User:Charlie/T4Presentation

✧ Protocols for Magic - A presentation ✧

Introduction

Let's begin with a question:

What is Magic?

Although I believe there doesn't exist one definitive answer to it, I do ask this question within the first chapter of my thesis.

By formulating three working definitions:

① Magic as a force

② Magic as a mode-of-thought

③ Magic as connection

I chose these three varying perspective on defining what Magic is, because individually, and concurrently, they act as a narrative framework to analyze and compare opposing positions on Magic. At the same time, I use them to form a timeline of the historic evolution of Magic within Western public discourse, its relation to Art, and directly reflect on the material implications of these definitions via examples placed on this timeline.

Ultimately, I believe that Magic can mean many different things and appear in a variety of ways, experiences, forms. Magic as a connecting force enables us to find meaning and create a sense of control over our material conditions. Magic becomes a tool for transforming and overcoming what bind us to our current state. Whether one views Magic as something supernatural or as a representation of the human subconscious, to me, Magic represents something inherently human. — The seeking of agency and transformative action.

But why spend so much effort on defining Magic?

Firstly, because it helps me define my personal position and interpretation of Magic, represented in this project, and define how Art can be its conduit. One of the personal motivating factors in this research.

Secondly, this project is mostly aimed at an audience who, similarly to myself, may have an adversarial view on Magic as the apophatic of Science. Yet who have an interest in reflecting and broadening their understanding of Magic, question their biases and constructing their own working definitions of it.

Within this goal, Art becomes the tool with which Magic is explored. A helping hand.

But how does Art relate to Magic? And what prior projects shaped this conclusion?

✧ ✧ ✧

In retrospect..

To investigate what connects Art and Magic, let's do a protocol:

Protocol for Retroactive Magic

① Retroactively find Magic in last year's projects

② Reframe them as representing a form of Magic

Or:

✧ An exercise in Magical Thinking ✧

SI#25 ✧ Sounds of Marmalade ➭

Sounds of Marmalade is a project we presented at the Special Issue 25 event. It consisted as a space for the visitors to come sit down and experiment with playing DIY-instruments and found objects, connected to mixers and sound systems through contact microphones.

Towards the end of the event, we invited the public to join-in two jam performances (of roughly 20 minutes each) and collectively create an improvised symphony in front of the audience.

In each performance, the beginning resembled a cacophony of sounds, as most people were getting to know, experiment and intuitively play their instruments for the first time. Yet in both of the sessions, around the last five-minute mark, something mystical happened! As if through Magic, everyone playing suddenly attuned to each other and a true orchestra emerged. Making:

✧ Magic through connection and collective experience ✧

Especially music, as a form of art, can be magical and moving, and a way of connecting to fellow humans through collective experience.

For one of the try-out night protocols, I derived the spells from song lyrics that feel magical to me.

During a discussion with someone who tried the protocol, they said that they also view music as form of Magic. They said: "Sometimes music forces you to move and dance, like you're under a spell."

SI#26 ✧ A 3DS Webzine ➭

As the result of looking into media archeology and alternative web-browsing devices within the Special Issue 26, we created a 3DS-only webzine. The project looked into the capabilities of the Nintendo 3DS's discontinued Netfront browser in regards to web-design using CSS, HTML and JavaScript.

We reverse-engineered its limitations to create a dungeon-crawler like browser game that could only be fully experienced through the 3DS, as opposed to the optimized capabilities of current web browsers and devices. Making:

✧ Magic through knowledge and the subversion of existing system ✧

This form of Magic comes back to creating a sense of agency within the limitations we are given.

Although Magic is sometimes advertised as a tool able to change and transform all aspects of life ("if one does it correctly" or pays someone who claims they can), it cannot. And I believe that perpetuating this claim can lead to potentially ignorant and harmful attitudes towards people's lived experiences and actual material conditions.

Instead, I would argue that seeking knowledge and understanding what affects our lived reality can be a form of Magic. Understanding the forces at play, it's possibilities and limitations, helps us make sense, navigate and counter the systems we exist in.

SI#27 ✧ Almanac'34 ➭

Almanac'34 was a personal project that repurposed the concept of Almanacs and divination as a means to reclaim and comment on the overarching pessimism towards the future of technology, extractivism and the current state of the world that I experienced during the Special Issue 27 classes and discussions.

The zine publication contained 4+ predictions for the year 2034 (speculative fiction), based on the surveyed hopes and dreams of fellow XPUB students and tutors. Making:

✧ Magic through formulating intention and spreading radical hope ✧

This project as a form of Magic is based in the idea of radical hopefulness as an anti-capitalist and anti-tech-feudalist action. This reflects my deeply held belief that we need hope and a way to envision a better future in order to create positive change and counter-narratives able to oppose the bleak outlook of the current state of the world.

