Thibaut Rioult is a scholar in magic studies. He is a FNRS postdoctoral researcher at the Université libre de Bruxelles and member of CiASp (centre de recherche en cinéma et arts du spectacle), where he works on “Performing wonders”. He is associated member of the ERC SciFair team at the University of Antwerp where he works on the project “Objets chargés : mettre en scène l’âme des choses” (Charged objects: performing the soul of things). His doctoral thesis investigated the “Illusion of Supernatural and Illusionists during the Renaissance Period” (Paris, ENS, 2018). He is assistant editor of Arcana Naturae, a journal for the history of “secret” sciences, and secretary of the French association Magie, Histoire et Collections (the world’s oldest association of magic collectors, founded in 1937). He is member of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE) and of its regional French branch, the Association Francophone pour l’Étude Universitaire des Courants Ésotériques (FRESO). He has written several research papers and book chapters on illusionism in various fields (performance studies, philosophy, history, media studies, aesthetics, etc.).
Rioult, Thibaut, ‘Aristotelian Philosophy and Illusionism in Late Mediaeval Europe’, in Aristotelianism and Magic in Early Modern Europe: Philosophers, Experimenters and Wonderworkers, ed. by Donato Verardi, Bloomsbury Studies in the Aristotelian Tradition (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2023), pp. 15–38
Rioult, Thibaut, ‘An Evolution of Early Modern Conjuring: From Craft to Court’, Gibecière, 20 (2025), 71–120
Rioult, Thibaut, ‘L’illusionnisme renaissant entre secrets et merveilles : vers une illusiographie’, Arcana naturae : revue d’histoire des sciences secrètes, 2020, 51–69
Rioult, Thibaut, ‘Et si la magie existait ? L’illusionnisme fantastique comme dispositif intermédial (objet chargé — récit fantastique — effet magique)’, Intermédialités / Intermediality, 2023, 1–37
Rioult, Thibaut, ‘In Pursuit of the Marvellous: Surrealism, Tony Shiels’s Bizarre Magick and the Performative Turn’, European Journal of Theatre and Performance, 2024, 108–59