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A Nordico Museum exhibition was devoted to the sensation-craving, irrational, superstitious and eccentric side of Linz and told an enchanting story of city life.

Illusionists, experimenters, card sharps, animal tamers, puppeteers, faith healers, occultists, fortunetellers, escapologists and quick-change artists, ventriloquists and impressionists, hypnotists and quack chiropractors—they were all part of the Linz scene in bygone days. They appeared regularly in the city’s theaters, demimondes and backrooms, in public squares and by the roadside. The DOING MAGIC exhibition conjured up this magical past and showcased gadgets, automata, installations, early media art and documents attesting to it. Many of the objects on display came from Upper Austrian museums; others were on loan from private collectors abroad; some made their public debut in this exhibition.
Accompanied by a program of workshops and events that let participants try their own hand at legerdemain, DOING MAGIC imparted a thrilling, enthralling impression of an aspect of life in Linz that has sunk almost entirely into oblivion: that Linz was the site of a magical amalgamation of myriad marvels with a modicum of intelligent entertainment mixed in.
More than 8,000 visitors took the plunge into the enchanting realm of Magic City Linz. The exhibition catalog by curator Brigitte Felderer, “Zauberkünste in Linz und der Welt” (magical arts in Linz and the world; ISBN 978-3-85256-491-3), was published by Folio Verlag, Vienna/Bozen.


WHAT // Magic exhibition
WHEN // February 6-April 26, 2009
WHERE // Nordico – Museum of the City of Linzz

IDEA / CONCEPT // Brigitte Felderer
PROJECT STAFF // Michael Wallraff, Elke Sodin, Volker Huber

Download:

Overview: The Accompanying Programme (PDF)