Magic, Power, and the Spaces Between

Magic can be used to understand how power structures in our society work because every trick depends on an active agreement between the magician and the audience: the audience offers attention and trust, and the magician uses that trust to guide perception until the audience accepts the world the performance creates.

That relationship is what makes performance magic such a powerful way to think about power. The pleasure of a trick comes from the moment the audience realizes they have been fooled despite paying close attention. That shock is what makes magic delightful because it reveals how easily trust can shape what people see and believe. Outside performance, the same structure helps explain power because the ability to direct attention is not shared equally in society.

This participatory lecture uses magic to examine how race changes the experience of being seen. A racialized person can enter a space already aware that their body may be interpreted before their words are heard, and that awareness can change the ease with which they move through the world. Magic gives the audience a way to feel this dynamic rather than only hear it explained, because it shows in real time how quickly perception can be guided by the person given authority.

Shawn DeSouza-Coelho is a magician, theatre scholar, actor, and author whose work examines magic as performance and as a way of thinking about race. He has performed across Canada and has written Magic as Medium and Whenever You’re Ready: Nora Polley on Life as a Stratford Festival Stage Manager. He is currently a PhD candidate at York University studying racial phenomenology in Canadian theatre

Agenda

6:00 PM doors open. Guests are welcome to arrive early, order drinks, meet other attendees, and grab the best seats before the lecture begins.

7:00 PM lecture begins, followed by Q&A.

8:15 PM wrap up, 1:1 with the lecturer, drinks, and conversation. Guests are welcome to order another round.