In the context of my doctoral research in Art at Aalto University (Finland) I try to see how magic and postcapitalism can be intertwined to help us manifest a future. My reflections on the matter are related to my own feminist artistic practice, but also inscribe themselves within a posthuman set of thinking.

So what are the links tying magic and postcapitalism? Are we able to imagine an “exit” from capitalism and put it into action? Can we consider re-enchanting the world that capitalism needed to disenchant to achieve its aim? Can Postcapitalism and magic be entry points for speculative feminism? How can art, magic and politic be understood in the same way, as creative actions? What is the role of the artist in the implementation of a postcapitalist future? Could it be that artists have a specific “power” of imagination on and in the world that is particular to them? Could artists be considered as the magicians of the 21st century? And could their power of imagination enable them to deconstruct the reality in order to recreate it in a better form?

At this moment in my research, I am crafting my own definition of magic – that, of course, draws on others’ definitions I deem inspiring. This particular definition of mine is built on a comparative analysis of both post-human framework and the figure of the web of some Theridiidae spiders, also known as tangle-web spiders, or cob-web spiders that build three-dimensional webs. This is what I would very much like to share with you at the May 2019 Nora Conference.

I have developed an alternative and intersectional feminist point of view that aims to unveil authority mechanisms on what we admit as the truth, the rational, the academically valid or commonly accepted ideas. It has left me ready to imagine other sets of possibilities for the future. I do believe that we have to change our perspective on the world and that magic might as well be this new perspective we need. A way to exceed the actual borders of our minds, and of our failing organization of lives.

Marie-Andrée Godin was born in Canada. She works between Canada and Finland, where she now lives. She completed an M.F.A. at Laval University, in Québec, where she was granted several scholarships, including funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada) and scholarship from Laval University foundation. In the past years, she was also recipient of working grants from Quebec City, Québec province’s art council (CALQ), Canada Council for the Arts, the society for the development of cultural enterprise of Québec province (SODEC), and Taike (The Arts Promotion center of Finland).

Her work focuses on the figure of the witch as a feminist figure and explores the concepts of a-hierarchy, acts of manufacture, holistic thinking and knowledge as a source of power. As a doctoral candidate at Aalto University (Helsinki, Finland), she is now trying to see if magic, post-capitalism and diverse political forms or systems could be intertwined to help manifest a future for the various lives still existing on the planet.

Her work is mainly based in the fields of installation and performance art and has been shown in Canada, the United States, Japan, Finland and Italy.

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