Talk: Magic Medium in the Research Cluster Interaction and Participation

On November 21, 2025, I presented initial insights from my ongoing research project in Singapore at LASALLE College of the Arts. The project is titled Magic Medium: Investigating Artistic-Spiritual Practices in Singapore with Regard to Their Resistant Educational Potentials within a Culture of Digitality. The research is supported by a fellowship as part of the DAAD Postdoctoral Program.

In a thirty-minute presentation, I introduced the central thematic fields of my research: magical practices as a cultural-historical phenomenon based on the theories of Silvia Federici; the relationship between spirituality and art using the example of Joseph Beuys; and the reappropriation of spiritual and magical practices by contemporary media artists as a resistant strategy within a culture of digitality, following Felix Stalder. Building on this, I briefly outlined the cultural field of spirituality in Singapore and introduced the three artists examined in my research—Zarina Muhammad, Debbie Ding, and Ho Tzu Nyen—through selected works. These were juxtaposed with so-called image constellations, collage-like arrangements offering insights into my artistic field research on site.

The presentation concluded with a discussion of the research methods, theoretical frameworks, and further research questions.

My sincere thanks go to Prof. Dr. Herstin Hallmann and Prof. Dr. Fabian Hofmann, as well as to all attendees and participants of the research cluster Interaction and Participation in Cultural Education within the Network for Research in Cultural Education.

Further information on the research project is available upon request and will soon be published in academic publications and presented at conferences.