# A Magic Dwells. Highlights from Marco Pasi's Lecture on Occulture in Contemporary Art On Monday, December 1st , 2025 Marco Pasi, CSWR visiting scholar and Director of the Centre for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam, hosted a research talk on esotericism in modern art. December 01, 2025 ### On Occulture as Cultural Migration "Occulture, as a sociological term, refers to the environment within which, and the social processes by which particular meanings relating typically to spiritual, esoteric, paranormal and conspiratorial ideas emerge, are disseminated, and become influential in societies and in the lives of individuals. Central to these processes is popular culture, in that it disseminates and remixes occultural ideas, thereby incubating new spores of occultural thought." **-Christopher Partridge (*****The Re-Enchantment of the West),*** **quoted by Marco Pasi** ![Chiara Fumai's exhibit with esoteric symbol at the center](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2025-12/thumbnail_image003.jpg?itok=GKTN_kgK) *Chiara Fumai's installation view with the modified Aleister Crowley seal*, *as illustration of occultural remix. Courtesy of Marco Pasi.* ### On Art as Solid Mirage "I was drawing people's attention to the fact that art is a mirage. A mirage, exactly like an oasis appears in the desert. It is very beautiful until, of course, you are dying of thirst. But you don't die in the field of art. The mirage is solid." **-Marcel Duchamp, quoted by Marco Pasi** ![Photo of Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" (urinal)](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2025-12/Marcel%20Duchamp_Fountain.jpg?itok=W8y1MAd2) *Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" (1917), the urinal that became art, the ordinary object transformed into something mysteriously powerful. Courtesy of Marco Pasi.* ### On Art's Social Capital and Esoteric Influence "Contemporary art possesses considerable social capital, and looking at its relation to esotericism can give us a measure of the continuing relevance of esotericism as a social and cultural phenomenon in our times." **-Marco Pasi** ![Dane Mitchell, “Portal to the Spirit World” (2007)](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2025-12/image.jpg?h=2aa2f03f&itok=EZ2yqSIa) *Dane Mitchell, “Portal to the Spirit World” (2007), Courtesy of Marco Pasi.* ### On the Artist as Alchemist "With time, the economic value of this object has only increased: in 2020 one of these cans has been auctioned by Sotheby's for no less than €250.000. So here we have the literal realization of the old dream of the alchemists: to transmute vile matter such as feces into gold, even if the artist himself is not referring explicitly to any esoteric notion and esotericism seems to be more in our eyes than in his intentions." **-Marco Pasi** ![old metal tin panted yellow with "artist's shit" printed on side](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2025-12/Tin%20Can%20Manzoni.png?itok=g7YFdUvg) *One of Manzoni's tin cans from "Merda d'artista" (90 cans of alleged fecal matter, each priced at its weight in gold).* ### On Art as Ersatz Religion "If traditional religion, especially in its established, dogmatic form, loses its appeal and people increasingly take distance from it, this doesn't mean that religious sentiments also disappear. Religion has to be found elsewhere, in places where modern persons can still make meaningful experiences without having what they may perceive as the negative baggage of more antiquate forms of religion." — Marco Pasi ![Kandinsky book cover](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2025-12/image002%20%281%29.png?itok=HA4VEcfV) *Book cover photo of Kandinsky's "Uber Das Geistige in der Kunst," Courtesy of Marco Pasi.* ### On Art's Transformative Power "The artist is supposed therefore to have the power to turn a perfectly ordinary object into a work of art by extracting it from its original context and placing it in front of a receptive audience." **— Marco Pasi on Duchamp's conceptual revolution** ![Photo of an entrance with sign stating that the area has been cursed](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2025-12/Curse.jpg?h=60250542&itok=plV9VjaC) *Dane Mitchell "Curse" (2005), as a contemporary example of art's explicit magical intentions. Courtesy of Marco Pasi.* ### On the Artist as Priest-Magician "It is from within the context of art itself, starting with Romanticism and then having its most explicit expression with Symbolism at the end of the 19th century that some artists or even art critics begin to look at themselves as priests and to perceive art as a new form of religion adapted to our times. It is a phenomenon that has a continuity in the history of modern art up until our days." **— Marco Pasi** ![Abstract drawing](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2025-12/The%20Pleiades.jpg?itok=rkbXyHCd) *Hilma af Klint, “The Pleiades” (1908), Courtesy of Marco Pasi.* ### On Historical Continuity and Contemporary Desire "Occulture in contemporary art, whether inspired by Theosophy or other sources, is usually found in combination with a desire for continuity. This means that artists seem to wish to be part of a larger story, which has begun with earlier artists and activists and will continue in the future. This is the historical awareness that can be seen in explicit references to the past history of Theosophy, especially when this history has mixed so creatively and energetically with that of modern art." **— Marco Pasi** ![abstract painting in blue](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2025-12/Matri%20Dei.jpg?itok=aERvYLxr) *Luigi Pericle, “Matri Dei” (1974), Courtesy of Marco Pasi.* ### On the Necessity of the Esoteric Leap "We find a desire to criticize existing material, social and political conditions in order to move towards evolution, change, and improvement. This seems to be based on the subjective feeling of not being able to accept what is given in sensible, perceptible reality, and that a jump towards other forms of reality is necessary to nourish and fulfil hope." **— Marco Pasi** ![Painting with pillars and statue in the middle](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2025-12/The%20Enigma.png?itok=BJj-AIoH) *Giorgio de Chirico, “The Enigma of a Day” (1914), Courtesy of Marco Pasi.* ### About Marco Pasi Marco Pasi is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Centre for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and related currents at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). He has published extensively on the history of modern Western esotericism, especially in relation to magic, art, and politics. He is the author of Aleister Crowley and the Temptation of Politics (Routledge, 2014). He has been a Frances Yates Fellow at the Warburg Institute (London), a research fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies and at the Max Weber Kolleg (Erfurt), an invited professor at various academic institutions, and a member of the research network Enchanted Modernities, focusing on the influence of Theosophy and related movements on visual, musical, performing, and applied arts. He has also served as the General Secretary of the European Association for the Study of Religions and is the chief editor of the Aries Book Series: Texts and Studies in Western Esotericism, published by Brill. ![Portrait of Marco Pasi, man with square glassed](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2025-12/Pasi%20Marco%20079R%20%281%29_0.jpg?itok=IalbGLan) See also:- [ Art ](/topic-tags/art) - [ Religion and culture ](/topic-tags/religion-and-culture) - [ Spirituality ](/topic-tags/spirituality) - [ Transcendence and Transformation ](/programming-threads/transcendence-and-transformation)