertainment. Magic is defined within a paradoxical dialectics of art and (the nonart of) work. Jacques Rancière's ideas are used to conceive magic as (1) art: where magic is based around dissemblance (operations which alter the given) and theatrical spectacle (drama before an audience); and (2) work: where magic is embodied in the figure of the magician, which knots together ways of doing (practical knowledge; potentialities) and thinking (genealogical; teleological) in order to produce an effect of impossibility and the affect of astonishment. The paper concludes by making an argument for how theorizing magic requires thinking about and expressing paradoxical situations given that magic is enigmatic.
AgambenG, 1999Potentialities: Collected Essays in Philosophy translated by Heller-RoazenD, (Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA)
2.
AragónW, 2011A Book in English translated by RosalF, private publication
3.
AronsonS, 2013, “The illusion of impossibility”, in Magic in Mind: Essential Essays for Magicians Ed. JayJ, (Vanishing Inc.) pp 35–37
4.
BackmanJ, 2010, “The end of action: An Arendtian critique of Aristotle's concept of praxis“Collegium828–47
5.
BennettJ, 2001The Enchantment of Modern Life: Attachments, Crossings, and Ethics (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ)
6.
BrownD, 2002a, Absolute Magic: A Model for Powerful Close-up Performance2nd edition (H&R Magic Books)
7.
BrownD, 2002bPure Effect: Direct Mindreading and Magical Artistry (H&R Magic Books)
8.
BrownD, 2010Confessions of a Conjuror (Transworld, London)
9.
BuchananI, 1997, “The problem of the body in Deleuze and Guattari, or, what can a body do?”Body and Society373–91
10.
Cultural Geographies, 2008, Themed section on ‘spectro-geographies’, Eds MaddernJ FAdeyP, 40291–393
11.
DeleuzeG, 1988Spinoza: Practical Philosophy translated by HurleyR, (City Lights Books, San Francisco, CA)
12.
DerantyJ-P, 2003, “Jacques Rancière's contribution to the ethics of recognition”Political Theory31136–156
13.
DerridaJ, 1994Specters of Marx: The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning and the New International translated by KamufP, (Routledge, New York)
14.
DerridaJ, 1995Points…: Interviews, 1974–1994 translated by P Kamuf and others (Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA)
15.
DewsburyJ-D, 2003, “Witnessing space: ‘knowledge without contemplation’”Environment and Planning A351907–1932
16.
DikeçM, 2005, “Space, politics, and the political”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space23171–188
17.
Dikeç, 2007Badlands of the Republic: Space, Politics, and Urban Policy (Blackwell Publishing, Malden, MA)
18.
DixonD, 2007a, “A benevolent and sceptical inquiry: Exploring ‘Fortean Geographies’ with the Mothman”Cultural Geographies14189–210
19.
DixonD, 2007b, “I hear dead people: Science, technology and a resonant universe”Social and Cultural Geography81470–1197
20.
DixonD, 2009, “Creating the semi-living: On politics, aesthetics and the more-than-human”Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series34411–425
21.
DoelM, 2004, “Waiting for geography”Environment and Planning A36451–460
22.
DoelM, 2008, “Dialectics revisited. Reality discharged”Environment and Planning A402631–2640
23.
FitzkeeD, 2009Showmanship for Magicians (Magic Box Productions)
24.
FoucaultM, 1977, “Nietzsche, genealogy, history”, translated by BouchardFSimonS, in Language, Counter-memory, Practice: Selected Essays and Interviews Ed. BouchardD, (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY) pp 139–164
25.
GuimarãesH, 2010Red MirrorDVD (Dan and Dave Industries)
26.
HarrisP, 2009True Astonishments Volumes 1–9 directed by GilbertB, DVD (Hugh Phoric Inc.)
27.
HarrisP, 2013, “Astonishment is our natural state of mind”, in Magic in Mind: Essential Essays for Magicians Ed. JayJ, (Vanishing Inc.) pp 39–46
28.
HarrisonP, 2007, “‘How shall I say it…?’ Relating the nonrelational”Environment and Planning A39590–608
29.
HarrisonP, 2008, “Corporeal remains: Vulnerability, proximity, and living on after the end of the world”Environment and Planning A40423–445
30.
HarrisonP, 2009, “In the absence of practice”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space27987–1009
31.
HillJ, 2007, “The story of the amulet: Locating the enchantment of collections”Journal of Material Culture1265–87
32.
HollowayJ, 2006, “Enchanted spaces: The séance, affect, and geographies of religion”Annals of the Association of American Geographers96182–187
33.
HollowayJ, 2010, “Legend-tripping in spooky spaces: Ghost tourism and infrastructures of enchantment”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space28618–637
LarsenL, 2012, “The paradox of art and work: An irritating note”, in Work, Work, Work: A Reader on Art and Labour Eds WidenheimCRosendahlLMasucciMEnqvistAEngqvistJ, (Sternberg, Berlin) pp 18–27
36.
LavandR, 2002Close-Up ArtistryVolume 1 translated by LenertT, DVD (Meir Yedid Magic)
37.
