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This volume explores illusionism as a much larger phenomenon than optical illusion, magic shows, or special effects, as a vital part of how we perceive, process, and shape the world we live in.
List of contents
Introduction, Part I: The Epistemology and Aesthetics of Illusions, 1. Optical Illusion and Standing Appearance in Kant and Johann Heinrich Lambert, 2. From Magic to Illusions: The Power of the Virtual, 3. Illusions, Magic and the Aesthetics of the Impossible, Part II: Illusions in Entertainment, 4. Magic and Illusion: From the Tarot to Playing Cards, 5. “The Vanishing Lady”, the Railway, and Illusions of Movement, 6. Magic, Spiritualism and Cinema: Viewing Dispositives and Illusionist Spectacles in France in the Early Twentieth Century, 7. Deceptive Strategies in the Miniature Illusions of Close-Up Magic, Part III: Illusions of the Senses and the Mind, 8. Perspective, Illusory Space, and Communication: The Apotheosis of Saint Ignatius by Andrea Pozzo, 9. Talking Rocks, Illusory Sounds, and Projections of the Otherworld: Acoustics of Sacred Sites as a Magic Media in Shamanic Cultures, 10. The Vortex Atoms: On Illusions in Science and the Role of Mathematical Vision
About the author
Katharina Rein currently works as Lecturer at the University of Potsdam (Germany). She holds a doctoral degree in Cultural History and Theory from the Humboldt-University of Berlin. Her award-winning dissertation examines the media and cultural history of stage magic in the late nineteenth century. Her academic work has been published in four languages.
Summary
This volume explores illusionism as a much larger phenomenon than optical illusion, magic shows, or special effects, as a vital part of how we perceive, process, and shape the world we live in.
