Marco Tempest

I combine magic and science to create illusions. I work with new media and interactive technologies, things like artificial intelligence or computer vision, and integrate them in my magic.

I did magic all my life from the time I was 12, and I like to tap into the magic from history.

The tricks of magic follow the archetypes of narrative fiction - there are tales of creation and loss, death and resurrection, and obstacles that must be overcome.

Magic is, in its core, introverted and closed; it's the most closed community ever, and I want to change all that and make it more open. If we want things to change, we have to be more open-minded.

My products and magic are free, but on the commercial side of what I do, the big tech companies are impressed with somebody like me who can emotionalize a piece of technology.

Combining magic with technology is a good way to influence the trajectory of where technology is going and show people what technology could be in our lives and what it shouldn't be.

Magicians are typically introverted; they don't tend to work with others, but I work with software programmers, composers, designers, so it's a very diverse group and the result is always more interesting than something I could have done by myself.

I don't try to show off technology in my work. The technology is a means to tell stories, so I think conversations about my work can be had by very large audiences.