Magical Club Vienna
The Magical Club Vienna is not only the oldest association of magicians in Austria, but also one of the oldest magic clubs in the world. The current president of the club is Magic Christian . The club currently has 43 full members and around 15 youth members.
The organization belongs to the international umbrella organization Fédération Internationale des Sociétés Magiques .
History from 1908 to 1945
The club was founded in 1908 by the Viennese teacher Ludwig Brunner. As early as 1907, he tried to establish contact with other amateur magician artists through appeals in Viennese daily newspapers. Initially, only amateurs were allowed to join the club . Accordingly, the founding name was also: “Club of amateurs for magical art.” However, as more and more professional artists became interested in membership in the club in the course of the following years, the name of the club was changed to “Magical Club in Vienna” in 1921.
Famous members in the years before the Second World War included Valentino Graziadei , CH Larette , Okito , Kalanag , Hans Trunk and Ottokar Fischer . He was also the club's president for a long time. The club also had close ties to the Magic Circle of Germany , the Association of Hungarian Amateur Magicians, the Society of American Magicians, the Graz Magic Circle and also to the Tokyo Kijitsu Kenkyukai Society for the Study of Magic.
After Austria was annexed to Hitler's Germany in 1938, the club, together with the Association for Magical Art and the Magical Round, was incorporated into the Magical Circle of Germany as the local circle of Vienna.
History since 1945
Shortly after the end of the war, the association was re-founded under Hans Trunk, Franz Holl and Anton Stursa . The club is a founding member of FISM, the world umbrella organization of magicians' associations in 1948. In 1958, the FISM World Congress of Magic was successfully organized in Vienna by the Magical Club Vienna under the direction of Willy Seidl senior. Eighteen years later, in 1976, under the leadership of long-time President Peter Heinz Kersten , the club was entrusted with hosting a FISM World Congress for the second time. At that time, around 1,800 magicians from all over the world met in Vienna.
In 1982 the Magic Club Vienna was one of the founding members of the "Magic Ring Austria". However, he no longer belongs to this group today.
In 1989 Magic Christian took over the presidency of the club from Peter Heinz Kersten . Kersten held the presidency from 1962 to 1989. After the election, several members separated, including Peter Heinz Kersten . In the same year this group founded the Magical Cercle Vienna .
One of Magic Christian's first acts was the founding of a youth club with the aim of finding and promoting young magicians and breaking the club's encrusted structures. Many young, enthusiastic magician eleven have since found their way to the art of magic. Since 1991 there has also been a club of its own, where club members meet and several times a year seminars with world-famous magicians take place for further training.
For years, the club has organized so-called guest evenings several times a year, since 1991 in the Vienna Hotel Stefanie, the oldest 4-star hotel in Vienna. In these guest evenings, the members and artists of the club show their skills in front of a selected audience.
For the 200th birthday of the legendary Viennese magician Johann Nepomuk Hofzinser , the club participated in the organization of a matinee at the Wiener Kammerspiele in 2006 , in which Hofzinser's tricks were performed by international magicians and members of the club. In 2008 the 100th anniversary was celebrated with a major international gala performance in the Vienna Volkstheater and a meeting of magicians in the Natural History Museum. An extensive commemorative publication was published for the occasion, containing all the names of the club's members since 1908 and interesting articles and information on club life.
Club goal
The aim of the club is to promote and support magic . The Magische Klub Wien also fights against the disclosure and explanation of magic tricks in public. Magic is one of the forms of entertainment that is neither sexist, racist nor tied to an age group. Magic is supposed to arouse joy and amazement and deceive perception. It is the only art form that spontaneously makes you think: "How does he do it?"
membership
Applicants for admission to the Magic Club must be at least 16 years of age. Each candidate will be assigned a mentor during the preparation period, who will support them in preparing for the entrance exam. Entrance exams take place on two club evenings a year. They consist of a practical and a theoretical part. The practical part must last at least twelve minutes and contain manipulative parts for the stage . The theoretical part consists of questions about history , literature , technical terms and outstanding representatives of the art of magic . All regular members of the club present are entitled to vote on the admission of the candidate . A 2/3 majority is required to pass the entrance exam.
President
- 1908–1909: Ludwig Brunner, Vice President from 1909 to 1922
- 1909–1913: Ottokar Fischer
- 1914–1929: Franz Marschall
- 1930–1938: Ottokar Fischer
- 1938-1945: Willibald Cerny
- 1945–1953: Hans Trunk
- 1953–1955: Franz Holl
- 1955: Willibald Cerny, elected and resigned for health reasons
- 1955–1956: Anton Stursa
- 1956–1957: Hans Trunk
- 1958–1961: Franz Holl
- 1962–1988: Peter Heinz Kersten
- since 1989: Magic Christian
Web links
Coordinates: 48 ° 11 ′ 52.9 " N , 16 ° 21 ′ 27.8" E