Katharina Rein's award-winning dissertation in cultural studies is dedicated to stage magic in its "Golden Age" (ca. 1860–1900), which was characterized by scientific and technological innovation as well as by a flourishing media culture, the upheavals of industrialization, and the experiences of globalization and colonialism.

Modern stage magic doesn't claim supernatural effects; rather, it presents technically created illusions, concealing their workings. It thus represents a specific form of media use that excessively displays media effects while obscuring the technical processes behind them.

The analysis of four paradigmatic grand illusions ("Pepper's Ghost," "Vanishing Lady," Levitation, and Telepathy Illusions) not only provides glimpses into the largely unwritten history of magic in the late 19th century, but also reveals the profound cultural changes and innovations that found their way into this modern, highly technological form of magic.