The Witching of Art History – or How to Approach Women, Art and Esotericism
20.8.2025 klo 10–17 Ateneum Hall (open for all, free entrance)
This interdisciplinary seminar brings together scholars who have studied women artists interested in esoteric currents such as spiritualism, theosophy, and magic. The aim is to emphasise the pivotal role of women artists in heterogeneous fields of occulture, while reflecting on theoretical and methodological issues. How does terminology (e.g. esotericism, witchcraft and mediumistic art) influence who is included in the histories of art and esotericism? What insights can a focus on women (and perspectives that transcend the gender binary) offer into the study of art and esotericism? The seminar’s overarching aim is to contribute to ongoing debates in the study of art and esotericism, extending the focus beyond male-oriented art history. The event will be accompanied with a special issue of the peer-reviewed open-access journal Approaching Religion, published later by the Donner Institute: https://journal.fi/ar.
The seminar is open to the public, no separate registration is required.
Keynote speakers of the seminar include:
- Dr. Victoria Ferentinou, University of Ioannina, Greece
- Dr. Michelle Foot, University of Edinburg, Scotland
- Dr. Amy Hale, Falmouth University, England
- Dr. Nina Kokkinen, The Donner Institute, Finland
The roundtable seminar is organized by the Donner Institute for Research in Religion and Culture in collaboration with the research project Northern Women, Art and Esotericism (Ateneum Art Museum, Finnish National Gallery), and the research project Whose Angels? Enchantments, interpretations, and positions in the cyclical collaboration between art and research (University of Helsinki).
Programme
10.00 Museum opens
10.15 Opening words
10.30 Session I
Victoria Ferentinou: “The Cabbage is a Rose”: Feminist Ecoaesthetics from Surrealism to Contemporary Art”
11.45 Lunch break
13.15 Session II
Michelle Foot: “Repicturing the Past: Jane Stewart Smith, Spiritualism and Psychical History”
Nina Kokkinen: ” Negotiating Clairvoyance, Mediumship and Gender in Early 20th Century Art”
14.45 Coffee break
15.15 Session III
Amy Hale: ”Everything She Touches Changes Remix: Feminist New Materialism and Contemporary Magical Futurist Art”
16.30 Closing words