Blake Vogt This is gonna be so fun. We have never formally jammed one on one.
Tobias Dostal Yeah, it always is way too short at a convention. You can just speak for five minutes, and then other people take over.
BV Where does your stuff come from?
TD I don’t know. I am here in my studio. I think this is my biggest advantage: I have a room with thousands of materials and tools just ready, you know, to take any idea into a prototype.
BV How long have you had a studio or a room like that?
TD Forever. I mean, I studied fine arts many years ago, until 2012 or something, and at my university I had a studio. That is what you learn. You have a room and you just go for it. You know, you just try things, and you’re allowed to make a lot of rubbish. This is really helping you to not try to take one idea and try to get it exactly as you imagine it. You just start with something, and then you react to it. And then some things happening you don’t expect, you know? These are the great things you have to look for. It’s all about play here. This is what makes good things.
BV At the end is your room typically clean or messy? Or does it go back and forth?
TD I cannot work if I tidy up. It blocks me. I feel like this is the best part of having a studio, because I go in, I work on all these things, and in every corner I have a little project. I can leave it all as it is, you know? I just leave, and the next day I come back, and everything is in the same position. Sometimes you need some distance from one of the things you’re working on, but if you keep it out, suddenly you find a combination of ideas. I really need to live with my craziness. This is the best.
BV Do you keep old versions of things, or do you throw them away and just keep the newest version of things in your room?
TD There are some rules. I don’t destroy prototypes. I keep each one as it is, because it worked, and then I build a new one that I can modify. Then I have an evolution of a gimmick and they all go in a box. One day, I can take it all out and say this is how it started, this is how it ended up. That is really important.
BV That’s great to be able to see that. That’s so cool. When I see you at a convention, you’re rolling around with a little bag or something. And I love how a lot of your stuff feels off the cuff, even though it’s something that you’ve built or prepared or practiced. Do you tend to gravitate toward that organic feeling?
TD I go more and more in this direction. For me it’s really difficult if I suddenly have a stage show. People come there to sit down and watch, and they have high expectations. It’s so much better if you create a moment that people don’t expect. It’s like you just twist their reality. You give people a different reality for a second. And if they’re not prepared it can be so strong.
In the last few years, I worked on really fine little moments that are so good for close-up, where you make a crazy experience for somebody in front of their eyes. But these moments don’t work onstage. So I tried to make some of these pieces a bit bigger, with the shadows, for example. Now I have a one-hour stage show too, which is really a lot of time if you want to fill it up with strong visual stuff.
BV I love messing with expectations too. Like magician in trouble. “Oh no, I messed up!” And then something way better happens. I probably play with that too much, but that’s always really fun too.
TD I think, when you look at the great magicians, this is what they always did. Like Tommy Wonder. When he did something he created a little drama. This is why good jokes always have an ending that completely goes off the road. It’s so funny because it’s so out of context. This is what magic should also have. It’s all about surprise and all about a new way of seeing the reality of the world.
Enjoy the hour-long conversation between Blake Vogt and Tobias Dostal on the Inventing Magic podcast.
