Witch *

* (Halloween countdown post #16)

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Robert Therrien No Title (Witch Hat), 2018
plastic

 

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Victoria Bradbury Witch Pricker, 2014
‘In the Witch Pricker installation, a series of hand-felted wool strawberries, draped with skirts, extend from a wall. A push-button switch, a large sewing needle, and a receipt printer sit upon a central plinth. Gallery visitors are beckoned by a commanding voice emanating from this plinth. When one steps forward and presses the button, an audio file instructs him to, “Use the pin to prick each strawberry under her petticoat.” This triggers an invisible randomisation within the program of each strawberry’s guilt or innocence. As the participant pricks each strawberry, a shriek is emitted if the accused (i.e. the pricked strawberry) is “innocent”, and a crowd gasps if a “witch” has been found. Meanwhile, the commanding voice resolutely proclaims each verdict as either, “She’s not a witch” or, “You have found a witch”.’

 

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Nancy Bowen Spectral Evidence, 2019
‘Inspired by a true story of Colonial American judgement and repentance, Nancy Bowen, sculpture artist, creates a visual interpretation of guilt and remorse through her installation “Spectral Evidence”. The installation will be on display at Salem’s historical Old Town Hall from February 10 to March 19, 2022. Bowen seeks inspiration for this installation through her ancestor, Samuel Sewall, a judge in the Salem Witch Trials who later publicly recanted and confessed his sins in church about the role he played. Inspecting the famous trial in a new way, Bowen visually interprets Sewall’s penitence and gives space for the people tried and killed as witches. Twenty gravestones face off their accuser while he bears the burden of their deaths.’

 

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Robert Nava Eye To Eye With Ghost, 2019
Acrylic and grease pencil on canvas

 

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Unknown Helen Duncan producing ‘ectoplasm’ from her nose, 1930
‘Duncan was the last person to be imprisoned under the British Witchcraft Act.’

 

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‘“On March 31, on the 29th lunar day, the day of corruption and curses, we, the witches of Ukraine, in collaboration with foreign partners, will perform a ritual of punishing the enemy of the Ukrainian people – Vladimir Putin”. The first phase of the ritual is set to happen at Ukraine’s “place of power” which may refer to the Bald Mountain outside of Kyiv. The site is a location in Slavic folk mythology and is linked to witchcraft. The second stage is to be held in an unnamed “Slavic country” with the aid of the witches’ “foreign colleagues”. Lastly, they wish to create a “stone sack” for Putin which will allegedly cause him to face “isolation, ousting from power and loss of support from the inner circle”.’

 

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Arthur Rackham The Witch Climbed Up, 1920
fine ink and watercolour drawing

 

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Remedios Varo Naturaleza Muerta, 1963
‘Remedios Varo was Spanish-born artist who was a practicing witch and whose paintings she considered acts of witchcraft.’

 

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Len Lye Witch Dance, 1965
‘In this small work, six figures gyrate about a central figure that leads the dance. Small ‘Christmas’ bells atop each of the wands bobble and jingle with increased frenzy as the dance builds to a climax.’

 

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FASTWÜRMS Cannibal Nympho Witch, 2012
‘Cannibal Nympho Witch is an exhibition based on an unpublished FASTWURMS science fiction novel of the same name. Started in 1992 and ongoing, Cannibal Nympho Witch the novel is about a society of transgenetic Witches living in a ‘tranny’ future world they have created after the ecological destruction and total economic collapse of the 21st century.

‘The story starts with a coven of these futuristic Witches at their volcanic island research complex near Iceland. They use advanced geological energy systems and are adept at biological and bio-technological science. These ‘Dragvandil’ ice and fire Witches are adherents of BAST; they worship the divine feline. They have hybridized with cat genetics and they bond with their transgenetic cat familiars in loving reincarnation rituals and perilous transgalatic and transdimensional voyages.