Omens from the Dog Park ➭

As mentioned in my Project Proposal, I have a general interest in "alternative" forms of divination, and using unconventional or everyday tools/methods to divine.

Which is how I created Omens from the Dog Park. A small personal project (on this wiki) that consisted of documenting "omens" (interesting observations and objects) I came across while walking my dog at Museum Park. From each omen, as a writing exercise for myself, I tried to find meaning or construct an ominous prediction from my findings.

Although I have not been keeping up with the project in recent months, I have continued searching for omens and finding:

✧ Magic through grounding myself by observing the ever-changing landscape of my local park ✧

In the week ahead of my first prototyping workshop, I asked my fellow classmates to find and bring their own found-object to craft with, inspired by my own extensive collection of found objects.

I was very happy to hear from a few that the task of finding an object outside made them more aware of their surrounding and eager to spot the interesting things on their walks!

✧ ✧ ✧

Pondering..

I hope that the examples above were able to give some insight into the ways Magic emerges through Art. Although some of the projects may beg the question:

But, what is Art?..

Well..

Although the thesis may not directly attempt to answer this question, the project emerged from a long-felt impression that there is an inherent link binding Art and Magic.

In some ways, Art may be itself a form of Magic. Similarly to it, I view Art as a way to connect with the self, the world and others. And to actively create meaning, express intention and find purpose through creative expression.

To further investigate this connection, let's take a closer look at the question I am asking:

✧ ✧ ✧

Presently..

My current research question is as follows:

What lays at the intersection of Art and Magic,

and how can it serve as a ground for forming novel and idiosyncratic Magic practices

through creative expression?

In Magic, or more specifically, in Alchemy, exists the concept of Solve et Coagula. (Latin for "to dissolve" and "to coagulate"), the concept of breaking down and reconstructing something into a new and elevated form.

The Alchemists believed that by deciphering the essence of matter they could potentially transmute them into a purer material. To change lead into gold in the pursuit of the holy grail, the purest essence of material reality. Philosophically and spiritually, the idea of transmutation encompasses the idea of transformation and transcendence. That all matter of things exists in an endless cycle of shifting states of being.

Let's transmute my question through this concept, and see if we can find its material essence..

Protocol for Alchemical Reformulation

① Break down the question into its base components

② Reflect and give additional context to these components

③ Reconfigure them to form a new question

What lays at the intersection of..

Looking for the connecting and/or complementary elements of..

.. Art and Magic ..

As habitually separate practices/fields/modes-of-knowledge with a fluctuating relation to each other.

Based on the working definitions, other such fields are: Religion and Science. Whether these fixed distinctions are always useful or merely reinforce certain hierarchical ideas, is something I am exploring in my research.

Could it be a spectrum? Rather than a binary opposition..

.. and how can it serve as a ground for forming ..

By deconstructing what binds Magic and Art:

I hope to find bits of knowledge that can help me form new frameworks and tools for engaging with Magic through creative expression. — Protocols for Magic.

At first glance, protocols may seem antithetical to the idea of Magic and Art the project embodies. They can be inflexible, prescriptive and constricting.

But my aim is to construct protocols as a introductory starting blocks for..

.. novel and idiosyncratic ..

In other words: a new perspective and intrinsically personal approach to practicing Magic!

The objective of this project is to publish a collection of protocols, alongside related research and summarized information, that is able to both inspire and educate a reader/public/audience on the multiplicity of existing..

.. Magic practices ..

And differing understandings of what Magic is.

The protocols thread the line between offering some guidance, yet enabling the exploration of new perspectives and possibilities..

.. through creative expression ..

A synonymous term that can potentially encompass many and all forms of Art as self-expression. Without confining Art to specific mediums or institutional traditions.

But how does one go about these questions..

.. ? ..

✧ Through a lot of experimentation and prototyping! ✧

✧ ✧ ✧ Reformulations ✧ ✧ ✧

On the vast spectrum of human modes-of-knowledge, what binds Magic and Art in the pursuit of new frameworks for the practicing of Magic?

or

How may protocols, as introductory tools for artistic exploration, support the development of an idiosyncratic Magic practice through Art?

or

Through a learning-through-making approach, how may artistic exercises aid ones personal relation to Magic as a creative practice?

or

...?

✧ As above, so below. ✧

✧ ✧ ✧

Prototyping..

