User:Charlie/Graduate Proposal
✧ Project Proposal ✧
✼ What do you want to make? ✼
Protocols for Magic aims to create introductory frameworks for the development of idiosyncratic Magic practices through artistic expression. In other words, this project investigates how creative exercises and artistic play, in the form of protocols, can act as didactic tools to facilitate a user's/audience's personal relation to Magic.
The project works within and around the idea of 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.
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.
The desired end result of this research is to create a compounded publication. 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).
✼ 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 [1], Sympathetic Magic[2], 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, the material research, 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 their own relation and understanding of Magic, as a whole
(ELABORATE OF GOAL)
③ (MODE OF DOCUMENTATION!)
First Prototypes..
Prototype#1 ✧ Magic Circle Worksheet ✧
This prototype includes 3 components: A worksheet with a spell (sentence to be turned into a magic circle/visual representation), a "magic key" (diagraph-like magic circle with explanation) and a table of symbols to use in the magic circle. (...)
Prototype#2 ✧ Workshop ✧
(...)
Prototype#3 ✧ Try-Out Night (to come..) ✧
(...)
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? ✼
(what fascinates/intrigues me about my research question specifically)
Parts of my motivation in investigating this research question emerged from an apparent lack of resources and publications on practicing Magic (whether through art or otherwise) 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.
(...)
✼ Who can help you and how? ✼
(Add concrete examples/practitioners/researchers working in the same context as me/or in contrast to what I want to do)
(PEOPLE I CAN CONTACT!)
Sarah Bellisario ✧ (https://sarahbellisario.com/)
✼ Relation to previous practice ✼
(REPHRASE) The thesis and project as a whole reflects both my life-long fascination with Magic and the Occult, as well as, core components of my own artistic practice. The research question(s)/goals (to be formulated) stems from my interest in subverting existing frameworks as a means to analyze and reflect on them through new perspectives. It also incorporates aspects of learning-through-making and cross-media arts, which reflect my overall goal of creating artistic 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 ✼
❎❎
- Give more context to history and examples (be careful about big statements without giving context/arguments to prove it)
- Watch out for the phrasing when making statements -> my perspective? whose statement? arguments? ALWAYS give examples
- If based on opinion or intuition be explicit about it
- Expand wider context with concrete example!
❎❎
Bibliography
Magic History - Forms of Magic
| Source | Synopsis | Source Form |
|---|---|---|
| C. Gosden (2020), “Magic: A History: From Alchemy to Witchcraft, from the Ice Age to the Present” | 📚 | |
| DK (2020), “A History of Magic, Witchcraft and the Occult” | Illustrated compendium on the history of magic practices through the ages | 📚 |
| L. Williams (2025), "Compendium Of The Occult - Arcane Artefacts, Magic Rituals and Sacred Symbolism" | Illustrated compendium on the history of occult practices through the ages | 📚 |
Magic in theory and function
| Source | Synopsis | Source Form |
|---|---|---|
| E. Bever, R. Styers (2017), “Magic in the Modern World: Strategies of Repression and Legitimization” | Contemporary analysis of modern magic practices and its function in society | 📚 |
| P. Stevens Jr. (2023), “Rethinking the Anthropology of Magic and Witchcraft: Inherently Human” | Anthropological theory on Magic's function in the human mind and society throughout history | 📌👀 |
| J. Sorensen (2006), “A Cognitive Theory of Magic” | 📌👀 | |
| M. Mauss (1902), “A General Theory On Magic” | 💾 | |
| R. Dukes (2002), “S.S.O.T.B.M.E. Revised - An Essay On Magic” | Theoretical concept of Magic as way of thinking, in comparison to scientific, religious or artistic thinking | 💾 |
The Intersection of Magic & Art
| Source | Synopsis | Source Form |
|---|---|---|
| J. Sutcliffe ( 2021), “Magic” | On magic's generative relationship with contemporary art practice | 📚 |
| S. Bellisario (2025), “Contemporary Visions: Refiguring The Esoteric; The Transformational Act of “Making” Magic” | Intersection of art and magic, symbolic value of artistic practice with the purpose of magic | 💾 |
| A. Davies (2023), “Art is Magic” | Intersection of art and magic, experience in a museum setting, contemporary art | 💾 |
| P. E. Moore (2019), "Art and Magick in the 21st Century; Reflections of a Neophyte", TULCA Festival Of Visual Arts, TULCA, Galway, IE. | 🌐 | |
| J. Gilhooly (2010), “Enchanted Objects: Agency in the Magic and Contemporary Art Practice” | Secular” Magic and the agency of art and magic in “Technologies of Enchantment” | 💾 |
| H. Cornish (2022), “Sensing materiality in the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic” | Multi-modal experience/perception of magic practitioners in a Museum space | 💾 |
| L. O., Haute (2023), ' Talismans pour celles qui ne savent pas de quoi ils parlent' | Zine (translation: Talismans for the ones who don't know what they talk about) | 📚 |
Art & Artists
| Source | Synopsis | Source Form |
|---|---|---|
📚 = physical copy 💾 = .pdf 🌐 = online 📌👀 = still need a copy ⏳ = waiting for copy
Process Log ➭
References
- ↑ 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).