LazzaratoM, 2008, “Art, work and politics in disciplinary societies of security”, translated by ToscanoA, Radical Philosophy14926–32
38.
LivingstoneD, 1990, “Geography, tradition and the Scientific Revolution: An interpretative essay”Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series15359–373
39.
LivingstoneD, 1992The Geographical Tradition: Episodes in the History of a Contested Enterprise (Blackwell, Malden, MA)
40.
McCormackD, 2012, “Geography and abstraction: Towards an affirmative critique”Progress in Human Geography36715–734
41.
MacKianS, 2012Everyday Spirituality: Social and Spatial Worlds of Enchantment (Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, Hants)
42.
MacknikSMartinez-Condes (with BlakesleeS), 2011Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals about our Brains (Profile Books, London)
43.
MaskelyneNDevantD, 1946Our Magic: The Art in Magic, the Theory of Magic, the Practice of Magic2nd edition, Ed. FlemingP, (Fleming Book Company, Berkeley Heights, NJ)
44.
MassumiB, 1995, “The autonomy of affect”Cultural Critique3183–109
45.
MatlessD, 1991, “Nature, the modern and the mystic: Tales from early twentieth century geography”Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series16272–286
46.
MaussM, 1972A General Theory of Magic translated by BrainR, (Routledge, London)
47.
MeyerBPelsP, (Eds), 2003Magic and Modernity: Interfaces of Revelation and Concealment (Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA)
48.
NelmsH, 2000Magic and Showmanship: A Handbook for Conjurers (Dover Publications, Mineola, NY)
49.
OlssonG, 2007Abysmal: A Critique of Cartographic Reason (The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL)
50.
OrtizD, 1994Strong Magic: Creative Showmanship for the Close-up Magician (Ortiz Publications)
51.
OrtizD, 2002Scams and Fantasies with Cards (A-1 Magicalmedia)
52.
O'SullivanS, 2001, “The aesthetics of affect: Thinking art beyond representation”Angelaki6125–135
53.
PerniolaM, 1995Enigmas: The Egyptian Moment in Society and Art translated by WoodallC, (Verso, London)
54.
PileS, 2005Real Cities: Modernity, Space and the Phantasmagorias of City Life (Sage, London)
55.
RancièreJ, 1991The Ignorant Schoolmaster: Five Lessons in Intellectual Emancipation, translated by RossK, (Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA)
56.
RancièreJ, 2002, “The aesthetic revolution and its outcomes: Emplotments of autonomy and heteronomy”New Left Review14133–151
57.
RancièreJ, 2004aThe Politics of Aesthetics: The Distribution of the Sensible translated by RockhillG, (Continuum, London)
58.
RancièreJ, 2004bThe Philosopher and his Poor translated by DruryJOsterCParkerA, (Duke University Press, Durham, NC)
59.
RancièreJ, 2006, “Thinking between disciplines: An aesthetics of knowledge”, translated by RoffeJ, Parrhesia11–12
60.
RancièreJ, 2007aThe Future of the Image translated by ElliottG, (Verso, London)
61.
RancièreJ, 2007b, “What does it mean to be Un?”Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies21559–569
62.
RancièreJ, 2008, “The misadventures of universality”, translated by DyninDGussenJHermanJ, in Thinking Worlds: The Moscow Conference on Philosophy, Politics, and Art Eds BacksteinJBirnbaumDWallensteinS-O, (Sternberg Press, Berlin) pp 69–82
63.
RancièreJ, 2009aThe Emancipated Spectator translated by ElliottG, (Verso, London)
64.
RancièreJ, 2009bAesthetics and its Discontents translated by CorcoranS, (Polity Press, Cambridge)
65.
RancièreJ, 2009c, “Afterword / The method of equality: An answer to some questions”, in Jacques Rancière: History, Politics, Aesthetics Eds RockhillGWattsP, (Duke University Press, Durham, NC) pp 273–288
66.
RancièreJ, 2010Dissensus: On Politics and Aesthetics translated by CorcoranS, (Continuum, London)
67.
RancièreJ, 2013Aisthesis: Scenes from the Aesthetic Regime of Art translated by PaulZ, (Verso, London)
68.
ReynoldsC, 2013, “On a definition of magic”, in Magic in Mind: Essential Essays for Magicians Ed. JayJ, (Vanishing Inc.) pp 27–32
69.
SchillerF, 1967On the Aesthetic Education of Man in a Series of Letters translated by WilkinsonEWilloughbyL, (Clarendon Press, Oxford)
70.
TaussigM, 2003, “Viscerality, faith, and skepticism: Another theory of magic”, in Magic and Modernity; Interfaces of Revelation and Concealment Eds MeyerBPelsP, (Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA) pp 272–306
71.
VirnoP, 1996, “Virtuosity and revolution: The political theory of exodus”, translated by EmoryE, in Radical Thought in Italy: A Potential Politics Eds VirnoPHardtM, (University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN) pp 189–210
72.
WoodyerTGeogheganH, 2013, “(Re)enchanting geography? The nature of being critical and the character of critique in human geography”Progress in Human Geography37195–214
73.
WylieJ, 2007, “The spectral geographies of W. G. Sebald”Cultural Geographies14171–188