‘In the exhibition, Cannibal Nympho Witch, the Bast Box is a sculpture based on the divination and navigation systems of the Dragvandil Witches. Before any trans-voyage, a bronze cat litter box is filled with meteorite fragments and black crystal tourmaline. The BAST navigator casts the ritual bronze cat turds into the meteorite and tourmaline mix to gain insight on a star course by reading the skry patterns.’

 

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Mark Dion The Witch Cottage, 2015
‘This large-scale installation shows Mark Dion’s idea of a witch’s cottage: a folly in the tradition of the kind of eccentric ornamental buildings found primarily in the landscaped gardens of the English nobility. The cottage is understood as architecture, sculpture and at the same time as a showcase whose interior can be viewed from the outside. The rich materiality of the installation inside the cottage is intended to draw portrait of a naturopathic witch from the Rhineland, suggesting the inhabitant’s occupation and identity through the items arranged within.’

 

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Manon Wertenbroek Witch, 2019
latex, textile, wig, bretzel, rope

 

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‘While combing through the digital archives of national newspapers in search of allegorical and political references to the Salem witch trials, I found a notice in the New York Times for a Roosevelt campaign rally to be held on Gallows Hill in Salem on Halloween, 1932, during which several witches would be hung in effigy.’

 

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Raphaela Vogel Son of a witch, 2018
‘The Dixi® pissoir, revolving crane, high-voltage insulators, projection equipment and camera drones become weird monsters populating both the films and the exhibition space. The witchy artist, fragile and vulnerable, takes on these uncanny beings in an apparently hopeless battle.’

 

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CSA Images Ugly, 2021
drawing

 

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Unknown A witch trapped in a bottle, 1850
‘glass, silver, cork, wax and witch’

 

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Johanna Rocard, Heléne Hulak, Lux Miranda Caliban and the Witches, 2023
‘For Johanna Rocard, the witch is a riotous woman who rebels against the established order and refuses to be silenced. She is a free woman who raises the banner of revolution and refuses to accept life if it is reduced to domination. A whole lineage of women is woven through the artist‘s installation and performance. A lineage of women who speak out and swear not to be silenced: from the witch of the late Middle Ages to the most famous rioter of the Paris Commune, Louise Michel and her black banner. If the French Revolution was probably „bourgeois“, the Paris Commune was certainly anarchist and utopian, in tune with the historical moment we are living through in the 21st century. The performative device and the installation, featuring the black flag and costumes in a time of resistance, could easily evoke the W.I.T.C.H in Wallstreet in 1968, or those in Portland in 2017, against Donald Trump‘s white-hetero-patriarchal order, the red ‚handmaids‘ marching around the world in 2018, the Iranian women brandishing the veil in 2022. Dress is at the heart of the approach, a medium of resistance, a therapeutic staging of the body whose movement clashes with the rigidity of the dominant rule. The witch is also a collective imagination to be reclaimed : that of hooked fingernails, green skin and a devouring mouth. Hélène Hulak makes them the core of her visual grammar. By working on the aesthetics of the monster, the artist‘s works speak to us about the manipulation of images and the marginality of the feminine. The devouring woman who pulls all the strings manifests herself here in two forms: a selection of fabric pieces and a mural. The fabric pieces are part of an effort to reclaim sewing as a feminine medium. As for the painting, it extends and devours the space, with no apologies for taking its place. Hélène Hulak‘s works are also fragments of the body, a body cut out, coveted, desired, devoured. Her work might remind us of the idea of the ‚absent referent‘ of the author Carole J Adams, who studies in the Sexual Politics of Meat how, in carnism, the cutting up of the animal into parts is a necessity in order to make us forget the living being that is being consumed. To go further, this concept also tells us that this same mechanism is used by the patriarchy on women‘s bodies to better justify their domination and exploitation. From then on, a thigh, a breast, a mouth are eroticized for the benefit of male desire and in the absence of the person, the woman, to whom they belong. To speak of witches is therefore also to speak of a form of capitalo-patriarchal cannibalism of the images close to what Jacques Derrida called „carnophallogocentrism“.’

