“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. - Arthur C. Clarke, Science Fiction Author

• Guest Speaker: Cy X
  • On magic: "central to my magical practice is the idea of healing myself and facilitating the process for others"
  • Questions
    • What was your first experience with magic?
    • When did you start practicing magic? What inspired you to start practicing magic?
    • What does your magic practice look like?
    • Who or what do you look to guide you in your continuing practice?
    • What is magic?
    • Does your practice include blessing and cursing/hexing? What does that look like?
    • Does your magic practice relate to cursed as an aesthetic? If so, how?
    • What are ways to practice magic without colonizing or appropriating practices?
    • How does magic relate to your experience of technology?

Introduce Liz Lerman Critical Response Process

(thanks to Dorothy Santos for introducing me to this!)

• Full Liz Lerman Critical Response Process
• After work is presented, there are four steps:
  1. Offer statements of meaning. Refrain from using phrases such as “I liked” or “I loved”, and instead mention what was meaningful, evocative, interesting, exciting, and/or striking.
  2. Then the artist poses questions. Before the critique session, the artist comes up with craft-based questions. Not: what do you think? More like: does the typography add to the cursed aesthetic? What themes do you think are present in the word? Responders can then answer these questions.
  3. The responders pose neutral questions. These questions have no embedded opinion! For example, “how would you define your voice/style/aesthetic in this work”?
  4. Responders state opinions. With consent! For example, “I have an opinion about the use of distortion on the guitar in this track, would you like to hear it?”
• 3 people will present each week, so everyone will get a chance to try out this process! Should we assign these ahead of time or would you like to be chosen in class?

Share Mood boards

Discussion

• The word blessed is derived from the Germanic word blōtan which means "to sacrifice," as in, making a sacrifice to a deity in order to get something one is asking for (a blessing) or to punish one's enemies and thus curse them.¹ One's blessing is another's curse.
• Breakout into smaller groups, and discuss personal experiences with magic, blessings, curses, spells, divination. What is the relationship between the old school definition of cursed and cursed as it is used colloquially today?

Assignment 2

• Do: Use a divination process (see methods of divination for a long list of choices, but some suggestions are astrology, tarot, or I Ching) as a creation tool for a piece of art in the medium of your choice. Document how you used the divination tool and how it affects your interpretation of the outcome.
• Or Do: Explore a magic or spiritual practice by writing about it, or using photos. This can be a practice you participate in, or something that you are interested in. Consider this a mini-research paper or photo essay that can let you learn more about the practice, so that you can perhaps draw from it to create art in the future.
• Read: An overview of concept of liminal spaces in the Internet era, with a set of curated links to many examples: https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Liminal_Space
  • Add a QCQ (Quote, Comment, Question) to this doc
• Review: Liz Lerman Critical Response Process and write questions about your assignment.

1. https://blog.oup.com/2016/10/etymology-gleanings-october-2016/

References

• Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom - Readings: Introduction: A reading on how and why tarot (and divination in general) works. Optional, but recommended if you're unfamiliar with divination tools.