Aladin
Categories: British magicians | Indian magicians | Entertainers | Television personalities | Card magic
- This article is about the artist/magician and strategist by the name aladin. For the story from 1001 Nights and the character of the same name, see Aladdin.
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aladin is a British based but internationally active conceptual artist and magician who has been working since the early 1990s and is noted for his skills at sleight of hand. His main home is in London.
aladin has been acclaimed by the media in Britain and the Indian Subcontinent, where his public projects have been admired. He has been described as a “mystical cardmeister” by the The Times (21-11-98) in a three page feature in its magazine, his work referred to as “virtuoso magic and visual poetry” by Timeout (1-8-99) and called an “extraordinary magician and artist” by the Sunday Times (10-7-99); Inside Magic [1] (19-02-04) stated in a front page feature that he was “ a world-famous magician with a low-profile. He performs from bombay to las vegas and has appeared on National Geographic and the BBC but he prefers to keep a low public profile. His philosophy on magic is contrary to that of Robert-Houdin: aladin does not see his magic as a spectacle but more of a conversation’. The Illustrated London News (16-7-01) has added that "magic for him is about mystery rather than power”. The Evening Standard (2-9-99) said: 'Don't look for the Ricky Jay brand of con-man tricks here: aladin is a master of sleight of hand...exuberant, gasp-inducing'.
Press coverage suggests aladin (he uses a small ‘a’) has more of a focus on developing magic as an artform than on receiving recognition as a popular entertainer. His improvised work is in many respects that of a physical theatre, live or performance artist as he apparently does not repeat performances, rehearse or prepare in the conventional sense.
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Background
aladin might have multiple nationalities as he was born in Washington D.C. (around 1970) but has ancestry in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. He is from an aristocratic family and his father is a former Ambassador and Foreign Secretary.
aladin’s life story is unusual: he cut short a career in international banking consultancy to work with street gangs and experiment as a live artist. However, just as he was finding artistic success he had to take a four year break starting 2000 after being headhunted into public office by London’s Mayor to be in charge of the city’s cultural strategy until 2004 [2]. aladin is internationally respected as a management and arts consultant.
Despite his apparent disinterest in respect of the popular entertainment form of magic, he became International Magician of the Year in 1991. Later that year he was headhunted to become the inaugural host of London’s Ministry of Sound nightclub when it opened that September. He was reputedly being paid as much as star DJs Frankie Knuckles and Larry Levan at the time he parted company with the club in December.
aladin was co-producer/director and featured ringmaster/MC of the 1997 Festival of Magic put on by Magic Academy, Bangalore (India) which attracted some 800 magicians from around the world and was described (by The Times in 21-11-98) as ‘the biggest event in the history of magic’. With a few exceptions such as Mark Setteducati, Jeff Sheridan, Lennart Green and Derren Brown (he knows the latter apparently as aladin was among the few and first magicians to recognise Brown’s potential) aladin is however relatively unknown to magicians as he does not generally attend magic conventions and his work mainly staged off-the-map as far as those with an interest in popular magic are concerned. aladin has a particular interest in card magic, even introducing Green to Ricky Jay.
aladin has also been commissioned as a producer/director to create interdisciplinary projects which included his performance work for a number of British contemporary arts institutions: during a one year period around 1999 he had collaborations with visual artists and other physical theatre performers which were showcased at venues including the Whitechapel Gallery (notably ‘ZeroZeroZero’ in 1999), the Institute of Contemporary Arts (‘Fire and Rain’ in 1999), the British Festival of Visual Theatre (En-Trance in 1998) and the London International Festival of Theatre (Guest Artist at the closing live art cabaret in 1999) and a pop video for record company Independiente Records (‘Badder Badder Schwing/Freddy Fresh Featuring Fatboy Slim’ 1999).
Although he does not have the celebrity or fame of contemporaries such as David Blaine, Derren Brown and David Copperfield, aladin has other strings to his bow. Since 2000 he has been a Visiting Professor or academic at a number of institutions in Europe, including Manchester University, City University, Christies Education, the London School of Economics, Copenhagen Business School, the Art Academy of Aarhus; he has published chapters in books as diverse as ‘Under De-construction’, NIFCA, Finland, 2002 (chapter entitled “A tinted view of the new world order”) and ‘Occasional Sights’, The Photographers’ Gallery, London, 2002 (section entitled “south bank”). aladin also leads the work of the strategy consultancy alkhemi which has expanded its work over the past five years across Europe and into Asia.