 

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Curtis Harrington Wormwood Star, 1956
‘A portrait of artist, actress, poet and occultist Marjorie Cameron, it shows images of her paintings and recitations of her poems.’

 

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Leonor Fini Flying Witch on Broom, 1970
pen and ink on paper

 

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Lauren Lancaster Boston WITCH, 1968
‘One members of the Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell (WITCH) – originally founded by anti-war protesters in 1968 and recreated in 2016 – hides her identity under a pointy hat in a photograph by Lauren Lancaster.’

 

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Trulee Hall Witch House, 2020
‘Witch House takes the form of a haphazard lean-to structure seemingly built into the hollowed-out roots and trunk of a blackened tree, inside of which sit an arrangement of monitors depicting a “coven” of performers engaged in a kind of séance birthing ritual and other “witchy” activities.’

 

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Miyako Tengyu Evil Eye Talisman/Witch’s Mask, 2019
Sewing, applique, acrylic paint on cotton mirror, sheep fur

 

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Moffat Takadiwa Three Little Witches 2021
‘Moffat Takadiwa transforms post-consumer waste – such as used toothpaste tubes, spray cans, computer keyboards – into lush, densely layered sculptures and tapestry-like wall works that embody the complexities of contemporary Zimbabwean politics, culture, and reference his Korekore heritage. For his exhibition, Takadiwa created new works that defy gravity by floating in mid-air and cascading off walls.’

 

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Candice Lin Recipe for Spontaneous Generation: Baby Mice, 2015
Fabric, dried wheat, baby mice, alcohol, glass jar, airlock, copper pipe

 

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Naomi Blacklock Padma, 2018
‘Channelling the witch as muse, as mask, and as voice, Blacklock addresses the significance of disruptive voices and reimagines intersectional identities through the figure of the ‘witch’ as Other.’

 

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Emily Hunt Disturbance: Witch, 2020
ink, paint, photograph

 

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David Altmejd The Enlightenment of the Witch, 2021
‘Conveyed through particular use of both nontraditional materials and ready made objects the works can be seen simultaneously as puzzling, grotesque, and/or captivating. Using such items as pencils, screws, quartz, or hair to anchor the pieces within the sphere of earthly, recognizable, and relatable, it’s the way Altmejd manipulates other materials that creates a striking effect and allows for their advancement to another dimension.’

 

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Matthew Greene/Page Person Surrender!, 2016
ink and acrylic on paper

 

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Mike Bourscheid The wicked scarecrow, 2020
‘Being the son of a seamstress and a welder, Bourscheid often uses his practice to tells stories about gender identity, family habits, and cultural history through costumes.’

 

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Marnie Weber The Day of Forevermore, 2016
‘In this modern fairy tale, a daughter (Colette Weber Shaw) struggles to find freedom from her imposing mother, an elderly demented witch (Marnie Weber), on the mysterious farm of Forevermore Acres. The farm is a rundown junk strewn ranch full of aged witches and misfit monsters filmed at the legendary Los Angeles Zorthian Ranch. The mother’s plans to indoctrinate her daughter into her coven of darkness are interrupted by three curious teens that wander onto the farm. The daughter, yearning for a life beyond the farm, is a compassionate and innocent soul but may have a bit of the devil in her when called upon to take power.’

