Thibaut Rioult

Thibaut Rioult is an international specialist in magic, illusionism, the occult, and the marvelous. He is a researcher and a lecturer at the Université libre de Bruxelles. Holding a PhD in aesthetics, art history, and art theory, he founded “illusiography” and devoted his dissertation to the role of illusionism and magic during the Renaissance (ENS Ulm, 2018). He is co-founder and managing editor of the history of science journal “Arcana naturae”, for which he edited the special issue “Illusionism and Magic” (2021). He edited the exhibition catalogue “Ghost Spirits: Spiritism and Illusionism” (Blois, Maison de la Magie Robert-Houdin, 2020) and has published, in French, “Feminism and Animal Magnetism” (Agorà, 2025) and “Illusionism and Magic in the Renaissance” (Brepols, 2026, forthcoming). A dramaturg, he is an active member of the Fantastic Illusionism movement.