MAGIE NOUVELLE - Circostrada Network

“An ability to infinitely transform
the world”
New magic offers a way to get back in touch with the feeling of magic. Its creative principle
appears independently, but also within dance, the circus, theatre... Raphaël Navarro
and Clément Debailleul, both initiators of this movement, talk to us about the foundations.
Stradda: What is new magic
Raphaël Navarro: It’s an art whose language is the
diversion of the real within the real. Magic is a
way to situate oneself in relationship with the real
– space, time, objects... – in a specific kind of way.
Movies and painting divert the real in the physical
space of the image. Theatre and literature suggest
it within a metaphorical space. New magic plays
with the real within the real: that is to say, within
the same space-time offered by perception. Images
no longer correspond with an illusionist act. They
make up a proper order to reality.
Clément Debailleul: Magic has always existed and
conceals many realities other than the form of
the modern performance, which was born in the
nineteenth century, when it was limited to a repertory
of objects, effects and attitudes. New magic
asks questions and opens up pathways: stepping
out of the limits of the performing arts, imagining
effects without a magician, going beyond the visual
domain to address the other senses – smell, hearing,
touch, taste... ; asking questions about the dizziness
of the perception of space and time... a square rainbow,
a meat-flavoured strawberry, an object that
falls in silence... are all new images offered up to the
imagination of artists and capable of taking on new
life and meaning. We suggest getting back in touch
with the feeling of magic. Being in the country of
the new wave, new cuisine and the new novel, and
coming from the new circus ourselves, it seemed
logical to us to call this movement new magic.
What do you thing the feeling off magic recovers and
what place might it have in our time
R.N. : It’s an ancestral and healthy emotion! Since
magic is a threshold to the invisible, its goal is to
bring into existence what does not exist. As an
artistic form, it represents an ability to infinitely
transform the world.
C.D. : If one defines contemporary art as an appropriation
of a vision of the world by the outlook
of the artist, magic is an eminently contemporary
form. It suggests another approach to reality. And
as a first form of human creation, it is also intrinsically
popular.
R.N. : The idea of this movement is to develop and to
showcase magic, to reveal its different approaches, to
support artists looking for innovative practices and
to grow together. We also want to offer support
and tools for a demanding kind of composition and
efficient means of distribution for new and current
creators as well as for those to come, who are speakers
in their own right. New magic also offers a different
approach to modern magic, complementary and
precise, so as to make the magic arts a specific and
independent form of language.
“If painting diverts the real
in the space of the image,
new magic diverts the real
within the real.” Raphaël Navarro
“To represent the
impossible, new magic
uses existing techniques
or creates new ones.”
Clément Debailleul
What are the specificities of this language How do
they influence the creative process
R.N. : A language defines a way to express the world.
There are certain things that one cannot translate
into another language, because each one carries
within it, in its vocabulary, its grammar, its dialectics
or its history, a way of situating itself in relation
to the world. This is also the case in the language
of magic. It is governed by technical constraints,
grammatical rules and a certain number of psychological,
mechanical, material, bodily or scenographic
principals that influence the way in which a
show is written. A magic effect never works ➜
Raphaël Navarro is
a scenographer,
juggler, magician
and theorist.
Clément Debailleul
is a scenographer,
juggler, magician
and multimedia
artist. In 2000 they
created Cie 14:20,
now associated
with the
Hippodrome in
Douai, and began
working for the
emergence of an
original artistic
form: new magic.
In 2005 they
opened the first
training
programme in the
magic arts,
recognised and
supported by the
Ministry of Culture
through the Cnac.
The “For a new
magic” manifesto,
drafted by Clément
Debailleul,
Valentine Losseau
and Raphaël
Navarro is due to
be released in
2010.
http://cie1420.
free.fr/www.cnac.
fr
dossier from stradda #16 / page 5