User:Charlie/Graduate Proposal: Difference between revisions
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(...) | (...) | ||
* Magic and Art as mode-of-thought, distinct from religion & science | |||
** ''Magic: A History: From Alchemy to Witchcraft, from the Ice Age to the Present'' | |||
** ''Magic in the Modern World: Strategies of Repression and Legitimization'' | |||
* Persistence of magic in art and popular culture, and "underground" movements | |||
** [https://artreview.com/the-return-of-magic-in-art/ The Return of Magic in Art] | |||
** How magic survived the disenchantment of the world | |||
** [http://www.padraicmoore.com/art-and-magick-in-the-21st-century-reflections-of-a-neophyte/ Art and Magick in the 21st Century; Reflections of a Neophyte] | |||
* Folk Magic and Bricolage/crafts as marginal practices | |||
** Contemporary Visions: Refiguring The Esoteric; The Transformational Act of “Making” Magic | |||
** Enchanted Objects: Agency in the Magic and Contemporary Art Practice | |||
* Idiosyncratic Magic vs. established/codified believes | |||
** (...) | |||
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Revision as of 15:38, 18 November 2025
✧ Project Proposal ✧
✦ What do you want to make? ✦
Protocols for Magic aims to create introductory frameworks for the development of idiosyncratic Magic practices[1] through artistic expression. In other words, this project investigates how creative exercises and artistic play, in the form of protocols[2], can act as didactic tools to facilitate a user's/audience's personal relation to Magic.
The desired end result of this research is to create a compounded publication[3]. Possibly in the form of a booklet, workbook and other print-based objects. Which include parts of my thesis research, general information on Magic I collected, and the Protocols for Magic. With each section containing one or several related protocols, as a way to explore Magic (types, forms, practices, etc) through different perspectives and artistic mediums (e.g.: visual vs. written, experimental vs. structured, individual vs. collective, etc).
❎The project works within and around the idea of art-based Magic[4] ...
This research is informed by varying definitions and understandings of what Magic is, and the complex history of Art and Magic as intersecting fields within human history, explored within the thesis. And sets out to analyze and adapt existing concepts within Magic to form templates, exercises and other frameworks with which to introduce, explore and learn about Magic through Art.
While the project explores many varying approaches to defining Magic, and its relation to Art, it ultimately positions Magic within the inherently complex and idiosyncratic nature of the human experience, and its participatory relation to the universe. Magic exists through connecting and understanding with the world around us. Meaning, it lays in the understanding that the human body and consciousness is itself part of greater systems. And can therefore be influenced by, and effect influence, on "it". Positioning Art as one of its tools/a proactive means/a conduit with which one can engage and connect with oneself, others and the world at large.
✦ How do you plan to make it? ✦
① The basis of the project is partially informed by theoretical research, done through the thesis. Such as the different approaches to defining Magic, and it's relation to Art. Including existing classifications of different types, forms and practices within Magic (e.g.: High vs. low Magic [5], Sympathetic Magic[6], etc). As well as, other texts and resources on more specific practices and tools, that may not be discussed in depth within the thesis. Which are used and adapted to form Protocols for Magic. I.e. exercises, prompts and templates that help introduce and let a user explore different aspects of Magic through art and creativity.
② The second and most important part of the project is the prototyping of the Protocols. Which means: Actively experimenting with and testing a large variety of protocols with an audience/user(s). Whether through individual test sessions or through workshops, both including a formalized feedback section. Using the findings and feedback to reflect on:
- how people engage with the protocols
- how different artistic mediums can intersect with different forms of Magic
- how the protocols can act as a learning tool/support
- how it may potentially shape people's own relation and understanding of Magic, as a whole
③ The third step is the documentation of my research through archiving the results on my dedicated wiki-pages (f.ex.: Protocols for Magic and Process Log).
The insights gained from the prototypes (process, observations, feedback, reflections, etc) will contribute to my thesis and research question, specifically discussed in Chapter 3, as a way to answer my research question: (...)
First Prototypes..
Prototype#1 ✧ Magic Circle Worksheet ✧
This prototype includes 3 components: A worksheet with a spell (interpretative sentence to be visual represented as a "magic circle"), a "magic key" (diagraph-like magic circle with explanation) and a table of symbols to use in the magic circle.
