Online conference for art, design, magic, and religion.
October 15 – 17, 2026
The Department of Art + Art History and The Center for the Study of Ideas and Practices at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, in co-sponsorship with The Center for Advanced Studies – Erlangen, The University of Exeter’s Centre for Magic and Esotericism, Societas Magica, and RENSEP, are pleased to collaboratively host Creative Practices and Bridging the Invisible a fully online conference considering the intersections and relationships between belief and creative practice.
Belief is inclusive: magic, spirituality, esotericism, and religion, and all potential remixings of beliefs and ideas related to these spheres.
Creative practice is likewise inclusive: visual arts, design, digital technologies, crafts, music, dance, performance, poetry, architecture, and more.
Speakers and attendees will come from diverse academic, artistic, and practitioner backgrounds and experiences. Come to the conference with a curious mind. Learn moreabout new topics, ideas, and approaches after in order to discern and evaluate.
This conference will follow the exhibition Holding a Bright, Untroubled Sky: Visioning a Better World through Magicheld in the Rowe Galleries in August, 2026 at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, curated by Dr. Amy Hale.Bridging the Invisible also precedes RENSEP’s conference Magic and Consciousness, which will also be online from November 25 – 27th, 2026.
The conference organizers encourage humanities and social science scholars, artists, designers, craftspersons, practitioners, and community members to attend this free conference and learn more about these rich and important intersections.
Yes, I’m part of the event with even more time to talk about ritual in Leonor Fini and Leonora Carrington’s fiction! Don’t miss the event!