Call (855) BY-MAGIC to enjoy illusions from the comfort of your quarantine

By Andrew Paul  |  March 24, 2020 | 7:45pm
Aux Features magic trick
Call (855) BY-MAGIC to enjoy illusions from the comfort of your quarantine
Photo: Saverio Truglia

For many of us, this whole self-quarantine is getting really, really, really damn difficult. Thankfully, people are getting equally creative at helping pass the time, and then generously offering their ideas up to the public. Case in point: Illusionist Jeanette Andrews is offering “Magic By Telephone,” a free service for those of us looking for some good ol’ fashioned mentalism to pass the self-isolated hours.

Inspired by the 1969 exhibition “Art By Telephone,” featured at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Magic By Telephone offers mindfreaks from the comfort of your couch. After calling 1 (855) BY-MAGIC, listeners are invited to pick from between three different tricks illusions (needing a deck of cards, a dictionary, or just one’s hands, respectively). We won’t spoil ‘em, but suffice to say they are pretty enjoyable numbered and pattern-based tricks.

“When working on this piece, I asked myself how I wanted to contribute right now and how to best be of service to others. I wanted to keep my eyes focused on the long term, while hopefully being able to engage people in even a brief moment of stress relief,” writes Andrews in her project’s artist statement.

Sure, the “handshake” illusion didn’t exactly work on the first try during this author’s research, but we think that’s more on us than Andrews, since the other two were appropriately effective head-scratchers. Thankfully, Andrews doesn’t ask us to provide doves.

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