Magic: Beyond the Supernatural in Contemporary Art

A lavishly illustrated magical volume and a potent talisman, exploring threads between magic and contemporary art across the globe.

Magic examines how magic and occult practice continue to shape contemporary art, exploring the persistent and changing ways in which magic and esotericism have been significant drivers of contemporary artistic practice ranging from around 2010 to the present. Moving beyond symbolism, it foregrounds practice, context and artists’ lived relationships with the numinous across global and transnational perspectives. It offers an in-depth exploration of the occult and its relationship to contemporary art and culture including witchcraft, alchemy and AI, neo-paganism, spells, sacred geometry, psychic energies, divination and astrology, tarot and cryptids through an expansive range of mediums, demonstrating that occult, esotericism and magical themes in art are not a passing trend, but an enduring, universal framework for the complexity of the human experience.