Magical Realism
Imagining Natural Dis order
Published on 5. August 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
200 pages
978-0-300-28531-4 (ISBN)
Description
Magical Realism explores the convergence of artistic expressions with scientific and cosmogonic narratives, blending myths, theories, and cosmologies that track the histories of the universe, its organisms, and its elements.
For centuries, Western philosophy has prioritised Reason over embodied knowledge, positioning Man as the dominant force over Nature, which was revered as sublime and exploited for capitalist growth. In an era where the limits of natural resources are undeniable, this worldview is now facing its limits. Magical Realism challenges the nature-culture divide, offering new collaborations between scientific observation and mythical storytelling. It examines how these realms can intertwine to reveal fresh insights, from the microscopic to the technological, while questioning extractivist and productivist ideologies.
As an extension of the threads running through the art exhibition, the book brings together existing and newly commissioned works of art and texts by leading contemporary thinkers who navigate the intersection of poetics, ecology, science, and the humanities.
Following The Absent Museum (2017) and Risquons-Tout (2020), Magical Realism is the third in a series of ambitious large-scale exhibitions in which WIELS engages with specific patterns within contemporary artistic practice, underscoring the necessity for transformation, on an aesthetic level as well as within wider economic, ecological, social, and political shifts.
Exhibtion Schedule
WIELS Contemporary Art Center, Brussels, Belgium,
29 May - 28 September 2025
Magical Realism explores the convergence of artistic expressions with scientific and cosmogonic narratives, blending myths, theories, and cosmologies that track the histories of the universe, its organisms, and its elements.
For centuries, Western philosophy has prioritized Reason over embodied knowledge, positioning Man as the dominant force over Nature, which was both revered as sublime and exploited for capitalist growth. In an era where the limits of natural resources are undeniable, this worldview is now facing its limits. Magical Realism challenges the nature-culture divide, offering new collaborations between scientific observation and mythical storytelling. It examines how these realms can intertwine to reveal fresh insights, from the microscopic to the technological, while questioning extractivist and productivist ideologies.
As an extension of the threads running through the art exhibition, the book brings together existing and newly commissioned works of arts and texts by leading contemporary thinkers who navigate the intersection of poetics, ecology, science and humanities.
Following The Absent Museum (2017) and Risquons-Tout (2020), Magical Realism is the third in a series of ambitious large-scale exhibitions in which WIELS engages with specific patterns within contemporary artistic practice, underscoring the necessity for transformation, on an aesthetic level as well as within wider economic, ecological, social, and political shifts.
WIELS Contemporary Art Center, Brussels, Belgium,
29 May - 28 September 2025
Magical Realism explores the convergence of artistic expressions with scientific and cosmogonic narratives, blending myths, theories, and cosmologies that track the histories of the universe, its organisms, and its elements.
For centuries, Western philosophy has prioritized Reason over embodied knowledge, positioning Man as the dominant force over Nature, which was both revered as sublime and exploited for capitalist growth. In an era where the limits of natural resources are undeniable, this worldview is now facing its limits. Magical Realism challenges the nature-culture divide, offering new collaborations between scientific observation and mythical storytelling. It examines how these realms can intertwine to reveal fresh insights, from the microscopic to the technological, while questioning extractivist and productivist ideologies.
As an extension of the threads running through the art exhibition, the book brings together existing and newly commissioned works of arts and texts by leading contemporary thinkers who navigate the intersection of poetics, ecology, science and humanities.
Following The Absent Museum (2017) and Risquons-Tout (2020), Magical Realism is the third in a series of ambitious large-scale exhibitions in which WIELS engages with specific patterns within contemporary artistic practice, underscoring the necessity for transformation, on an aesthetic level as well as within wider economic, ecological, social, and political shifts.
WIELS Contemporary Art Center, Brussels, Belgium,
29 May - 28 September 2025
For centuries, Western philosophy has prioritised Reason over embodied knowledge, positioning Man as the dominant force over Nature, which was revered as sublime and exploited for capitalist growth. In an era where the limits of natural resources are undeniable, this worldview is now facing its limits. Magical Realism challenges the nature-culture divide, offering new collaborations between scientific observation and mythical storytelling. It examines how these realms can intertwine to reveal fresh insights, from the microscopic to the technological, while questioning extractivist and productivist ideologies.
As an extension of the threads running through the art exhibition, the book brings together existing and newly commissioned works of art and texts by leading contemporary thinkers who navigate the intersection of poetics, ecology, science, and the humanities.
Following The Absent Museum (2017) and Risquons-Tout (2020), Magical Realism is the third in a series of ambitious large-scale exhibitions in which WIELS engages with specific patterns within contemporary artistic practice, underscoring the necessity for transformation, on an aesthetic level as well as within wider economic, ecological, social, and political shifts.
Exhibtion Schedule
WIELS Contemporary Art Center, Brussels, Belgium,
29 May - 28 September 2025
Magical Realism explores the convergence of artistic expressions with scientific and cosmogonic narratives, blending myths, theories, and cosmologies that track the histories of the universe, its organisms, and its elements.
For centuries, Western philosophy has prioritized Reason over embodied knowledge, positioning Man as the dominant force over Nature, which was both revered as sublime and exploited for capitalist growth. In an era where the limits of natural resources are undeniable, this worldview is now facing its limits. Magical Realism challenges the nature-culture divide, offering new collaborations between scientific observation and mythical storytelling. It examines how these realms can intertwine to reveal fresh insights, from the microscopic to the technological, while questioning extractivist and productivist ideologies.
As an extension of the threads running through the art exhibition, the book brings together existing and newly commissioned works of arts and texts by leading contemporary thinkers who navigate the intersection of poetics, ecology, science and humanities.
Following The Absent Museum (2017) and Risquons-Tout (2020), Magical Realism is the third in a series of ambitious large-scale exhibitions in which WIELS engages with specific patterns within contemporary artistic practice, underscoring the necessity for transformation, on an aesthetic level as well as within wider economic, ecological, social, and political shifts.
WIELS Contemporary Art Center, Brussels, Belgium,
29 May - 28 September 2025
Magical Realism explores the convergence of artistic expressions with scientific and cosmogonic narratives, blending myths, theories, and cosmologies that track the histories of the universe, its organisms, and its elements.
For centuries, Western philosophy has prioritized Reason over embodied knowledge, positioning Man as the dominant force over Nature, which was both revered as sublime and exploited for capitalist growth. In an era where the limits of natural resources are undeniable, this worldview is now facing its limits. Magical Realism challenges the nature-culture divide, offering new collaborations between scientific observation and mythical storytelling. It examines how these realms can intertwine to reveal fresh insights, from the microscopic to the technological, while questioning extractivist and productivist ideologies.
As an extension of the threads running through the art exhibition, the book brings together existing and newly commissioned works of arts and texts by leading contemporary thinkers who navigate the intersection of poetics, ecology, science and humanities.
Following The Absent Museum (2017) and Risquons-Tout (2020), Magical Realism is the third in a series of ambitious large-scale exhibitions in which WIELS engages with specific patterns within contemporary artistic practice, underscoring the necessity for transformation, on an aesthetic level as well as within wider economic, ecological, social, and political shifts.
WIELS Contemporary Art Center, Brussels, Belgium,
29 May - 28 September 2025
More details
Language
English
French
Place of publication
United States
Edition type
Bilingual edition
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
100 color illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 276 mm
Width: 209 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
700 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-300-28531-4 (9780300285314)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification