The Art of the Impossible: A Philosophical Study of Theatrical Magic

Project Information

PhiloMagic

Grant agreement ID: 795393

DOI

10.3030/795393

Project closed

EC signature date 27 February 2018

Start date 1 August 2019

End date 31 July 2021

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 172 800,00

EU contribution

€ 172 800,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITEIT ANTWERPEN
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PhiloMagic (The Art of the Impossible: A Philosophical Study of Theatrical Magic)

Reporting period: 2019-08-01 to 2021-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

PhiloMagic is an interdisciplinary project in philosophical aesthetics in the analytic tradition. It focuses primarily on the art of theatrical magic, which the American Society for Aesthetics recognizes as a “neglected art.” To develop and defend a general aesthetics of the impossible with a focus on theatrical magic is the goal of my book, The Art of the Impossible.

When complete, The Art of the Impossible will be the first book-length study of its subject; for, despite its enduring popularity, magic has been widely ignored by art critics, art historians, and philosophers. Nevertheless, longstanding critical inattention to magic is unfortunate in at least three ways. First, public interest in magic remains strong. Second, recent historical scholarship has highlighted the importance of magic as a cultural force in Europe and the U.S. from the late 18th century into the early 20th. But the third—and, for my purposes, most important—reason that critical inattention to magic is unfortunate is that it offers a unique and distinctively intellectual aesthetic experience. A main goal of my project is to develop and defend this claim, and so, to illuminate magic’s enduring popular appeal.

The main goals of the project were grouped in four Work Packages (WPs) that were to be completed at the Centre for Philosophical Psychology (CPP) at the University of Antwerp. WP1 was to finish my book manuscript. WP2 was to write and submit for publication three scholarly articles. WP3 was to organize a series of four study-groups at the CPP, each of which was to culminate with a public lecture aimed at a general academic audience. The last lecture was to coincide with WP4: an international workshop on the philosophy and science of magic.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

On each WP I accomplished the following:

WP1. Thanks to the research time afforded by the fellowship, I was able to come very close to complete a draft of my book.

WP2. During the fellowship period I completed five articles, four of which are already accepted for publication. Four other essays are in progress.

WP3. I organized four very successful study-groups at the CPP. Unfortunately, COVID restrictions prevented holding public talks alongside the study groups.

WP4. COVID restrictions prevented the organization of the international workshop. The topic was to have been “Wonder in Philosophy and Psychology.”

A variety of other project elements were seriously affected by COVID. First, I was unable to give invited talks in Spain, Switzerland, Scandinavia, and the UK. Still, I successfully gave four online talks. Second, my time at the CPP was to afford me contact with the many scholars who visit annually. I enjoyed only one semester of this before COVID hit. Even so, it was a very fruitful semester.

Research projects typically take unexpected turns, and PhiloMagic was no exception. Thinking about the nature of depiction in magic and theater led me to a new view of the nature of auditory representation, which I developed in my essay, “Sonic Pictures” (2021), winner of the inaugural Peter Kivy Prize sponsored by the American Society for Aesthetics. On this same basis, I’ve also arrived at a novel theory of the nature of representation in film which I’m developing in an essay entitled “Moving Audiovisual Pictures.” All of this work was facilitated by additional progress on a novel theory of the nature of sound, which is presented in “The Event-Property View of Sounds” (under review). Finally, my work on the nature of curiosity and my ideas about perceptual curiosity led to a nascent collaboration with Prof. Bence Nanay to develop the theoretical foundations for a conception of visual curiosity as a form of perceptual sense-making with applications in aesthetics and the philosophy of mind in an essay entitled “Visual Curiosity.”

In conclusion, here is a list of works produced or initiated during the fellowship period as well as a list of talks given:

Completed works:
- 2020. “Comic Impossibilities.”
- 2021. “Sonic Pictures.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism.
- Forthcoming. “Music as Misdirection.”
- Forthcoming. “Oscar Reutersvärd’s Impossible Triangle.”
- “The Event-Property View of Sounds.” (Under review)
Works still in progress:
- The Art of the Impossible (book): first draft nearly complete; under contract with The MIT Press.
- “Savoring the Impossible.”
- “Picture: The Impossible.”
- “Visual Curiosity” (with Bence Nanay).
- “Moving Audiovisual Pictures.”
Talks:
- “Savouring the Impossible.” University of Kent. May 2020.
- “Sonic Pictures.” Annual Meeting of the American Society for Aesthetics. Nov. 2020.
- “Picture: The Impossible.” University of Edinburgh. March 2021.
- “Moving Audiovisual Pictures.” King’s College, London. July 2021.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Theoretically, the project made progress on a number of fronts.

First, working to understand the nature of representation in magic performance led me to a novel theory of depiction. This theory allows a very fruitful typology of types of representation in theater and other arts that feature non-linguistic representation.

Second, I dermonstrated that magic performance should be considered a limit-case of stand-up comedy. The argument was inspired by noticing that strong magic performances often provoke laughter, and the argument proceeds by showing that our best-developed contemporary philosophical theory of humor applies straightforwardly to magic. This helps to illuminate magic’s appeal, but also helps us to understand why magic and comedy go so well together.

But the third and most important theoretical development in the project concerns curiosity. Magic performances are not just funny; they are also intellectually provocative. The goal was thus to understand how this sort of intellectual provocation could be enjoyable. The view I developed builds on recent work in the psychology of interest and holds that magic’s unique appeal lies in the peculiarly intense curiosity it provokes.

Understanding curiosity’s role in the enjoyment of magic also opens other theoretical doors. Once we understand how curiosity can play a central role in the aesthetic experience that magic provides, we can look for similar kinds of experiences elsewhere. An obvious place to look is to other “arts of impossibility.” Thus, in a theoretical extension to contemporary psychological theories of curiosity, I developed a novel theory of “perceptual curiosity” that helps to explain the perceptual appeal of impossible figures. At the same time, I argued that the theory helps to illuminate our engagement with other kinds of art. Indeed, I believe that attention to curiosity is critical to understanding many of the pleasures and rewards of our engagement with art and aesthetic matters in general. If this is correct, then my work on magic may help to illuminate a widespread feature of our aesthetic lives.

In conclusion, the project achieved the majority of its stated objectives and yielded several significant results that will have a significant impact on the psychology and philosophy of art. Moreover, I believe that my work concerning the centrality of curiosity in our aesthetic lives might be of substantial interest to non-experts and to the general public. Finally, magicians worldwide continue to show significant interest in my project because it helps to make sense of what they do and what they love in a way that no other theoretical project hitherto has either attempted or achieved.

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