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Happy Halloween from SoMA!
Sept/Oct Newsletter
+ Webinar This Weekend 


Happy Halloween!

This month marks the 118th anniversary of the US debut of Georges Méliès' horror classic, The Infernal Caldron and the Phantasmal Vapors, which was released on 17 October 1903 (original French title: Le Chaudron Infernal). Méliès, who directed, produced and also stared as the dancing devil in the film is best know today for his pioneering work in special effects- like the phantasms emerging from that cauldron above. But before he began his groundbreaking cinematic career, Méliès was a prolific stage magician. And he even collaborated with the psychologist Alfred Binet on one of the first ever scientific studies of magic illusions.      

But back to the present: Thanks to everyone who participated in our latest Conversations on Science, Magic, & Society webinar on Magic & Creativity! You can now watch a recording that event, and all the past webinars, on our site. Our next webinar, on the topic of 'Magic & Emotion' is happening this coming Sunday- Featuring Jason Leddington, Christine Mohr, Jamy Ian Swiss, & Teller (details re how to watch below). 

We're looking forward to 'seeing' you at our upcoming events. As previously mentioned, we're now in the early stages of planning our 2022 conference, which we're hoping will involve meeting-up in-person in London this July, and we'd be very interested to hear your feelings about that (more details in the first item below).   

In the meantime, here're some SoM related news items.  

Stay safe & sane,

Matt Tompkins
On Behalf of the SoMA Committee
 
Quick Survey Re: SoMA Conference 2022

We are very aware that it's difficult to gauge the state of international travel week to week, let alone months in advance. Nonetheless, we'd be very keen to hear your feelings about potentially attending in an in-person SoMA Conference in London in 2022. 

You can share your thoughts with us using this form. 
Next Webinar: Magic & Emotion
(This Sunday!)

Our next webinar, on the topic of Magic & Emotion, will be taking place this
Sunday, October 31 at 2pm EST

  • Teller has said that magic’s “essence is intellectual.” If so, why does strong magic provoke such strong emotions?

  • Does magic aim to produce a distinctive emotional response? Wonder, perhaps? (And what is that?)

  • Some people love magic. Others dislike it. Why? What does this mean for performers?

  • What role does emotion play in the development and design of a magic performance?


You can use the following link watch the event live on Zoom: 
https://bit.ly/SoMA-Conversations

(We'll also be posting a recording of the event on our website)
Remembering Georges Méliès Contributions to Horror Cinema and his SoM Collaboration

You can watch the entire short Infernal Cauldron film via the Internet Archive. Their collection of public domain films incorporates many of Méliès surviving films, including another even earlier horror piece, Le Manoir du diable released in the US as The Haunted Castle (depicted in the .gif below). With an initial release in 1896(!), it's arguably the world's very first every horror film. 

Méliès also collaborated with Alfred Binet in an effort to apply nascent experimental psychological methods to the study of magic illusions. You can read an English translation of Binet's original (1896) article HERE (Méliès contribution is acknowledged in a footnote on the first page). And you can also read a very nice contemporary (2016) retrospective about Binet's article written by present-day researchers Cyril Thomas, André Didierjean, & Serge Nicolas 
Fact, Fiction, & The Prestige

Speaking of magic and film, Beatrice Ashton-Lelliott, who completed her doctoral research on Victorian stage magicians, recently published a lovely article in The Conversation, in which she unpacks some of the real historical antecedents that inspired elements of Christopher Nolan's The Prestige (2006).  
Playing Card Magic Doc Kickstarter

SoMA readers might be interested to know about this proposed documentary, which is currently live on Kickstarter- which will be a feature length "loving, cinematic look at how playing cards have become synonymous with magic, and the mysteries hidden in their art." The prospective cast includes renowned magicians Shawn Farquhar, Michael Vincent, Alexandra Duvivier, Richard Turner, and Juan Tamariz.

You can see the full details of the proposed project HERE
From Studies to Stage: A New Essay on Science & Magic in Cerebrum

We often feature news about individuals who have transitions from performing into research. In a cool new essay in the Fall issue of Cerebrum magazine, magician Daniel Roy describes how his experiences studying neuroscience helped inspire him to start performing professionally. 

You can read the full essay HERE  
New Research Highlight:
Magic & Metacognition
 
A nice new paper in i-Perception by Jeniffer Ortega, Patricia Montañes, Anthony Barnhart, and Gustav Kuhn reports a series of experiments that used variations of Henry Hardin's Princess Card Trick to explore how people make predictions about other's change detection abilities.  
Past Webinar Recording: Magic & Creativity

Our sixth webinar, on Magic & Creativity, took place on September 26.
You can catch-up on the recording and browse some selected references HERE
 
Congratulations to Alice Pailhès

And last, but not least:

Big Congrats to Doctor Alice Pailhès, magician, scientist, TED-speaker, and SoM researcher, who successfully defended her PhD thesis today!
 

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