Other artforms
For two years in his childhood aladin trained in Kolkata/Calcutta in classical Indian music during an active period in that city for the Tagore, Shankar and Nasrul Islam musical dynasties, who were well known to aladin's family.
In some circles in Britain, aladin is noted also as one of a growing number of Asian artists making significant contributions to the contemporary heritage and culture of the country across the artforms - their numbers including sculptor Anish Kapoor, writer Hanef Qureshi, film-maker Shehar Kapoor and musician Nitin Sawnhey. In fact, for the innovative ZeroZeroZero exposition aladin was able to showcase the work of established and rising cultural stars who happened to be Asian.
Television/Broadcast Media
aladin filmed broadcast television pilots for Britain's BBC in 2002 (Trick Saturday) and Channel Four in 2003(The Art of Being English). He continues to be in discussions with television channels with a view to adapting some of his work for a broader audience, including apparently MTV and National Geographic Channel. He has meanwhile had fleeting guest appearances on terrestrial television stations in the U.K.. and was director and producer of film and pop video featuring him and his magic to accompany the single "Badder Badder Schwing" created by DJs Freddy Fresh and Fatboy Slim. As a guest on high-brow BBC Radio 4 chatshow ‘Midweek with Libby Purves’ in 1999, aladin performed magic with an automaton – this programme was broadcast live. In a live appearance on BBC TV in 2000, aladin debated the ‘state of London’s culture’ with Secretary of State for Culture the Right Honorable Chris Smith M.P. - but disappointed some viewers by not performing any magic.
Recent projects
aladin has only recently returned to working with magic as for four years until 2004 he was in government in London in charge of its cultural strategy [3] and was leading the strategy and management consulting firm alkhemi [4]. He is now returning to public performance, making contrasting, unannounced but reportedly well received guest appearances in London, including comedy venue Hackney Empire, contemporary arts centre Chisenhale Dance Space and in September 2005 making an unexpected appearance at ‘Weekend at Dave’s’ [5].
In 2005 however aladin has finally surfaced as one of the global stars of Book of Cool www.bookofcool.com, a broadcast TV, DVD and book project featuring the work of some two dozen of the world’s greatest exponents of skills such as skateboarding, basketball and frisbee. He is the sole entertainer or magician as well as only Briton included. He was filmed at the exclusive London nightclub Sketch. The project’s website has a section on aladin which automatically plays a brief movie of highlights from the shoot.
Other facts
aladin hurled a poker-sized playing card 86 metres in London’s Millennium Dome on December 27 2004 in front of over 50 witnesses at a charity event he was entertaining at. He is known to be able to crack a glass window pane this way as he reputedly propels cards to well over 100 mph – there is some footage of this high speed card tossing on Book of Cool.
Quotations about aladin
- “master of sleight of hand. gasp-inducing”: Evening Standard, LONDON.
- “mystical cardmeister”: The Times, LONDON.
- “virtuoso magic and visual poetry”: Timeout, LONDON.
- “extraordinary magician”: Sunday Times, LONDON.
- "magic for him is about mystery”: Illustrated London News, LONDON.
- “he does your head in. if he had lived in the middle ages they’d have burnt him at the stake as a witch!”: ALUN PALMER, FEATURES EDITOR, Daily Mirror, LONDON.
- “impossible sounding magic”: Magic Times, U.S.A. [6]
- “world famous magician with a low profile. does not see his magic as a spectacle but more of a conversation”: Inside Magic U.S.A. [7]
- “astonishing legerdemain, prestidigitation and sleight-of-hand”: Whitechapel Gallery, LONDON.
- “theatrical poetry”: Institute of Contemporary Arts, LONDON.
- “master of magic”: India Weekly.
- “man with the magic lamp”: Asian Age, INDIA.
- “stunning audiences”: Hindustan Times, INDIA.
- “the man with the golden hands”: Daily Star, BANGLADESH.
- “aside from being an artist, aladin has been crowned the world’s best illusionist several times”: Politiken, Denmark [8]
See also
External links