This is an edited interview with Stuart Nolan originally for a Peruvian newspaper during a two week run of performances and workshops in Lima, 2009.

So what exactly is hex induction?

Well, I work with performance (and performers) of various kinds to see what skills can be used in original ways in other fields. I then use this research to devise performances, hands-on workshops, talks, seminars, and facilitation for organizations, for conferences and events. I think of this whole process as hex induction.

hex has worked with designers, performers, scientists, technologists, educators, writers, media producers, teenagers, and artists. Its tremendous fun. Its like being an explorer, or a botanist looking for rare and medicinal plants.

So when did you start performing?

I spent my teens and early twenties performing in a band, doing stand-up, performance poetry, and making a living doing, what you might call, performance related activities – the things that form the basis of the Streetwise Seminars - and that paid my way through University really.

What did you study at University? Does that relate to hex induction?

I studied Cell Biology and spent a couple of years working in Cancer Research looking at changes in the genes of patients with Wilms’ tumor. In the early 90s I became interested in how interactive media could be used in science and in the teaching of science. I got deep into emerging media platforms and I’ve worked in that area ever since, producing for Web, mobile devices, games, and museum displays. Initially, I made TV shows interactive, about 30 of them altogether, some of the first educational Interactive TV in Europe.

Later, I also began teaching on New Media and Game Design degrees and running training in Interactive TV for the BBC. I studied for an MA in Open and Distance Learning and since then I’ve since been heavily involved in the development of new approaches to creativity and innovation. Also in teaching, training, coaching and facilitation.

Note: Stuart has been a full-time, part-time and visiting academic at a number of European Universities, both as a Senior Lecturer and a Research Fellow. He has been a Curriculum Developer for the Centre for Excellence in Media Practice (CEMP), a Board Member of The Media Centre Huddersfield, and a Media Development Professional for Vision+Media. He has also been a judge for the BAFTA Interactive Awards and the Big Chip Awards.

That’s quite a leap from performing to Biology to TV.

Yes, making leaps between disciplines seems to be what I do. I thought it was a problem for a while but once I decided that making connections between disciplines is central to what I do it all made sense. Science taught me a lot about efficient, logical, and careful working. After working in a research lab every other workplace can seem disorganized but labs are also very playful and creative places and that interest in play is a big part of everything I do.

Tell me more about play and interaction?

Well I spent a lot of time in the 90s making games and did a lot of thinking about the relationship between performance and gameplay. I taught on a few of the early Game Design degrees, just when the games industry was being taken seriously, and I got involved in research into the link between play and creativity. At the same time I’ve been involved in the development of interactive media technologies that enable us to be more than be passive consumers of media.

The director general of the BBC has said that digital technologies are a “tidal wave” that will turn the media industry on its head. We’re only at the beginning of that wave and we need to think deeply about what it will really mean for the industry and for society. At the heart of that is how we create entertainment, play and interaction.

I’ve always really liked this quote from J.A Cheyne.

“Play is a form of experimentation and as such, is the R&D of mammalian life.”

I trained as a LEGO Serious Play facilitator because I was interested in this link between play and innovation and I’ve included some of those tools into my facilitation, training and mentoring work. And the idea that we all think about the world in metaphors that can be explored and played with to plan our organizations and our lives in powerful ways is at the core of the Metaphorical Modeling workshops.

As a performer I’m fascinated by how an audience can enjoy being active players rather than mere spectators. How a group of people can go from being passive strangers to having a ball together and getting wildly creative just by changing the rules and expectations.

So hex induction was created to link play, interaction, and performance?

In a way yes. I always had that idea in my mind. And there were the three strands of my work – interactive media, teaching and facilitation, and performing – that are linked by a shared concern for play, interaction and performance.

hex brought the three strands of work together but it would never have happened without NESTA.

What is NESTA and how did they help?

NESTA is the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts – they are experts in innovation in the UK and they had done a lot of research into how original innovation is driven by techniques and ways of thinking from one area being applied to another. The miller’s waterwheel and the blacksmith’s furnace combine and we get the steam engine. Innovation happens when fields overlap.

They were interested in my approach to this hybridization and I was nominated for one of their fellowships in 2001. This gave me the support to undertake the deep research and practical trials necessary to set up hex and make it a success.

How do you research magic?

Well, firstly, to be clear, I don’t really consider myself a traditional magician because there are very good professional magicians out there who are wonderful entertainers but my goal as a performer is somewhat different.

Also, magic is just one of the performance arts I use. I’ve been very lucky to study with some amazing artists. I’ve studied card magic with Amando Lucero, sleight-of hand with Juan Tamariz, coin magic with Al Schneider, hypnosis with Anthony Jacquin, cold reading with Ian Rowland, psychological entertainment and memory training with Banachek, abstract vaudeville with Rose English, street performance at the School of Busking. I’ve explored the deeper meanings of magic with Eugene Burger and Jeff McBride of the Las Vegas Mystery School. I’ve even studied marketing and promotion with Paul Daniels. All of these people masters of their arts and I owe them a great debt of gratitude for everything they’ve taught me. And for the literally amazing time I had learning.

The literature of these performance arts is full of theories and techniques that just aren’t accessible to those without the necessary level of understanding. My job has been to combine these different theories, techniques, arts and skills and to apply their principles to other fields of performance, art, design, education and business. And to communicate those principles in a way that they can be applied by others but while respecting the secrets of the mystery arts.

That sounds difficult.

Well its not as hard as it seems. For instance, the real power of a magic effect isn’t in the mechanics of how it works but in the way it engages you through story and character, and in the way the moments of suspense, mystery, illusion, impossibility, illogic, surprise, emotion, tension, and wonder work together.

For example, I was asked to teach students of both Performing Arts and Puppetry at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London about magic. I said I would but that I wouldn’t tell them how the tricks were done. I called it Magic Appreciation and worked with them for a week. You see, most people only see a small number of mystery performers in their life and they don’t realize the range of different styles there are or the richness and variety of the art. I wanted to promote an understanding of the art.

I performed a number of times for them and we looked at a range of different performers and studied why they were so effective as performers. They weren’t allowed to ask, “How did they do that?” The important question became, “Why does that work theatrically?”.

So when I work with people improving their pitching skills, or game designers or writers, the same approach applies. Its generally more useful to ask why something is engaging than to focus on the mechanics of how it is achieved.

Also, everyone who attends my workshops signs a non-disclosure agreement because I do teach a few effects of my own creation and I don’t want the secrets of those effects to be widely known.

What is next for hex?

I’m rehearsing some new pieces for the Food+Awe evenings I’ve been hosting. These are evening where everyone shares something they find genuinely awesome. These can be anything. Objects, memories, party pieces, a photo of your mother with Muhammad Ali, a piece of Mars. Anything that has really knocked you for six. When people share these pieces of awesomeness you get to know them really quickly and it generates a fantastic atmosphere. Its sometimes quite formal sometimes very informal depending on the event and I perform in a variety of ways to set the theme or to round the evening off – whatever’s suitable.

That sounds like fun. Can we do Food+Awe here?

Of course. Lets find a restaurant and we can share some awesomeness. If its too early for dinner we can just do Beer+Awe.

Cerveza y el maravilloso.