about
opensourcery is a magic performance created by Mago Julian and Zachary Lieberman which marries camera based technology with old fashioned close magic to create a new variety of tricks. The work uses custom based software, written with the openframeworks library, in order to take a live video image and manipulate it seamlessly. This software is completely open-source (thus the title) and designed as a starting point for imagining a new language of tricks and techniques for magical expression.
opensourcery was developed at medialabmadrid's interactivos workshop on Magic and Technology. The work premiered at Sonar's 2007 Sonarmatica exhibit, where it was performed 12 times over the course of three days.
video
opensourcery excerpts from Sonar festival, 2007
download 16mb (right click, save as): here
youtube: here
opensourcery excerpts from Sonar festival, 2007
download 16mb (right click, save as): here
youtube: here
pictures
we will post more pictures shortly, but some shots of opensourcery at work:
signing the coin with magic ink
the coin follows the finger, then moves on it's own
the magic eye reveals the chosen card
we will post more pictures shortly, but some shots of opensourcery at work:
signing the coin with magic ink
the coin follows the finger, then moves on it's own
the magic eye reveals the chosen card
source code:
the full source code of the project is available: here
and the executable (compiled for windows) is available: here
Note: In late august / early sept we will publish a full guide to the software (how to use it and set it up) and the code (how to program new tricks). If you are a magician or programmer who is interested in working with opensourcery, please contact us (zlieb [ a t ] parsons [ d o t ] edu).
the full source code of the project is available: here
and the executable (compiled for windows) is available: here
Note: In late august / early sept we will publish a full guide to the software (how to use it and set it up) and the code (how to program new tricks). If you are a magician or programmer who is interested in working with opensourcery, please contact us (zlieb [ a t ] parsons [ d o t ] edu).
tricks:
There are currently five different tricks programmed in software, but the system is designed so that adding more is quite easy, and we plan to develop the project further. We will be adding a complete manual and documentation for the tricks, but here we quickly describe them:
Toggle / Shrink - in this trick, a signed coin is placed on the mat, with the snap of the fingers it shrinks until it can travel into a sealed box.
Three Coins - One coin, when touched, turns into three more
Follow Me - One coin, when dragged, remembers a path, and then it moves back to the original location on its own
Napkin Repair - pieces of a ripped napkin magically travel to the crumpled mass they were ripped from, and the napkin is completely repaired
Magic Eye - A black eye, painted on the inside of the magicians hand, reveals the chosen card.
There are currently five different tricks programmed in software, but the system is designed so that adding more is quite easy, and we plan to develop the project further. We will be adding a complete manual and documentation for the tricks, but here we quickly describe them:
Toggle / Shrink - in this trick, a signed coin is placed on the mat, with the snap of the fingers it shrinks until it can travel into a sealed box.
Three Coins - One coin, when touched, turns into three more
Follow Me - One coin, when dragged, remembers a path, and then it moves back to the original location on its own
Napkin Repair - pieces of a ripped napkin magically travel to the crumpled mass they were ripped from, and the napkin is completely repaired
Magic Eye - A black eye, painted on the inside of the magicians hand, reveals the chosen card.
credits:
A huge thank you to the whole interactivos / medialab madrid team, teachers and participants, to Mago Julian and Punkie for being dedicated and patient while I juggled teaching and writing code, to the other performers at Sonar, Nemonico and Julian Maire and to Sonar technicians and staff, and to the Sonar curators, Jose Luis and Oscar for suggesting this collaboration.
A huge thank you to the whole interactivos / medialab madrid team, teachers and participants, to Mago Julian and Punkie for being dedicated and patient while I juggled teaching and writing code, to the other performers at Sonar, Nemonico and Julian Maire and to Sonar technicians and staff, and to the Sonar curators, Jose Luis and Oscar for suggesting this collaboration.