Illusions Past and Present: Invoking Technological Spectres and The Future of Digital Magic

My research proposal, “Illusions Past and Present: Invoking Technological Spectres and the Future of Digital Magic” is concerned with the intrinsic presence of magic and illusion within contemporary visual art practices as well as its historical overview. Presently, with the advancement of technology far surpassing our ability to fully comprehend its inner functions, technology can be seen as a contemporary form of magic. As sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke once famously stated “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” (1984, p. 36). In citing technology as a source of modern magic, my research establishes a basis to investigate the possibilities and modes in which old technology informs and shapes the affected results of new and digital technologies, such as evolution of the magic lanterns to digital or even 3D projections of today. TO BE CONT’D

Faculty Supervisor:

Leila Sujir

Student:

Partner:

Université Paris 8

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

Concordia University

Program: