BSA Workshop on the Art & Aesthetics of Illusion 2023

Thanks to everyone who took part in our BSA workshop on the Art and Aesthetics of Illusions funded by The British Society of Aesthetics (BSA) and co-sponsored by the Science of Magic Association (SoMA) and in collaboration with The Magic Circle Foundation (TMCF) and The Magic Circle (TMC). The workshop was led by SoMA’s Jason Leddington (Philosophy, Bucknell)

When: Tuesday 11 July 2023

Where: Central London

Keynote Speakers:

Jeanette Andrews (Magician, Sensory Illusionist)
- Jeanette will also be presenting a performance piece in the Magic Circle Theatre on the evening of the symposium
Rob Hopkins (Philosophy, NYU)
Bence Nanay (Philosophy, Antwerp and Cambridge)
Jasmina Stevanov (Psychology, Bristol and Cambridge)

Schedule Overview (possibly subject to slight changes):

8:00 Coffee & registration

9:00 Session: The Experience of Magic

9:40 Keynote: Jeanette Andrews

10:20 Coffee break

10:50 Session: The Enjoyment of Magic

11:20 Keynote: Bence Nanay

12:00 Lunch

13:30 Session: Magic & Beyond

14:30 Keynote: Jasmina Stevanov

15:10 Coffee Break

15:30 Keynote: Robert Hopkins

16:10 Patrick Hughes screening and Q&A

16:35 Coffee break

17:00 Session: Illusion & Depiction

18:00 Dinner break

20:00 Evening Show

Session Details:

Session 1: The Experience of Magic

- Alec Schulz, "Disbelieving What You See vs. Disbelieving What You Believe"

- Emily Caddick Bourne & Craig Caddick Bourne, "Illusions as Quasi-Miracles in Magic Performance"

The Enjoyment of Magic

- Emma Rustrick, Srishti Pattundeen, Rebecca Chamberlain, & Gustav Kuhn, "Enjoyment of Magic and Individual Differences"

- Gustav Kuhn, Alice Pailhès, & Steve Bagienski, "Enjoying the Impossible: Empirical Investigations into Illusions of Impossibility"

Session 2: Magic & Beyond

- Anthony S. Barnhart, Sarah Tuchel, Gustav Kuhn, & Daniel J. Simons, "Identifying the Boundaries of Magic: A Qualitative Study of Expert Magicians"

- Adam Elstein & Frank Gesualdi, “Architecture and Magic: A Fifth Year Architecture Studio at Pratt Institute"

- Vebjørn Ekroll, Lara Wünsch, & Rob van Lier, "Towards More Universal Design in the Design of Miracles"

- Darren Kelsey, "Journeys into the Second Half of Life: Collective Psychology, Performative Ethics and the Work of Derren Brown"

Session 3: Illusion & Depiction

- Vítor Moura, "Trompe L'Oeil & Biased Attention"

- Alex Fisher, "Virtual Reality, Depiction, and Imagination"

Luca Marchetti, "Virtual Reality Devices as (Aiming at) Illusion Machines"

The aim of this one-day interdisciplinary workshop is to explore the role and significance of illusion in aesthetics and art. Philosophically, this may seem anachronistic. After all, the idea that the representational arts in general aim at illusion has been widely criticized by philosophers working in the analytic tradition. There seems to be no good sense in which literature, painting, photography, theater, or film typically aim at or provide illusions of what they represent. They may absorb us, transport us, or enchant us, but they only very rarely explicitly deceive us, cognitively or perceptually. Thus, the notion of illusion has been largely sidelined in contemporary analytic aesthetics and philosophy of art. This workshop is based on the conviction that it nevertheless deserves more attention than it has been getting.

We welcome contributions from all academic disciplines concerning philosophical and/or psychological issues related to illusion in aesthetics and art, whether they consider genres and artforms that are manifestly illusionistic (such as trompe l’oeil painting, magic performance, or op art), explore ways in which illusion might be important to genres and artforms that are generally non-illusionistic (such as film or music), or investigate illusion’s significance in non-art contexts and aesthetics more generally. We also welcome proposals from practicing artists who would like to present and/or discuss their work in relationship to the topic of illusion.

The workshop will take place in the beautiful Magic Circle Theatre at the Magic Circle headquarters in the heart of London. Lunch will be provided for all speakers and registered participants, and the event will be followed by a free evening performance by keynote speaker and guest artist Jeanette Andrews.

This event is funded by the British Society of Aesthetics (BSA) and co-sponsored by the Science of Magic Association (SoMA).

Organizers: Jason Leddington (Philosophy, Bucknell University)
Gustav Kuhn (Psychology, University of Plymouth)
Anthony Barnhart (Psychology, Carthage College)
Jay Olson (Behavioural Science Fellow, Government of Canada)
Jeniffer Ortega (Psychology, National University of Columbia)
Alice Pailhès (Psychology, University of Plymouth)
Matt Tompkins (Cognitive Science, Lund University)
Brian Rappert (Science, Technology, and Public Affairs, University of Exeter)