Art is a deception that creates real emotions - a lie that creates a truth. And when you give yourself over to that deception, it becomes magic.
Marco Tempest
The tricks of magic follow the archetypes of narrative fiction - there are tales of creation and loss, death and resurrection, and obstacles that must be overcome.
I combine magic and science to create illusions. I work with new media and interactive technologies, things like artificial intelligence or computer vision, and integrate them in my magic.
I don't try to show off technology in my work. The technology is a means to tell stories, so I think conversations about my work can be had by very large audiences.
Combining magic with technology is a good way to influence the trajectory of where technology is going and show people what technology could be in our lives and what it shouldn't be.
Magic is, in its core, introverted and closed; it's the most closed community ever, and I want to change all that and make it more open. If we want things to change, we have to be more open-minded.
One of the key qualities of all stories is that they are made to be shared.
We willingly enter fictional worlds where we cheer our heroes and cry for friends we never had.
Magicians are typically introverted; they don't tend to work with others, but I work with software programmers, composers, designers, so it's a very diverse group and the result is always more interesting than something I could have done by myself.
Magicians will always tell you the trick is the most important thing, but I'm more interested in telling a story.
I did magic all my life from the time I was 12, and I like to tap into the magic from history.
My products and magic are free, but on the commercial side of what I do, the big tech companies are impressed with somebody like me who can emotionalize a piece of technology.