Prototype #1

I created this very first prototype with the intwention to test my base idea of creatively doing Magic through a worksheet-like format. The concept of Magic Circle as a pictographic visualization of sentence/spell combines aspect of logic and personal interpretation.

For this protocol and as a part of the larger project, I created a first version of a Table of Symbols. A collection of abstract terms and concepts, and corresponding symbols I made-up.

✧ Protocols for Magic Circles ✧

① Transform the given spell into a magic circle using the given key.

Some results:

Observations

• Everyone took the protocol/task quite seriously
• People interpreted the same spell entirely differently

Key feedback

• It would be interesting to create a Magic Circle based on a personal spell
• The Table of Symbols could be shorter, the choice can be overwhelming -> Less choice, more abstracted interpretation
• A wish for more creative freedom in the composition of the Magic Circle

✧ ✧ ✧

Prototyping 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 and including a variety of prototypes ideas for Magic protocols.

It also included a second and shorter version of my pervious Table of Symbols.

✧ Protocols..✧

Spells ✧ Protocol for Spell-Writing

Sigils ✧ Protocol for Pictorial Interpretation

Correspondences ✧ Protocol for Collective Correspondences

Talismans ✧ Protocol for Talismans

I introduced each topic with concise information followed by a little exercise. At the end, we used the results of the first three protocols to incorporate and craft talismans.

Some results:

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Observations

• In-between my presentations, people were eager to share their thoughts and engage in discussion with each other on the topics
• People really appreciated the effort I put in my wiki and all the crafting material I brought to the workshop
• Every talisman turned out completely different and incorporated their found object in a creative manner

Key feedback

• Good balance between informational content and creating/crafting
• The workshop awakened interest in Magic in some people
• Framing the spell-writing as the verbalizing of intention helped to contextualize the protocol and personal exploration
• It could be interesting for all to create a Sigil based on the same spell and see how each interpretation differs -> Opposite of some previous feedback

✧ ✧ ✧

Try-Out Night

My primary goal for the Try-Out Night was to present and test an updated version of my first Protocol for Magic Circles, by combining it with the Sigil protocol of the prototyping workshop. I also wanted to create a variety of new Protocols for Magic that people could engage with individually and as a small group. Unfortunately, I was only able to present one more protocol, due to time constraints.

However, it was a good opportunity to experiment with the printed design and visual presentation of the protocols!

✧ Protocols for Magic Circles 2.0. ✧

Individually:

① Draw one of the Spell cards to see which spell you will work with.

② Transcribe your spell by interpreting it through the terms represented in the Table of Symbols.

③ Create a Magic Circle/ sigilic composition based on your previous symbolic interpretation.

Some results:

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Key Observations

• People needed/wanted visual examples in addition to the written protocol
• People looked quite focused on the task and all took longer than expected
• Half of the people thought the spell printed paper strips were stickers and were trying to remove a foil. (Design issue)

Key feedback

• The given spells gave a lot of freedom for personal interpretation
• People preferred spells they can relate to
• The given symbols were too restricting to some but very helpful to others
• How can it be more than a playful game?

✧ Protocols for Altarcation ✧

In a group of two to three:

① Each person take a devotion card and read your prompt without revealing it to each other!

② Together, choose a blank paper altar

③ Together, create one altar that (secretly) fulfills both your prompts, by cutting-out, arranging, drawing, collaging with the available material.

④ Once done, reveal your secret prompts to each other and give your collective altar a new title!

Inspiration:

The paper altars and visual spells of Josephine Close. ➭

Some results:

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Observations

• Everyone appreciated the collage material
• Each group seemed to automatically divide the altars into separate sides, instead of creating a merged composition
• At the end, each group spend a long time trying to guess each others prompt cards, as if that was part of the procotol -> May be an issue of phrasing -> Or, a fun part to incorporate into a second version

Key feedback

• It was interesting to the participants to see how they interpreted their own devotion card
• Exploring altars through crafts and collage was useful entry way to the concept
• The purpose of the two prompts/devotions was a bit unclear and could be incorporate into the protocol in a more proactive way

✧ ✧ ✧

What lays.. ahead?

Thesis:

• Writing a draft of chapter 1 for the deadline on December 19th
• Trying to find and analyze some more interesting examples of artists and projects that do art-based Magic
• Form a more functional methodology and list of criteria with which to evaluate and document my process and results

Project:

• Sit-down and evaluate the feedback and observations of the past prototypes
• Take the time to do more diverse protocols (based on other forms of Art)
• Make a prototype publication for the upcoming Zine Fair end of January
• Create more protocols based on specific references from my thesis research

Sharing my work..

• Organize more workshops
• Figure out how to reach my target audience..

✧ thank you for listening! ✧