We use magic to convey media literacy and especially information literacy in a vivid and exciting way.

Our aim as BLINDSPOTLAB is to develop and share new approaches, methods and educational formats by combining the art of magic and media education. Because just like disinformation and conspiracy narratives, magic is all about deception and the manipulation of perception.

Workshop
WHAT DO YOU SEE?

How can we convey a deeper understanding of why disinformation and deception work so well and why everyone is susceptible?

This is exactly where our workshop WHAT DO YOU SEE? comes in:
We, the recipients of information, need to understand the emotional and cognitive mechanisms of why false or speculative information can generate such a resonance in digital information spaces. In our workshop WHAT DO YOU SEE?, we use tricks and illusions from magic to playfully uncover these emotional and cognitive mechanisms. In this way, we make it directly tangible for the participants that and how each of us can be deceived and manipulated.

What can we learn from magic about the construction of digital media realities?

The shared experience of deception through the art of magic in our workshop enables participants to become aware of the emotional and cognitive mechanisms that, in addition to pure facts, play a central role in the communication of information and ultimately the construction of reality. In our workshop WHAT DO YOU SEE?, participants are encouraged to transfer this knowledge to the world of digital communication and information that they are already familiar with. In doing so, they actively learn how we play with expectations, reproduce thought patterns, serve prejudices and are subject to manipulation on a daily basis.

Through this particularly vivid and playful mediation of deception and manipulation through magic and the transfer to disinformation in the digital space, the participants are empowered to:

recognise cognitive mechanisms of manipulation and deception,
question emotionalised, manipulative content,
sensitise themselves to the manipulative nature of conspiracy-driven narratives in the digital space,
be able to identify and describe media manipulations within their own everyday lives.

These core competencies are essential for experiencing the digital transformation with confidence and actively shaping it. They enhance resilience against manipulation and contribute to safeguarding the foundations of a functioning democracy.

Who is our workshop suitable for?

Pupils in school classes from year 8 of all general education or vocational schools
Up to 30 participants per workshop
Particularly suitable for the following subjects: German, Social Studies, Foreign Languages, Computer Science, Ethics, Philosophy, and Art.
Workshop duration: 270 minutes

TEAM

We are an interdisciplinary team of media educators, magicians and creative coding experts. You would you like to become part of our team? Reach out to us: info@blindspotlab.org

Luis Carr works as a freelance magician and environmental engineer in Berlin and combines artistic and scientific expertise in these two professional fields. In 2020, he completed the Magic Nouvelle at the CNAC (Centre National des Arts du Cirque) in France in 2020 and is co-founder of Magic Monday Leipzig. With his many years of experience in the art of magic, he questions the established rules of this craft. Disillusioned by the rigid conventions of traditional magic, he pursues the goal of using the tools of contemporary theatre to uncover the blind spots in our perception. To achieve this, he develops and explores new interactive formats of magic in collaboration with visual and performing artists.
www.luiscarr.de

Julian Kasten is a freelance author, lecturer and trainer in the fields of media education and political education. Based on a solid foundation of theory and research (M.A. Media Education, Leipzig), he develops concepts and materials for young people and multipliers and implements his own educational concepts. In addition to established forms of media education, he is always drawn to experiments and new projects. Among other things, he founded the non-profit organisation Medienzirkus e.V. in 2018, which has received several awards for special projects. Other references and long-standing project partners of Julian Kasten include the JFF – Institute for Media Research and Media Education (Berlin and Munich), Medienblau gGmbH (Kassel), the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, the Digital Opportunities Foundation and the German Children and Youth Foundation.
www.medienzirkus.eu

Raphaela Müller is a media education consultant at the JFF – Institute for Media Research and Media Education in the Berlin office. At the interface of media education and political education, she specialises in the topics of disinformation, (conspiracy) ideologies and right-wing extremism, including in the projects The Elephant in the Room und TruthTellers. Her work centres on promoting democracy and media literacy from an intersectional perspective and strengthening the media skills of children, teenagers and young adults. She also devotes her free time to the art of magic.

Stefano Trambusti is a puppeteer, media player and performer. He grew up in Turin and has lived and worked in Berlin since 2009. He holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from the Università degli Studi di Torino and subsequently studied contemporary puppetry at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin. As an expert in digital puppetry and creative coding, he has worked on numerous theatre productions and performances, including projects for Rimini Protokoll and Studio Dries Verhoeven as well as at Maxim Gorki Theater, HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Schaubude Berlin, as part of 48 Stunden Neukölln, at Oldenburgisches Staatstheater and in Brisbane at Queensland University of Technology in the project
The CUBE.

CONTACT

Do you have further questions, or would you like to book a workshop directly? Or are you interested in collaborating with us?

Feel free to get in touch at: info@blindspotlab.org

Supported by: