Symposium: Tales of Superstition and Magic

Over three days, artists, researchers, writers, and cartomancers will examine the performative force of magic—its ability to shape reality through gesture, language, and collective imagination.

Positioned at the crossroads of magic and performance, the symposium looks at ritual not only as an artistic medium but also as a series of situated practices that reshape experience. It traces how embodied forms of divination, esoteric traditions, and ceremonial actions echo through contemporary art, revealing how these practices can operate as tools of emancipation and world-making. Magic becomes a speculative arena in which alternative ways of inhabiting the world—individually and collectively—can be rehearsed and reimagined.

By reanimating dormant knowledge and occult lineages, the contributions to this edition open unconventional genealogies and new pathways of understanding. Anchored in a series of performances, they illuminate the enduring and renewed connections between magic and artistic practice today. Through interdisciplinary perspectives, participants will revisit the queer cultural histories of the American West Coast and Europe, explore African American cultural movements such as the Black Arts Movement, and examine how the Western perception of vodou has shaped the reception of Haitian artistic traditions.

Across these contexts, magic emerges as a distinct, fluid, and generative language capable of activating new modes of presence, relation, and transmission.

Dates: from Friday, December 12th to Sunday, December 14th 2025
Venue: LUMA Arles, The Tower
Price: Free, upon booking
Note: Some talks will be given in French and will be simultaneously translated.

The Program 

Friday, December 12, 2025
 

→ THE TOWER, LEVEL 8

6:00 p.m.: Introduction

6:05 p.m.: Conference
What Is the Opposite of an Epiphany?
By Johanna Hedva, Writer, Artist and Musician

→ THE TOWER, LEVEL 1, AUDITORIUM

6:50 p.m.: Performance
AURA / ARUA
By Gaëlle Choisne, Artist, with Daniele Morelli, Guitarist and Composer, and Kettly Noël, Dancer, Choreographer, and Actress

SOLD OUT

Online reservations are now full. However, attendance may still be possible should additional spaces become available on-site. We recommend that you arrive on the 8th floor of The Tower approximately 10 minutes prior to your desired time slot.

Saturday, December 13, 2025
 

→ THE TOWER, LEVEL 1, STUDIO 2

9:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.: Introductory Workshop on the Rider–Waite Tarot Deck
By Ariane Temkine, PhD Student in Cultural Studies, EHESS, and Daniela Jacob Pinto, PhD Student in Social Anthropology and Ethnology, EHESS
Free workshop, booking required, limited spots available.

This introductory tarot workshop is made up of two parts. First, Daniela Jacob Pinto and Ariane Temkine will review the structure of the Rider-Waite-Pixie tarot deck, as well as the ethical and political issues of reading cards. During the second part, participants will have time to practice and learn tarot together, while experimenting with different types of readings. A small, shared booklet will be available to guide the practice session, and Ariane Temkine and Daniela Jacob Pinto will be present to help and advise the participants.

Tarot decks will be available on site.
Participants are also welcome to bring their own decks if they wish.

SOLD OUT

Online reservations are fully booked. A limited number of spots may be available on site, subject to capacity.
 

→ THE TOWER, LEVEL 8

2:00 p.m.: Theoretical ritual
Bellows: Magic, Mysticism, and Revolutionary Tradition
By Romain Noël, Writer, and Low Lov, Artist and Musician

2:45 p.m.: Conversation
With Tai Shani, Artist, and Salma Mochtari, Research Manager, LUMA Arles

3:30 p.m.: Break

3:45 p.m.: Conversation
With P. Staff, Artist, and Vassilis Oikonomopoulos, Artistic Director, LUMA Arles

4:30 p.m.: Panel
Magick and Queer Lives in Twentieth-Century California
With Alexis Bard Johnson, PhD, Curator, ONE Archives at the USC Libraries, Los Angeles, Judith Noble, Professor Emerita of Film and the Occult, Arts University Plymouth, Julien Princesse Didier, Translator and Queer Environmentalist, moderated by Flora Katz, Curator, LUMA Arles

5:30 p.m.: Break

5:45 p.m.: Conversation
With Hans Ulrich Obrist, Senior Advisor, LUMA Arles, and Suzanne Treister, Artist

6:30 p.m.: Books Signing

SOLD OUT

Online reservations are now full. However, attendance may still be possible should additional spaces become available on-site. We recommend that you arrive on the 8th floor of The Tower approximately 10 minutes prior to your desired time slot.

Sunday, December 14, 2025
 

→ THE TOWER, LEVEL 8

10:00 a.m.: Conference
Catching Spirits: Betye Saar’s Installations
By Stephanie Seidel, Curator and Researcher

10:45 a.m.: Conference
Cards Without Destiny: Considerations for Critical Cartomancy
By Ariane Temkine, PhD Student in Cultural Studies, EHESS, and Daniela Jacob Pinto, PhD Student in Social Anthropology and Ethnology, EHESS

11:15 a.m.: Break

11:30 a.m.: Conversation
With Inès Di Folco Jemni, Artist, and Flora Katz, Curator, LUMA Arles

12:15 p.m.: Conference
Painting and Vodou in Haiti: Célestin Faustin Grapples with the Lwa
By Carlo A. Célius, Historian and Art Historian, Research Director at the CNRS, member of the Institut des Mondes Africains

SOLD OUT

Online reservations are now full. However, attendance may still be possible should additional spaces become available on-site. We recommend that you arrive on the 8th floor of The Tower approximately 10 minutes prior to your desired time slot.

Conceived and organized by Vassilis Oikonomopoulos, Artistic Director, Flora Katz, Curator, Salma Mochtari, Research Manager, Martin Guinard, Curator, and Franny Tachon, Assistant Curator.