The2017WollesenMemorialGraduateSymposium,hostedbytheDepartmentofArtattheUniversityofTorontopresents:

TheSecretArtsandtheArtofSecrets

AsymposiumexploringtherelationshipbetweenArtandEsotericism

FridayMarch10,2017EastCommonRoom,HartHouse

7HartHouseCircleUniversityofTorontoToronto,Ontario

Keynoteaddress:SerenaKeshavjee,AssociateProfessor,UniversityofWinnipegJustlyornot,esotericismhasbeenuniversallyexcisedfrommodernistperceptionsoftheworld:thepracticeofastrologyhasbeendistancedfromastronomy;alchemyhas been distilled from chemistry; and magic has been calculated out of thenumerousequationsofphysics.ThemodernantipathytoEsotericism,however,has

been tempered by exciting researchover the past thirty years withincreasingly more papers, periodicals,conferences, and academic programsthat seek to rehabilitate, reveal, andinterrogate the formative role thatEsoteric traditions have had andcontinue to have on contemporaryculture.Thissymposiumaimstoparticipate inthis movement by investigatingEsotericism in the context of visualculture from Antiquity to the present.Itseekstoprovideaforumforscholarsfrom awide variety of fieldswho are

keenaboutthisengagingtopic,butwhomaybefinding itdifficult toconnectwithother researchers on a subject that has only recently gained momentum withinestablishedacademiccurricula.Weinviteparticipationfromstudentsandscholars,newtothefieldornot,whomaybedeployingsystemsofvisualandmaterialcultureintheirresearchasabasisforillustrationorargumentation.Acceptabletopicsmaygenerallyinclude,butarebynomeanslimitedto,thefollowing:

• TheroleofvisualrepresentationinAntique,Medieval,orRenaissancehermeticism.• ImagesintheMysteryreligionsofAntiquity.• Artandillustrationinastrology.• Symbolisminalchemyorthekabbalah.• Anthroposophyortheosophyinmodernistvisualculture.• Gestureandperformanceinmagic,witchcraftorritual.• Esotericimageryincontemporaryinterpretationsandappropriations.• Renaissancemagicandthelanguageofemblems.• Theillustrationsofthetarot.• Spiritismandspiritphotography.• The spiritual and occult revival in avant-garde artmovements such as Symbolism, Expressionism,Orphism,orSurrealism.

• TalismanicmagicandthepowerofimageinMedievalesotericism.

• Interactions of the body in sacred geographies orarchitectures.

• The supernatural or the paranormal in film andcinema.

• Esoteric imagery through the lens of contemporarytheoreticalmodelssuchasgenderandqueertheory.

• The iconography of Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, orotherSecretSocieties.

• TheEsotericaspectsandinfluencesofnon-Westernartandarchitecture, includingChinese,Asian,andSouthAsianvisualandmaterialcultures.

Presentations should be 20 minutes in length and will be followed by a 10-minutequestion and answer session for each presentation. Selected presentations will bechosenforpublicationintheUniversityofTorontoArtJournal,anonlinepublicationofthesymposiumproceedings.Formoreinformation,pleasevisit:https://gustasymposium.wordpress.com/Pleasesubmitanabstractofnomorethan300wordsandabiographicalsketchofnomore than 150 words to the Graduate Union of the Students of Art atgustasymposium@gmail.combyJanuary15,2017.SymposiumChairs:TiaSager,UniversityofTorontoJohnKoenig,UniversityofToronto