Art Is Dead

Sep 1, 2007
723
2
If you don't know Bo Burnham, you should. Here's a song he wrote about art, and being a comic. It's just as easily applied to magic and it's direction recently. Just listen and tell me what you think and how you relate it to magic and being a magician or hobbiest or flourisher etc etc

Art is dead - Bo Burnham

Lyrics are in the description

Warning: a tad bit of adult language toward the end.
 

JD

Jul 5, 2009
638
1
Longview, Texas
I love Bo Burnham. I have every CD he has put out.
I agree with every single thing he says in the song.
I think magicians take themselves way too seriously.
We get mad when people don't see what we do as art.
We love to be the center of attention in a room, etc.
There are too many things to say.
 
Sep 1, 2007
723
2
I wonder if magicians even see themselves as artists anymore, what does being an artist mean to people who perform mainly other people's material? Does performing original material make you more of an "artist" than another magician? Why?

Why aren't more magicians humble? Is our job as entertainers superficial?
 
Aug 17, 2010
411
4
Actors say words other people wrote; Sinatra never wrote a song, tons of musicians play on someone else's composition. They don't get hung up on the "art" tag.

I think if people paid more attention to the craft (especially the performance craft), the art would take care of itself.
 
Jun 6, 2010
796
0
Nashville, TN
I love Bo Burnham. I have every CD he has put out.
I agree with every single thing he says in the song.
I think magicians take themselves way too seriously.
We get mad when people don't see what we do as art.
We love to be the center of attention in a room, etc.
There are too many things to say.

... what he said.
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
who perform mainly other people's material? Does performing original material make you more of an "artist" than another magician? Why?

We can perform other people's methods without performing their material. We can take tried and tested methods and give them a presentation that means something and/or evokes an emotional response, and that creates art. Just parroting other performances doesn't create art in my mind.

Why aren't more magicians humble? Is our job as entertainers superficial?

People who like being the center of attention aren't often humble. Also, people who feel like they can control everything around them also are often not humble. Magicians are usually people who feel like they can control everything and like being the center of attention.

Entertainment can be superficial or it can be meaningful. That comes down to the performer. I will say that most magicians I see performing, perform superficial acts.
 
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