Protocol:
✧ Transform this spell into a Magic circle using the given key and table of symbols ✧
The main goal of this prototype was to test out the base idea of "doing Magic" in an exercise-like format.
The magic key and circle works with an internal/abstracted logic, through which the user is supposed to intuitively interpret the given sentence/spell. The table of symbols adds another degree of abstraction by breaking down the sentence into abstract terms/symbols.
Prototype#2 ✧ Workshop ✧
The main goal of this workshop was to investigate how to introduce people to different Magic practices/concept through descriptions, examples, analogies and most importantly: Active protocols for individual and collective experimentation. This workshop therefore includes a variety of prototypes ideas for Magic protocols.
The protocols explored spell-writing, sigils, collective correspondences and the making of talismans.
Prototype#3+ ✧ Try-Out Night (to come..) ✧
For the upcoming Try-Out Night, I plan on creating 3 to 4 more worksheet-type prototypes for visitors to try and give feedback on. Some current ideas include:
- Protocols for Poetic Spell-Writing..
- Protocols for Magic Circles 2.0..
- Protocols for Dialectic Hex..
- Protocols for Altarcation..
Design and Visual Components...
✦ What is your timetable? ✦
| Timeframe | Dates & Deadlines | Tasks |
|---|---|---|
| September
- December |
21 Nov:
1 Dec: Try-Out Night 8 Dec: Assessment 19 Dec: Thesis Chapter 1 (Draft) |
|
| January
- February |
31 Jan: XPUB ZineFair
13 Feb: Thesis Draft 1 |
|
| March
- April |
6 Mar: Thesis Draft 2
20 Mar: Second readers' comments 17 April: THESIS FINAL |
|
| May
- July |
Project assessmentGraduation show |
|
✦ Why do you want to make it? ✦
Parts of my motivation in investigating this research question emerged from an apparent lack of available resources and publications on practicing Magic that are separate from, or not directly reflecting, established religions or codified belief systems.
❎
Through the Protocols for Magic research, I aim to deepen my own understanding and relation to Magic through Art. But also to directly connect this artistic research with a public audience, as an artist and designer, by taking on the role of facilitator and educator through the creation of new tools and frameworks for engaging with Magic as a practice.
❎
From a young age I have always been fascinated with ideas of Magic, gravitating towards anything whimsical, fantastical or witchcraft-related. Later in life, I was drawn to the realms of the occult, finding inspiration in obscure esoteric practices and modern Satanism, and the gothic horror and dark fantasy genres that lay in their periphery. Partially sparked by distancing myself from my catholic upbringing, yet all constituting deeply held interests that have continued to shape and influence my personal systems of belief, and concurrently my artistic practice, since childhood.
(...)
"[...] it may be the very act of designing and making the object and the considerations of its form, decoration, and materials that comprise it that enliven and empower it. It is a marriage of art and meaning but with the purpose of magical function. Symbolic and ritual occult artifacts help people to connect with the magic they aim to undertake, and the art of making can be a symbolic and transformational ritual in itself." (Bellisario, 2025, p.404 )
(...)
✦ Who can help you and how? ✦
- Sarah Bellisario ✧ Is a freelance artist and illustrator, as well as an academic researcher investigating art as a healing practice, and magic through art.
- Fellow XPUB students ✧ Are great research subjects and give useful feedback
- Lidia Pereira ✧ Supervisor, great giver of feedback, references and recommendations
✧ I would like to find and get in contact with more people as I go.. ✧
✦ Relation to previous practice ✦
As mentioned previously, this project and research question is grounded in my ongoing practice of merging Art and Magic through various means, particularly through incorporating cross-media methods (combining multiple tools and mediums) and crafts. (Examples below.) Can be described below
It also reflects aspects of SI#25 Sounds Of Marmalade and SI#26 3DS-Zine projects' methodology, wherein we took existing tools and concepts, and investigated/explored/adapted/re-contextualized it, with an audience. — Subverting existing frameworks to explore them through a new perspective or context.
The focus on user-testing of the prototypes stems in my overall goal of creating art/projects that are accessible and approachable to a variety of audiences outside of the academic or institutional (arts) setting. Hence my focus on art-based Magic, as opposed to magic-based Art.
Some previous projects..
