Day 1 - 8. 6. 2015

[Ondřej Pšenička]

The school is really very close. We met in the cafe, Johan Stahl took our group to hall 10 where he told us how excited he is and how much we can be proud that we are here because they got many applications. - Well I think it was max. 32. Anyway, then he took us for a tour around the school, there is sauna, showers, kitchen with about 8 microwaves - it looks like students live there. My shower time will definitely happen in school. Then he showed us our workshop room where is everything I could dream of. All kinds of gimmicks, thumb tips, magnets, reels, balls, silks, ropes, toys, tapes, glues, drills, tools, screws, raw wood, saws, sewing machine, fabrics, threads, cards, gaffs, science friction spray, electronics, and of course a 3D printer.

Then we went to auditorium G where we introduced ourselves one by one to the group. It’s a very interesting bunch. Then we were put into 4 groups and each had to come up with as many possible applications for a brick as possible. We came up with 24. Limit was 10 minutes and my favorite was Edith’s nail file.

Then we got three objects. Our group got a globe, a picture, and a padlock with three keys. We had to come up with an effect that uses one of the objects, then two of them, and finally all three objects. We came up with putting a seed inside the globe and then have the plant grow out of it in a crazy visual manner.

And we were off to lunch. Good. Healthy and tasty. Charlie Caper appeared and he slightly remembered me from Lund.

Tom had a lecture on what is magic right after lunch. He asked us if we have any definition that applies just to magic and encouraged us to come up with one. One of the things he talked about was that there has to be some kind of drama. If I see a leaf suspended in the air below a branch, it is not magic - it is just hanging by something I can’t see. Or if the observer doesn’t know I’m a magician then again it doesn’t have to be and probably isn’t, magic. Ea. Carbonaro Effect. Magician to cause magic has to do a lot of proving first to create a different perception of reality. One of interesting discussions was if an observer can at the same time be the performer. If I can not only fool myself but also entertain myself.

After the lecture we were divided into three new groups in which we were supposed to brainstorm our individual ideas on the week’s topic ‘sound & silence’. We first set 30 minutes for individual thinking and then 10 minutes each for group brainstorm. I came up with about 5 ideas from which I liked 2 a lot and only one chose to brainstorm. It was a transposition of two objects. But not their physique, but just the sound they make. The most useful brainstormer overall was Hans from Norway. Erik had more or less unrelated or irrelevant comments and the other guys seemed a little bit lost. Especially with their own routines.

I later came up with some ideas about how to structure the routine, so this 14 km walk around Stockholm wasn’t worthless. I also am the first one doing mini lecture tomorrow. I decided to talk about relaxation so hopefully it will be interesting and useful. I should go over it couple of times more. I also need to go over Tommy Wonder’s Mindmovie in Books of Wonder I before I go to sleep and that’s in five minutes so that’s it for now.