How Franz Harary Fools People for a Living – and Admits It!

Franz Harary says it straight: “There’s no way to explain what I do without sounding like a douchebag.”

While the rest of us unconsciously stumble through life inside various illusions, Harary creates them intentionally. His spectacular stadium experiences leave audiences gasping from Macau to L.A. to Dubai and beyond. His ability to seemingly invert Newtonian physics has made him a magic-maker of grand illusions for Michael Jackson, Usher, Earth Wind & Fire, Missy Eliot, Prince, and more. 

“I design magic,” he says simply. “I sell that little adrenaline rush.” Although, when you see the explosions of light and sound and objects appearing, disappearing, floating, and flying in the blink of an eye – you might argue with his word “little".

Watch Franz Harary at METAL

A magic aficionado from childhood, it wasn’t the sleight of hand that captured his imagination. It was the sleight of mind – how we unconsciously create patterns. "When I received that first magic kit birthday present as a little kid, I wanted not so much to know how things work, but WHY.  The psychology of illusion was everything to me.”

Speaking at METAL’s quarterly summit, METALPALOOZA, in Los Angeles, Harary warns, “The illusions I create are the tip of the iceberg. Never get too comfortable because I have more.”

And that’s because our capacity to delude ourselves is apparently infinite. “It starts with how people think,” he explains. “How the mind locks in patterns. And the older we get, the more we lock in those patterns. I figured it out early – if I could control what people think, I could control what they see.” 

Harary began his ascent as one of the world’s leading stage illusion spectacle designers at the University of Michigan where he applied his love of magic and illusion to opera and drama performances. “Eventually, I convinced the school to allow me to create magic for halftime shows, which means I had to teach myself how to do magic outside for 100,000 people! In the sunlight! And sitting in full 360 degrees around me and the show! And, hardest of all, for a crowd who were NOT there to see magic!”

Before he even graduated, he caught wind of The Jackson 5’s Victory Tour and cold-called Jackson’s people proclaiming “I’m an illusion designer specializing in stadium illusions!” A few middle-men later, he was on a plane to meet Michael.

Being a part of Michael's team opened a world for Harary. “In 1982, I realized MTV was the next big medium and that pop stars would not be able to compete with their own videos.”

That unique insight, and his mastery of large-scale stadium illusion, created his own blue ocean and he went on to turn stadium concerts into mind-blowing, brain-twisting, eye-popping visual experiences for some of the biggest musical acts in the world.

“Once I can create what we call ‘the zone of invisibility,’” he says, “magic is born.  Once I have that, it’s all about combining my understanding of the brain as a pattern-making machine, engineering and technology and getting them to interact seamlessly.” 

Harary’s work can now be seen in Macau, Universal Studios, architecturally in aquariums, resorts, entertainment complexes, shopping streets, waters parks and, of course, live show venues worldwide. 

“Technology on its own in all its smoothness and beauty actually dampens our experience of wonder. So the uglier my stuff looks, the more real it feels.  My focus is on the seemingly messy live event where it feels like anything can happen. Because, unlike technology today, you can’t fake live. And live is where magic lives!” 

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