1st Edition

Illusion in Cultural Practice Productive Deceptions

By Katharina Rein Copyright 2021
222 Pages 9 Color & 14 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

222 Pages 9 Color & 14 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

222 Pages 9 Color & 14 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

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 in which we live. Considering different cultural practices characterized by illusionism, this book suggests a new approach to illusion via media theory. Each of the chapters analyses a specific kind of... Read more

List of Figures
List of Additional Online Material
Notes on Contributors

Introduction
Katharina Rein

Part I: The Epistemology and Aesthetics of Illusions

1. Optical Illusion and Standing Appearance in Kant and Johann Heinrich Lambert
Astrid Deuber-Mankowsky

2. From Magic to Illusions: The Power of the Virtual
Tom Gunning

3. Illusions, Magic and the Aesthetics of the Impossible
Thomas Fraps

Part II: Illusions in Entertainment

4. Magic and Illusion: From the Tarot to Playing Cards
Joyce Goggin

5. “The Vanishing Lady”, the Railway, and Illusions of Movement
Katharina Rein

6. Magic, Spiritualism and Cinema: Viewing Dispositives and Illusionist Spectacles in France in the Early Twentieth Century
Mireille Berton

7. Deceptive Strategies in the Miniature Illusions of Close-Up Magic
Wally Smith

Part III: Illusions of the Senses and the Mind

8. Perspective, Illusory Space, and Communication: The Apotheosis of Saint Ignatius by Andrea Pozzo
Matteo Flavio Mancini

9. Talking Rocks, Illusory Sounds, and Projections of the Otherworld: Acoustics of Sacred Sites as a Magic Media in Shamanic Cultures
Julia Shpinitskaya and Riitta Rainio

10. The Vortex Atoms: On Illusions in Science and the Role of Mathematical Vision
Gabriele Gramelsberger

Index

Biography

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.