Watch the entire film here

 

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David Shrigley Untitled, 2019
drawing

 

 

*

p.s. Hey. ** Dominik, Hi!!! I’m finally going to Salon du Chocolat today, whoop. Bitten nails for the coat if you need them. We’ve started shivering on a daily basis here. Zac said the Eno show was excellent. He didn’t do any of the old, old stuff. But he did sing a little. I’m feeling pretty much okay again, I think, thank you. Salvation-Z: excellent choice. Anyway, Screaming Ambulance can probably drive from Paris to Vienna. Halloween is tomorrow already, it’s so sad. Unless love really pulls out the time-and-space stops I think I’m going to get stuck at home watching a horror movie on my computer. How undignified for a fanatic like me, but oh well. Do you have scary 31st plans? Love making you a witch for 24 hours starting now, so what are you going to do with your powers?, G. ** Ofc, Hi Thank you for coming in here, and of course I agree with you. Take care. ** Charalampos, I think the ‘Closer’ reboot comes out in a week or something. You sound very jazzed about your chapbook assembling. Enjoy that, and then we’ll get to enjoy that when the time comes. Love from *brr* Paris. ** Steve Erickson, Yeah, do call the doctor today. You shouldn’t have to feel like that for an unnecessary second. The only noise here has been from the Rugby World Cup contingent rooting on whoever. I remain utterly skeptical of the call-out on Buffy Sainte-Marie at this point. In fact, it disgusts me. I think the power to self-identify however one wishes is one of the few pure powers that we have and should have in this invasive, control freak world. She’s a great artist who has been championing Indigenous rights since I was a very young teen, with much effect and influence, and she’s a hero on every level as far as I’m concerned, and until I see proof that she’s anything but a heroic force, I will not view her in any other light. ** _Black_Acrylic, Oh, no. I hope your mom has the ultra-mild version that everyone I know who’s gotten it recently had. How is she feeling? ** Darbivelociraptor 🦖 (, Very nice. Um, yeah, I don’t think I would have that for breakfast. Unless maybe I still got stoned and was very. The reddit thing was blocked for me because I don’t have an account, drat. Gosh, I eat almost nothing but plant based things. I do really like seitan. But it has to be prepared the right way: braised or fried or barbecued or baked, I guess. There are tons of very delicious plant based things. I eat like a king as far as I can tell. Whew, I was a little nauseous there for a second imagining nutella on a salad. Happy almost Halloween! ** Gee, Hi. The photoshoot was ok. Not my favorite thing to do. But the photographer was fun and cool and had lots of funny stories about photographing the famous. Yeah, I’m going to try to be stingy at Salon du Chocolat today, but I don’t think I’m going to be as successful as you were with the books. 16th, December, evening: in my schedule. I saw you in your cat ears and facial makeover on Facebook just moments ago. You nailed it. My hands were literally reaching for a saucer of milk. ** Toniok, Hi, Tonio. Something like that or rather something not like that at all, sadly. But all’s good. Happy Halloween to you! You doing anything scary? ** Damien Ark, Hi, man! I am really, really liking it. It’s very powerful. Kudos galore to you. People often ask me what my favorite horror movie is, and I don’t actually have one, I don’t know why. Nothing ever rises to the top. The scariest movie for me was ‘Blair Witch Project’ back when it came out. Freaked me the fuck out. And when I was a little kid, I watched this very shitty old horror movie on TV called ‘The Mad Doctor’ that had me hiding under my covers for weeks. Today’s the last Halloween post. Tomorrow the slaves have dibs on the space like they always do. I forget, what is your Halloween day/night agenda look like? Thank you again, and big congrats and lots of respect. ** Audrey, Hi, Audrey. I’m so happy you liked it. I’m reading it, and it’s great. I’ll detach my TV series memories when I watch the Zombie Munsters. It’s always best to do that anyway, even or especially when a movie tackles, say, a novel I like. It’s so nice that France doesn’t do Thanksgiving or seem to have any holiday like it. I’m not a big family person, so Thanksgiving was always like being arrested or something. Not to mention that I’m vegetarian, and you can only eat so much cranberry sauce. Nice marathon there. Oh, and ‘House’! You’ve seen it? It’s fantastic! I’m going to go buy a ton of chocolate today at the big annual international chocolatier convention, and I think that will help my non-Halloween be at least a little less non. Love from Dennis (me). ** Right. Today you get your final Halloween post for this year because the slaves have tomorrow locked down. Sad for me, not sure for you. Witches! See you tomorrow.