Opinion Sur Joven

The place looks rather like a doctor’s office. White hallways, golden wallpaper borders, maroon carpets, banisters along the stairway… So disappointing. I’d seen him on TV. There was something about his tricks that made me think they weren’t tricks but magic… real magic. His voice, his look, the right music at the right time... magic.

He seemed to be transmitting something different; I got the feeling that Jansenson performed his magic as an art, and maybe that’s why his tricks aren’t tricks. I’m told to wait on the hall; I was feeling like a terminal patient, anxious about the final medical verdict. So disappointing. Please come in, someone says. I stand up and enter his office. And that’s where the magic starts...

Jansenson wasn’t there. I sit down and wait for him. His office is very different from the rest of the place; it looks like a magician’s office instead of a clinic. Brown and beige walls, very dim but warm lighting, two comfortable armchairs, a coffee table with bamboo placemats, a small Buddha statue… Before he arrives, a secretary comes in with a cereal bar and a cup. “It’s herbal tea”, she says upon the inquiring expression on my face. The office is big, there’s a table for meetings, a laptop and plenty of room to walk around. There are no personal pictures. Jansenson comes in and the interview begins.

- What makes you different from magicians who perform at celebrations or on TV?
- Magicians consider magic to be the main element of their performances and believe amazement is the most important sensation, and they think conjures and magic techniques are very relevant to define the magician’s skills. I think it’s the total opposite. Trick are just another way of expression the artist has, and they should never be the main part of the show: the main characters are the magic, then the audience -with their emotions and feelings- and then myself; I’m the one in charge of transmitting the message. Finally, it’s also about my tools, the tricks, the music, the staging, the stories, the voice, the costumes, the mood.
- You mentioned a message. What’s yours?
- That we’re living in world where magic -as a transformation experience- may solve a lot of problems... Any person can use magic as a lifestyle; they can see their lives through its point of view and see things in a different way. It’s not about denying reality; it’s not about living in an unreal world. It’s about transforming it and looking at it through a different viewpoint.

An artist can find inspiration in different things. Sometimes it’s hard to specify where an idea comes from. René Lavand, Tommy Wonder and the young David Copperfield were some of the magicians who inspired him. He studied graphic design and advertising, and he added some things from those professions to his show. He also mentions some books: “In the Meantime”, by Iyanla Vanzant; “The Greatest Miracle in the World”, by Og Mandino; pianist Daniel Barenboim’s or Gandhi’s biographies, or some marketing books… Variety is the spice of life. “Reading and literature are my greatest passions”, he says.

- I see you like marketing, and what you do isn’t far from the market. In fact, for instance, you appear a lot in the media. Have marketing and the need to sell ever consumed your creativity?
- Marketing doesn’t consume you; the problem with some artists is that they let the money-making whirl stop their creative processes, which imply getting in touch with themselves. That’s why I try to live somehow like a monk, with much discipline. I try to live full of “rituals”, a word I find magic because it has to do with ceremonial, historical and traditional magic; it has to do with real magic, the one that’s subject to studies, the one that started centuries ago, which has to do with rituals... Which is about using certain ingredients in the right way, in an exact quantity, putting them into a pot, for an exact amount of time. So that’s what I do in my shows too: when I’m holding a coin in my hand, I must perform the right ritual: saying the exact words, touching it with my magic wand in the exact way, so that then I can feel that tickling that tells me the coin is dematerializing. The tickling must end; once it stops, I can open my hand for the audience to enjoy.
- So you try to live your life just like onstage...
- What I’m saying is no real artist can succeed if they don’t bring their lives on to the stage or if they don’t bring the stage onto their lives.

Jansenson talks about rituals, although he recognizes they’re different every day, according to his obligations. However, he tries to follow routines. What’s a magician’s life like when off the stage? How’s the daily routine of a person who does magic? “I don’t know how a magician’s life is, but I can tell you how’s mine”, he says laughing. He wakes up at 7 a.m. He meditates for one hour, then takes a shower and reads for one hour. After that, he spends a whole hour watching taped material or rehearsing something he’s working on, then he has lunch, and in the afternoon he starts with the meetings: hiring, rehearsing and training...

- So you use the morning for yourself and the afternoon for business.
- I try to spend time with myself in the morning. Then I use the rest of the day to do things.
- Do you consider your time for yourself in the morning as working time? I’m sure reading must inspire you for your shows.
- Yes, I always come up with new things and I’m always writing things on a paper. If I came up with an idea right now, I’d cancel the interview and go write it down. The whole 24 hours are my working day, because my work is my life and my art... I’ve dedicated my whole life to this, I almost never go out. But it’s more than just a job. For instance, I go to the gym because I want to stay in shape. Everything I do makes sense because I get on the stage.

He defines himself as an artist who does magic, who wants to give a message, and he says tricks are his tool. But, unlike others, he has a high profile and doesn’t criticize the media: he participated in Argentine TV shows such as Showmatch (hosted by Marcelo Tinelli, in the production of Ilusiones (a soap opera produced by Pol-Ka), in comedies, and a few months ago he entered Argentina’s Big Brother house to make a private show.

Of course, being in the media can be a double-edged sword: they’re useful to grow professionally while they need you (that is, for TV ratings), and then they punish you if the audience doesn’t follow you.

“You have to be very down-to-earth to avoid falling when they try to bring you down. I know what I want, and I know the media are useful for me to do the things I want to do”, Jansenson says. For example, when he entered Big Brother’s house, his website got 25,000 hits and 5,000 emails. “But I never felt like TV’s the place I want to be; being on TV was never my dream", he explains.

- We started the interview talking about this general sensation that a magician is a guy who entertains in celebrations. Why isn’t magic considered an art?
- Why would anyone want to race in Formula One driving a minivan? Both the F1 car and the minivan have four wheels, a gearbox and lights. However, one of them is made for racing, whereas the other one isn’t. The magician and the artist, in general, aren’t the same person. Most of the magicians I know aren’t artists; they’re just magicians. They do their tricks and never explore other fields. They are satisfied by generating amazement and complain because people don’t take them into consideration. Many people come to see my show because of the stories, the music, the poetry and, also, the magic. So my show isn’t just about magic, but it is a show including magic.

- And how do you manage to transmit the idea that magic can be an art too?
- Many of those who teach magic tell their students they’ll get to be performing in three months. I don’t think it works that way. My students learn three or four tricks in about five months. From day one, students hear what “being there” and “giving” mean… So the aim is that, whenever they sit at a table, they can put the glass down in a certain way and make it magical.
- In your opinion, how long does it take for a magician to learn everything?
- An entire life.