Thanks to the power of imagination, magicians have been able to dream up weird and wonderful tricks to push the very limits of what we once thought impossible. If you think about magic in the same way as you do technology, you’ll notice both have come a long way. The days of the simple cup and ball tricks are long gone; we are now in an era of extremities, where magicians are taking magic to daring new heights. More and more contemporary magicians like Oliver B are thinking outside of the proverbial box to bring their audiences a magical experience like no other.
All of this change and daring development is down to our impressive scope for imagination. Art is a prime example of imagination at work; the seemingly infinite number of possibilities to convey one’s ingenuity. Art has progressed throughout time in terms of its style, substance and subject. This is usually a reflection of society and the various social, economic and political movements of the time. The same can be said of magic and how it has evolved to remain relevant and fresh. That said, escapology (the practice of escaping from chains and restraints) has withstood the test of magical time as a firm favourite among jaw-dropped crowds. Hungarian-American Harry Houdini, seen as one of the great pioneer of escapology, constantly pushed himself to the limit, motivated by his love of magic and his will to entertain. His imaginative affinity to performing dangerous feats saw him escaping from straitjackets, milk cans and a Chinese water torture cells (unbelievable!). David Blaine (our Harry Houdini) is taking a leaf out of the Hungarian’s book; he combines escapology with endurance to perform feats like being drowned alive, frozen in ice and surviving for 44 days in a plexiglass box hung above the river Thames.
Magic will continue to progress as long as people strive to push the envelope and find ways to bring their magical fantasies to life. Our fascination with otherworldly things remains as palpable as ever, from movies to music we relish in the idea of there being magic in the world. The emergence of the internet saw an explosion of nuke-level proportions in the way we imagine and interact with the world. It also opened up entirely new doors for our minds to flourish. Artistic mediums including the likes of magic realised the great potential of the internet and have used it to even greater effect; to showcase skills, interact with like–minded people and of course learn new skills.
We live in truly exciting times, magic has never looked more exciting than it does now. With magical talent sprouting from all corners of the globe, we are being treated to a magical feast that will only get larger as our imaginations do.
