Despite seemingly endless midterms and looming job applications, not all magic has to be lost when college starts. The Illini Magic Society keeps the wonder and childlike whimsy of magic tricks alive each Tuesday and Saturday at 7 p.m.
Card tricks, mentalism, pickpocket magic, coin magic and tricks featuring iPhone apps and fire are just a few illusions practiced by the 17 University magicians officially in the club.
Current club president Ulrich Yin, junior in ACES, said that, like many other club members, his fascination with magic began at a very young age. He was first introduced to the craft in elementary school.
“I remember there was a summer school where they had a magician … teaching us tricks and stuff,” Yin said. “Right then, I was really hooked on magic. Then I joined the magic club … in junior high, and when I (came to the University), I was like, ‘Yeah, I have to find a magic club.’”
Thanks to the effort of Damon Kim, senior in Engineering, Illini Magic Society was up and running in time for Yin’s freshman year.
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Kim recounted having to re-found the club after it was shut down a year prior, using the help of his friends who had no direct interest in magic. He said he roped just enough people in so that the club had all the necessary officers to be up and running before the society took off.
Kim also said that the most valuable skill that the club has helped him build was effective teaching. Structured as a sort of “hangout for magicians,” as Yin described it, members typically show off a trick or two at meetings and then teach them to each other.
The club has been operating since Spring 2023. Since then, the Illini Union has invited the club to perform each semester and showcase their skills.
Illini Magic Society also has a tradition, which it has dubbed “Quad Magic.” Every once in a while, as organized via its Discord, members of the club will meet on the Main Quad to perform magic tricks for students in the wild.
UI7 Newsroom has featured the club, and members continue their recruitment efforts on Reddit and through Quad Magic.
“We’re also planning, at some point, to go to the children’s hospital to show the patients some magic,” said Eric Fang, sophomore in Engineering and the RSO’s treasurer. “We want to see the smiles on people’s faces.”
Fang joined the club during his freshman year. He said that he received his first deck of cards as a gift from a friend in sixth grade, but he stopped doing magic in high school after getting caught up with college applications. After coming to the University, he reconnected with this passion thanks to the Illini Magic Society.
While Fang stressed the value of holding onto some aspects of childlike wonder through the magic organization, he also said that magic has helped him with professional networking.
“One time, I was flying home for the holidays,” Fang said. “I was at the airport and I was shuffling a deck of cards. This guy behind me, he saw what I was doing, (and) he was like, ‘Do you have a magic trick for me?’ I showed him a trick that I liked at the time, and he was blown away.”
According to Fang, the “guy” behind him was a recruiter for one of the biggest power tool companies in the Midwest. He remains in contact with the recruiter to this day.
Yet, being a magician at the University does not come without its challenges.
Kim said he had experienced audience members sabotaging performances, trying to figure out tricks and getting mad when they couldn’t understand the secret.
“The magician is not trying to manipulate their audience,” Kim said. “They’re just trying to have a good time. I hope that people don’t view magic as scammy or something that they need to figure out.”
Fang agreed that what is truly important to him is that audiences laugh, experience a sense of wonder, and, above all else, leave the magic shows asking themselves, “How?”
