In 2007 Miguel Ángel Gea had the idea of bringing together a group of magicians with the idea of presenting to the public, several times a year, a high-quality gala show made up exclusively of card magicians. Gea selected the lineup, and “Great magicians of the cards” was eventually presented in the mythical space “La Plaza de las Artes” in Madrid. All the members of the group resided in Madrid at that time except Gabi who, every time the gala was scheduled, and if circumstances allowed, traveled from Barcelona to the capital. On one occasion, Ángel Valera appeared in one of those galas and, as soon as it ended, he spoke with the members of the group to tell them that he had the idea of organizing a magic congress specialized in close-up magic in the city of Alicante. A short time later, Ángel made a formal invitation to all the members of the group to participate in the “Alicante Mágico” congress.
Although at that time Gabi was very reluctant to give conferences, talks or seminars, agreed to participate and also promised, to the surprise of all and sundry, to give a conference. The congress was held in July 2008 and Gabi participated in the gala show and lectured on his work “Sequences” almost in full, including: “Final for hunter kings”, “Queens and jokers” “Centaurs and mermaids” And “Wild jokers”. As a culmination he performed and explained, in great detail, what at that time was his latest version of “the Restless lady”.
The original idea was to celebrate the congress one time only, but after it was concluded Ángel decided to repeat the experience and organize it annually. He set the goal that the congress to revolve around the figure of Gabi.
In 2009, Gabi participated in a seminar called “Numisvention” in which some of the most outstanding coin magicians in the country lined up. For this event, a written compilation was prepared where all the participants shared routines and ideas on the topic. Gabi contributed with his personal version of “Coins across” and with an essay featuring very interesting reflections on the deficient criteria on which we too often rely when approaching coin magic and the inappropriate learning that this situation entails. On the last day of the congress, Ángel Valera approached Gabi and said: “Gabi, you just need to talk about what everyone is expecting, Fictional Magic.” Ángel did his best to make things easy for Gabi to participate in the next congress, providing him with everything he asked for so he could put together the seminar he wanted without any time restrictions. Ángel’s persuasive skills added to the great appreciation that the congressmen showed for Gabi’s figure and work, the atmosphere of camaraderie in all previous editions of the congress, the company of very close friends who encouraged him and the support of a large group of his students worked the miracle, Gabi accepted.
As agreed, in July 2010, Gabi gave a seminar that lasted approximately six hours entitled “Alicante Ficcional”. The seminar began with the bars of Nina Simone’s take on “My way” followed by Gabi telling a very bad joke. After the corresponding courtesy words he released the first pearl: “I am not here to bring answers but to ask questions” From that moment, Gabi turned his body and soul into giving the attendees some of the fundamental keys to understand his great proposal , Fictional Magic. Gabi discussed about the communicative process (“Borromean Knots” and their connections), the “Phenomenon”, the “Effect”, the “Three ways of naming”, the “Artistic consciousness” … and about many other concepts whose explanations were supporting through practical examples. Gabi, for the first time, opened the doors of his personal universe to the magical community, a universe until that moment was reserved for a lucky few. The seminar was given in two mornings in three-hour sessions, he provided what he called “some lecture notes”, actually, a book bound in a reed entitled “Fictional Alicante” that he also used as a “road map” during the seminar.
As soon as the seminar was over, Gabi, anticipating that Ángel would offer to do something for the following year, went ahead of him and said: “Ángel, next year I’ll take it off” and that is how it was. In 2011, due to force majeure, it turned out to be the last edition of Alicante Mágico.
Gabi’s participation in “Alicante Mágico” were not reduced to the formal schedule, since, as was usual in him, he could easily be seen doing magic informally in the hotel lobby or in places as unlikely as the queue of a pizzeria or on top of a small mat resting over a car parked in the street. It was also normal to see him being the gravitational center of lively conversations with magicians of all levels and conditions, at dawn, in the last open bars and it was not uncommon to find him generously giving appreciations and advice to many who dared to show him some magic.
Gabi’s passage through “Alicante Mágico” was a pivoting point, it marked a before and after in the way of understanding the magic of many magicians belonging, at that time, the new generations of Spanish magicians.