MAGIC!

9 September 2023–7 January 2024

Christian Andersson | Gregory Barsamian | Louis De Belle | Marjolijn Dijkman | Tobias Dostal | Ceal Floyer | Arturo Fuenzalida | Juhana Moisander & Hanna Rajakangas | Juan Muñoz & Gavin Bryars | Nickolas Muray | Kalle Nio | Miika Pelkonen | Taneli Rautiainen | Hans Rosenström | Etienne Saglio / Monstre(s) | Luis Sartori do Vale | Antoine Terrieux / Blizzard Concept | Ville Walo

In September, Art and Museum Centre Sinkka will open an exhibition that takes visitors on a journey into the world of wonder, imagination and magic. The Magic! exhibition, put together by artist and magician Kalle Nio, brings together 18 top magicians and visual artists from ten different countries. On weekends, experimental live magic will also be performed at the museum.

Visitors to Sinkka can marvel at mirror illusions, mechanical magic machines, self-moving plants or a floating plastic ghost brought to life by Etienne Saglio, one of France’s most famous contemporary magicians. Saglio is a key figure in the French ‘Magie Nouvelle’ movement, which has enhanced the appreciation of magic and brought it into the repertoire of prestigious cultural institutions, such as the Louvre.

The exhibition also features Finnish artists, such as Hans Rosenström, Taneli Rautiainen and Juhana Moisander, whose latest video piece “Sermon I” will be premiered in the exhibition. The piece is based on a classical magic trick in which a magician breaks the laws of gravity and begins to levitate.

In addition, the exhibition takes a look at the shared history of film and magic. Gregory Barsamian’s kinetic sculpture is like a giant zoetrope, whose three-dimensional statues create an astonishing illusion of movement. The works of the German artist Tobias Dostal, one of the most innovative magicians of our time, also draw their strength from the history of the moving picture.

Early film was the creation of magicians and, for a moment, the movement of the image and simple special effects alone were considered magic in the eyes of contemporaries. Things that today’s viewers consider commonplace were found miraculous by early film audiences. Today, the latest technology enables false images and illusions that previously would not even have been imaginable. We are constantly surrounded by illusions; we just do not usually notice it.

The exhibition offers a glimpse of magicians’ secrets and reminds how easily we are deceived. Above all, however, it gives the visitors the opportunity to enjoy the sense of magic and wonder that impressive art can evoke in us.

Thank you to the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation.

Magic shows

On Saturdays and Sundays in September and October, Miika Pelkonen: The Trick That Cannot Be Explained.
In November and December, Luis Sartori Do Vale & Kalle Nio: Black Magic.

See more detailed performance times and information on other related programme at sinkka.fi/events