>I’ll probably blog about Gift Magic soon, in the meantime I wanted to share this from one of the chapters;
I would say that as magicians, as artists, it is important that our giving is not only created, but performed. Indeed, magic is a performing art. It is odd to have to underscore this fact, but again, in our market-driven magic subculture, we see many people refer to themselves as magicians when all they do is produce product to buy and sell. We have become too tolerant of the extension of the word “magician’ to people who are essentially salesmen. They might “perform” on the download, on the DVD, or at the magic lecture, but it is just a means to the ends of market values. I think it might be time for us who care about magic to be a little more discriminating about who we call a magician. Creating a download, selling a trick, demoing a trick, teaching a trick so you can sell it, probably doesn’t make a person a magician. On the contrary, a magician, a magical artist, is someone who performs, he or she is a performing artist. They perform hopefully inspired and creative artworks in an inspired and creative way. They seek to “give on” in their own way the gifts they have received from other people, other artists, and artworks.
– Hass, L. ed., 2010. On Giving, Magic & Giving Magic. In Gift Magic. Theory and Art of Magic Press.
