Magician Ferdinando Buscema on Expanding Mind podcast

Magic Castle

Stage magician and "magic experience designer" Ferdinando Buscema, who I've previously posted about, was a guest on the always-provocative Expanding Mind podcast with Erik Davis and Maja D'Aoust. The conversation was fantastic and highly illuminating. It resonated with my own interests in magic (and art and science) as a tool to shift our perception/understanding of reality, cultivate a sense of wonder, and induce transformative experiences. Indeed, Ferdinando mentioned that he's been greatly inspired by Timothy Leary and Robert Anton Wilson, both of whom were old friends and patron saints of bOING bOING. Also on the program, Ferdinando spoke highly of a book titled Magic and Meaning by magic philosophers Eugene Burger and Robert E. Neale about the psychological, symbolic, and spiritual roots of theatrical magic. I look forward to soaking that one in. The photo above is from Ferdinando's recent gig at the famed Magic Castle in Los Angeles. Right now, he's organizing a TEDxNavigli in Italy for early March, themed around "the power of love." Listen below or here to Expanding Mind: Magic Experience Design.

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

More at Boing Boing

Eurovision 2013: An American in London

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

http://profile.yahoo.com/MWNNAJTTXSXFUN4A6FLTKAT264 Michael

Looking forward to listening to the discussion. Anything by Eugene Burger is worth reading. He’s a living legend in the magic community, enormously influential as both a philosopher and performer. Magic and Meaning: Expanded, the updated version of the book, is actually available for less directly from the publisher rather than purchasing from Amazon.
http://www.hermeticpress.com/product_info.php?products_id=4
- David Pescovitz
  
  Thanks, Michael! Appreciate the link.
http://www.marcotempest.com Marco Tempest

Thank you David for posting this.
http://www.marcotempest.com Marco Tempest

Thank you David for posting this.

Trickery and fooling of the spectator is conjuring. The term “magic” is much wider than “conjuring.

I touch on magic and storytelling and as a tool to prototype near future “experience design” in some of my own work in this piece: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBWnyZW1AXE