Magic: Beyond the Supernatural in Contemporary Art (Tate Arcana) [9781917055277]

Overview

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

Step beyond the familiar language of mysticism and into a transformative terrain where art and magic actively converge. In this compelling publication, Amy Hale charts a course through the practices of contemporary artists who engage deeply with the esoteric—not as ornament but as method, philosophy, and lived experience.

Through performances, painting, photography, sculpture, and ritual spaces, Hale uncovers a vibrant network of artists for whom magic is neither archaic nor abstract but immediate and operative. These artists invoke ancestral knowledge, experiment with altered states, and reimagine spiritual traditions for the future, embedding them into the very fabric of their work. What emerges is not a hidden history but a present reality: a field of practice where the boundaries between art and magic dissolve and creativity itself becomes an act of enchantment.

Magic is the first of its kind to explore the role of magical practice in the art of the past fifteen to twenty years from a global perspective — featuring the likes of Suzanne Treister, Betye Saar, Hilma’s Ghost, Chantal Powell and Tai Shani across a total of 45 artists. This is a wide cross-section of the fusion of the artistic and the spiritual, reflecting a diversity of practices, genders and cultural backgrounds.