Episode 9: The Intersections of Science with Magical Art

In this episode, Amy Lab chats with artists Joey Holder and Dr WhiteFeather Hunter, whose work blends science, technology and magic. They explore how scientific imagery can expand ideas of magical art beyond traditional occult symbols, touching on themes of the posthuman, transhuman and the ‘scientific fantastic’. Expect to learn about lab-grown clitorises, tentacled post-human sea creatures and other strange wonders at the border of art and science.

Dr. WhiteFeather Hunter is a Canadian artist-researcher working at the intersections of feminist technoscience, bioart, performance and craft. She is a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at Simon Fraser University’s School of Interactive Arts & Technology, where she develops feminist DIY biofabrication methods and speculative worldbuilding projects. Her internationally exhibited work merges tissue engineering, textiles, and ritual to reimagine bodies, technologies and futures, and her academic publications are found in peer-reviewed journals worldwide.

Joey Holder is an artist and researcher whose work raises philosophical questions of our universe and things yet unknown across science, technology and human-machine-animal interactions. She creates immersive, multimedia ‘worlds’ by conversing with experts across fields including marine biology, genetic research and behavioural psychology, exploring themes ranging from deep-sea lifeforms, speculative evolution, magic, non-human time and aliens. Holder has exhibited widely internationally, including the Harvard Museum of Natural History, Design Museum London, the Sydney, Athens, Ljubljana, Wuhan and Moscow Biennales, and Transmediale in Berlin.

Amy Hale is an Atlanta-based writer and critic with a PhD in Folklore and Mythology from UCLA. Her research interests include contemporary magical practice and history, art, culture, women and Cornwall. She has written widely on artist and occultist Ithell Colquhoun, and been an academic advisor to the 2025 Colquhoun retrospective at Tate St. Ives and Tate Britain. She wrote the first scholarly biography of Colquhoun, Ithell Colquhoun: Genius of the Fern Loved Gully (Strange Attractor, 2020), followed by the collection Sex Magic: Diagrams of Love, (Tate Publishing, 2024). She is also the editor of the ground-breaking collection Essays on Women in Western Esotericism: Beyond Seeresses and Sea Priestesses (Palgrave 2022). She has written extensively on magic and contemporary art, and has written for Tate, Burlington Contemporary, Art UK, The Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Correspondences Journal and other institutions. She is an Honorary Research Fellow with Falmouth University in Cornwall, a trustee of the UK Charity Rediscovering Art by Women (RAW) and a member of the British Art Network. Beyond the Supernatural: Magic in Contemporary Art is due to be published with Tate Publishing in 2026.

Magic in Contemporary Art – Online Discussion Series

In this 10-part series, Dr. Amy Hale explores the history and key themes of magical and esoteric art, tracing the recent cultural and creative fascination with the numinous and otherworldly. Through conversations with curators, artists, and scholars, Hale examines how the growing study of artists like Hilma af Klint, Emma Kunz, Leonora Carrington and Ithell Colquhoun is rewriting modern art history. She also explores the emergence of visionary works by contemporary artists such as Hilma’s Ghost, Barry William Hale and Tai Shani, which are reshaping how we think about magic and encounter the world.

For more information and to book your attendance: https://www.treadwells-london.com/events-1/magic-in-contemporary-art-ep-9-lecture-discussion