Using a deck of cards and other simple props, Helder Guimarães gets up close to play with your perceptions and preconceptions.
Why you should listen
Helder Guimarães slips and slides cards on a table, wowing you with invisible technique, unorthodox psychology and fresh humor. As a close-up magician, he's won international awards for his elegantly thought-through performances, which merge a nuanced stagecraft with good old how-does-he-do-it sleight of hand. He is the world's youngest-ever World Champion of Card Magic. He reflects on his craft in the enigmatic out-of-print book, Reflections.
His appearances at LA's Magic Castle led him to be awarded the title of Parlour Magician of The Year, in 2011 and 2012, recognition that drew hours-long queues as audiences (and fellow magicians) flocked to the simple and astonishing act. Also, in 2012, he co-created a show called Nothing to Hide, with Derek DelGaudio, which opened at the Geffen Playhouse, directed by magic superfan Neil Patrick Harris. In 2013, the show was taken to Off-Broadway where it stayed for a very successful held-over run of 110 performances.
What others say
One of the brightest thinkers and performers of his generation.
Helder Guimarães’ TED Talk
More news and ideas from Helder Guimarães
Live from TED
The small coincidences in life: Helder Guimarães’s fascinating magic at TED2014
March 20, 2014
Magician Helder Guimarães starts his performance at TED2014 by telling the crowd Sturgeon’s law: “90% of everything is crap.” Still, he says, “Sturgeon may be correct, but he doesn’t have to be correct forever.” And that is a philosophy he brings to his very narrative magic — wowing the crowd with card tricks that tell […]
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Why?: The speakers in session 7 of TED2014
March 19, 2014
Humans, ever-meaning-making creatures, will never cease to wonder: Why are things the way they are? Why do I think the way I do? And what does it all mean? Welcome to Session 7 of TED2014, in which speakers will ask big questions about how we — and the world — work. Here are the speakers […]
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