1_ What do you want to make?
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A website highlighting key concepts for the statement that the web, both as a place and craft (making websites), is inherently magic.
As I specialize in hybrid publication, conveying this message and illustrating the statement will be done through 2 main aspects:
- a/ Form
- Form is shape. Magic as a concept deals with metamorphosis and shape-shifting, which is a key aspect in building this website. The interactions, visitor (user) experience and architecture of the website will be depicting this. Keyword such as treasure hunt, randomness/randomization, in/visible, easter eggs, maze, wandering or non-linearity are at play here.
- b/ Content
- Content is the readable, legible way through which the statement will be made clear, understandable, accessible. It relies on the research and the study of the subject. Through a collection of (cross-)references, personal input, examples and even maybe the prototypes I've been making throughout the year, it becomes a DLC of the thesis (which should also be made available on the project's website somewhere).
It will be highly political, antifascist, anti-bot, anti-AI, anti-capitalistic, etc.
It will be an ode to minorities, an ode to the feminine/yin[1] energies of the world.
It will be poetic, mystical, playful and just the right amount of disturbing. It is meant to raise questions, not to be agreed with blindly.
It is a tool (maybe not the right word) for empowerment and resistance.
- ↑ This is a very binary and gendered view that is not quite adequate here as it can be perceived wrongly, to the extent of being associated with alt-right discourse. I am using it as a placeholder until I find a more fitting term to encapsulate the notions it bears, which are quite contrary to any (alt)-right movement.
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2_ How do you plan to make it?
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Writing the thesis will provide content for the website: text extracts, interviews, analysis, etc. While researching and writing for the thesis, I will create a database of web pages and their associated links (<a>). It will also include extra content, views; additional content, a DLC in a way. Once the content is laid down, the thesis will be handed over to the examination jury and thus will begin the designing part: interactions, randomization, easter-eggs, hyperlinks and the visual interface.
(Maybe there will be a CSS-print function, but that is not a key feature.)
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3_ What is your timetable?
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- September-April
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- Reading, discussing and writing the thesis:
- Gathering references, reading, investigating, listening to audio/video content, running interviews and analysis
- Selecting and laying out content into the thesis
- Mapping the website (the architecture of the hyperlinks)
- Selecting and adding content to the website (plain HTML)
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- April-June
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- Designing the website:
- Graphics & visual interface (CSS)
- Navigation; interactions (CSS + JS)
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4_ Why do you want to make it?
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This project has a multiple intentions:
- Resistance: magic is political, the web is political so this whole research project (including thesis) is obviously political. When extreme political power rise, the first layers of society they impeach are human rights (specifically those of wxmen and minorities) and culture. Both magic and web are spaces/practices deeply rooted into culture and/or feminity, as well as activism and providing safe online spaces and communities to the oppressed. Thus the website here described aims to be a tool against rising -isms (particularly fascism right now).
- Poetry and beauty: beside being political matters, the web and magic are also very poetic. This will be further documented in the thesis, providing examples, but a few can be listed here as appetizers --- De-generative / Cyberwitches Manifesto / Library of Babel / Code-Poetry / Datableed (mezangelle) / Dasha Ilina's website / Youpron / Mac Garden Themes Archive ...
- Expanding the thesis: the character limit is quite short, so to illustrate further my point, I am practicing it. Hacking the grading system by expanding the thesis' content into the project itself.
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5_ Who can help you and how?
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☼ Marloes de Valk and Lídia Pereira: broader context, writing help and references, tutoring
☼ Doriane Timmermans: we share research interests and practices + her research project declarations is closely linked and nourishing my own research
☼ Rosa Schuurmans, Louisa Teichmann and Roos Groothuizen in the context of prikbord.page; and relation to XPUB as well as indie web?
☼ Isabelle Cargol: conversations about magic flows and energies, unseen/invisible manifestations, etc.
☼ Lucile Haute: her work is quite inspiring, I would love to chat with her as she is an experienced (cyber)witch
☼ Miriam Suzanne: CSS wizard, she wrote about CSS rituals, would also love to have a chat with her regarding her relationship and views towards (CSS)web and magic
☼ Raphaël Bastide: his practice of code is quite atypical and creative, it seems very assertive in its sketchiness. His project often end up quite magical and very avant-garde in a way. He also wrote this that relates a lot to my topic
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6_ Relation to previous practice
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- ☼ Tarot readings, tarot designing (trial), interest for the invisible and the various manifestations and forms magic can take
- ☼ Basically website crafting and CSS-print practice since 4 years now, specifically:
- ☼ an idea I haven't developed yet, for an Alice in Wonderland themed website - showcasing mazy/non-linear navigation, peculiar interactions and/or apparitions, etc. Very inspired from this zine I made a few years ago;
- ☼ Babel, a website based on Borges' short-story, enacting the intertwining and layering of the library into a "Terms of Use" mock-up (french only);
- ☼ Rêves Party (2021 grad project) is a playful hybrid publication. A collection of texts taken from French literature inviting to dream and wander; the texts are chosen for their relation to time, dreaming, traveling, wandering, escaping. The narration is obviously non-linear as the texts are not sorted by their publication date but by a logical way in which the texts respond to one another. Since 2021, the book has gained 4 texts, rising the total up to 8, and I plan on making an English version, based on British/American literature. It lives both as a web interface and a printed booklet;
- ☼ Lilas Prose's website who's work is rooted in poetry, femininity, re/up-cycling and repurposing. Key concepts that are conveyed by her website pertaining to the indie web.
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7_ Relation to a larger context
This project falls into the realm of magic and esoterism and alchemy (transforming, shaping); the realm of hyperlinks, interconnections, sharing networks and energies.
It is tied to the indie web, web-making as a craft, web languages as a form of poetry - and expression.
It also relates to various practices around online community building, blogging, archiving, highlighting, forecasting the unseen, but also practices such as (re)building the web, shaping the web we want, online resistance and algorithmic sabotage.
It is also cuddling with the notions of hacking and hacktivism.
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8_ References/bibliography
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- 1. Previous XPUB works
☼ Syster Papyri Magicae, Artemis Gryllaki, 2020
☼ Let's Talk About Unspeakable Things, Angeliki Diakrousi, 2019
☼ Unlearning the Rules of Collectivity, Giulia de Giovanelli, 2018
- 2. About non-linearity, browsing, investigating and poetic/contemplating navigation/exploration
☼ Outer Wilds
☼ De-generative
☼ Cyberwitches Manifesto
☼ Library of Babel
☼ Code-Poetry
☼ Datableed (mezangelle)
☼ Dasha Ilina's website
☼ Youpron
☼ Mac Garden Themes Archive
...
- 3. About magic in general
☼ An essay on magic, Ramsey Dukes (2000)
☼ Cyberwitches manifesto, Lucile Olympe Haute (2016)
☼ XPUB SI 26 with Doriane and especially the stylesheet we wrote on octomode (2025)
☼ Witch, BBC radio podcast (2023)
- 4. About the web
☼ This is for everyone, Tim Berners-Lee (2025)
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