The magic of social life: online topics and resources

Abstract

The global COVID-19 pandemic has compelled magicians to reconsider how they engage audiences. The pivot to online delivery platforms has served as another occasion in the history of this art form to consider long running questions about its aims and means. This article elaborates the reasoning behind one effort to produce an online, Zoom-based resource prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic; namely a series of interactive recorded performances titled The Magic of Social Life. It does so in two parts: (i) outlining the rationale for a form of academic magic that seeks to turn commonplace social conventions into topics for discussion, and (ii) elaborating how this form of magic was further developed to promote reflection on technologically mediated performances. Through examining the choices and commitments associated with both parts, this article furthers efforts to theorise magic as a form of social interaction.