The Transported Man

How can a magic trick help us understand an artwork? The spectator of a magic trick wonders what happened in the ineffable moment when a magician disappears and reappears at the other side of the stage, in the same way a museum visitor might wonder what happened when a common object like a bar of soap, a mirror, or a shoe reappears as a sculpture. Magic, like artwork, relies on a system of belief cultivated between the magician and his or her audience. The wider the gap between what the aud...