✧ Ornamenta Magica ✧
A risograph publication which presents intricate paper-cuts as a form of Sigil Magic. Magic through evocative power of ornamental abstraction. ❎
✧ Artficss ✧
CSS-based ornament generator as an alternative divination tool. A way of interpreting and diving through randomized constellations of shapes and colors. A project in slow progress. ❎
✧ Almanac'34 ✧ Special Issue 27
Almanac publication as a collection of future predictions based on collected hopes and wishes for the future (Xpub students). It reflects the fears and worries of today, but twists them to become messages of hopefulness, even if at times absurd. ❎
✦ Relation to a larger context ✦
(...)
As I have continued to develop my own relation to Magic, Art has always been a keystone within my personal practice. Whether through using arts-and-crafts to create magical artifacts and objects, or incorporating occult and magical elements in my (private and professional) work as an artist and illustrator, as examples. I have always felt there to be an innate link binding Art to Magic — A mode of connecting one-self to the other. Revealing the inner to the exterior by giving it a material form. And vice versa, processing the world by capturing and reflecting fragments of it through creation. An endless cycle of impression and expression, directly interacting and shaping perceptual reality itself. Making Art a form of Magic, and Magic a form of Art. ❎
(...)
- Magic and Art as mode-of-thought, distinct from religion & science
- Magic: A History: From Alchemy to Witchcraft, from the Ice Age to the Present
- Magic in the Modern World: Strategies of Repression and Legitimization
- Persistence of magic in art and popular culture, and "underground" movements
- The Return of Magic in Art
- How magic survived the disenchantment of the world
- Art and Magick in the 21st Century; Reflections of a Neophyte
- Folk Magic and Bricolage/crafts as marginal practices
- Contemporary Visions: Refiguring The Esoteric; The Transformational Act of “Making” Magic
- Enchanted Objects: Agency in the Magic and Contemporary Art Practice
- Idiosyncratic Magic vs. established/codified believes
- (...)
References
DK (2020). A History of Magic, Witchcraft and the Occult.
Williams, L. (2025). Compendium Of The Occult - Arcane Artefacts, Magic Rituals and Sacred Symbolism.
Sutcliffe, J ( 2021). Magic
Bever, E., Styers, R. (2017). Magic in the Modern World: Strategies of Repression and Legitimization.
Bellisario, S. (2025). Contemporary Visions: Refiguring The Esoteric; The Transformational Act of “Making” Magic.
Davies, A. (2023). Art is Magic.
Moore, P. E. (2019). Art and Magick in the 21st Century; Reflections of a Neophyte. TULCA Festival Of Visual Arts, TULCA, Galway, IE. Available at: http://www.padraicmoore.com/art-and-magick-in-the-21st-century-reflections-of-a-neophyte/ [Accessed 15 Nov. 2025].
Gilhooly, J. (2010). Enchanted Objects: Agency in the Magic and Contemporary Art Practice.
✧ Glossary ✧
- ↑ Idiosyncratic Magic practice: (...)
- ↑ Protocols: (...)
- ↑ Compounded publication: (...)
- ↑ Art-based Magic: A term I use to denote artistic and creative expressions that exist with the expressed purpose of engaging with Magic. As opposed to what I may call magic-based Art; Art that contains or reflects ideas of Magic or magical symbolism, but is created without the expressed purpose of using the artistic medium as a tool to engage with/do/make/cast Magic, directly.
- ↑ High and low Magic: A classification which denotes forms of Magic through their practitioners' position and function within a societal structure and hierarchy. "High" forms of Magic may be practiced by priests/priestesses, shamans, oracles or others in elite positions. This may include ceremonial and ritual magic, complex divination methods and other more "scholarly"/learned forms of Magic. Often practiced in specialized, or institutional settings. "Low" magic, also referred to as folk-magic or natural Magic, can be simpler divination methods, charms and spells and/or other more "accessible" forms of Magic. Low Magic is most often practiced in the domestic sphere or as part of cultural and folkloric traditions.
- ↑ Sympathetic Magic: An umbrella-term that is sometimes used to categorize magical believes (ranging from "primitive"/ancient to contemporary examples) which are based on the concept of "like produces like, or that an effect resembles its cause" — The Law of Similarity. In other words, the believe that one may effect Magic onto an object, person or state by invoking its resemblance through imitation (visual/aesthetic representation) or correspondence (symbolic representation/association).