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We are trying to create a camera experience that is really magical.
The magician's role in the film is not that of a magician; he is a
stand-in for the artist who is constructing a scene for the camera.
— Yeondoo Jung
Well known for his photographs and multi-layered videos that explore issues of fantasy and the role of technnology, artist Yeondoo Jung has been commissioned by Performa 09 to create his first live performance. Titled
Cinemagician, this provocative new work exploits the tensions of a live stage act while incorporating elements of film and special effects — creating a complex multi-media collage that questions what is real and what is imagined.
Deliberately playing with the audience's expectations of trickery, Jung incorporates multiple simultaneous performances and sleight of hand to playfully marry cinema and magic. While the celebrity magician Eungyeol Lee performs live, manually constructing the theater backdrop, a film crew records and transmits via live feed a film of the events. As the performance progresses, the version shown on the screen is transformed by post-production effects leaving the audience to move deliriously between a virtual "suspension of disbelief" and a ravishing real-time spectacle. It is a performance not to be missed.
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