Joe Culpepper

I am a magician, educator and consultant who was born and raised in California. I wrote my doctoral dissertation on how magic effects are adapted across storytelling media. Some of my practice-based research and performance projects include the following:

• Designing and performing 19th-Century stage illusions for contemporary theater and circus performances,
• Receiving a Black Rock City Arts Honoraria Grant to create Fascination — a participatory optical art installation at Burning Man 2019,
• Creating hybrid magic-circus props and new performance vocabulary for Cirque du Soleil.

I actively perform, exhibit (optical illusion sculptures), teach (after-school classes, workshops, and university coursework), and help other artists and organizations with creative innovation.

As co-editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed academic journal Circus: Arts, Life and Sciences, I also work in English, French and Spanish with a global team to share cutting-edge performing arts research from around the world. Our journal is 100% open-access, making it free-of-charge to all authors and readers.