Art, the Academy and the Occult - Discussion

Scholars, curators, artists and magical practitioners are invited to join this lively online discussion about occult art, its history, its contemporary practice, and its growing acceptance within the academic world today. What are the implications, trends and even dangers?  The session is chaired by Julian Vayne and the participants are Kate Southworth,  Emma Sharples, Neil Scott and Greg Humphries.  The topic is timely, relevant and brings up issues that have huge impact on the cultural world across the board. Join us.

Kate Southworth is an Irish/British artist based in Cornwall, UK. Her work engages with magic, alchemy, mysticism and other spiritual traditions and she is interested in their relationship with new technologies and digital cultures. Emma Sharples is an Art & Humanities Research Council - funded doctoral researcher with Tate and the University of Cambridge, examining the permeable boundaries between modernity and magical experience in the work of the British artist and occultist Ithell Colquhoun (1906-1988). In 2022, she co-convened the British Art Network-funded seminar, Curating Magic.  Neil Scott spent ten years within Thee Temple Ov Psychic Youth (TOPY) along with studies at The Final Academy. He is the Chair of Trustees at St Ives School of Painting, Vice-Chair of the Newlyn Art Gallery & Exchange and sat on various boards and committees at the Tate for over a decade. Greg Humphries is an artist and writer whose work has been informed by magical thinking and philosophy for over 25 years. Over the last 15 years has been exploring ways that artists can help with the looming Climate Crisis through long term land art projects, sculpture, painting and education. Julian Vayne is a British independent scholar, artist and author with over four decades of experience within esoteric culture.

 Southworth, Humphries and Vayne are the members of The Order of the Sun and Moon (OSM), whoe name is taken from an essay by Ithell Colquhoun, British painter, occultist, poet and author. Colquhoun was part of the British Surrealist Group before being expelled for refusing to renounce her association with occult groups. Kate, Greg and Julian are all proudly practicing 21st century occultists and artists, and contributors to the growing awareness of the intersection between creative practice, the academy and magic.