This exhibition is about the influence that various secret traditions have had on contemporary art from the nineteen-fifties to the present day. It presents some 350 works by such artists as Antoni Tàpies, Agnes Martin, Henri Michaux, Joseph Beuys, Ulla von Brandenburg, William S. Burroughs, Joan Jonas, Jordan Belson and Harry Smith. Curated by Enrique Juncosa.

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On May 24 and 25, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith performed in the Masonic Lodge at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Each night included a screening and performance of her Abstractions tape, as part of the launch of her new multidisciplinary label project Touchtheplants.

For Klangzeit-Festival’s opening concert on May 24^th, Harry Smith’s “Heaven and Earth Magic“ was played by a trio with a live soundtrack.

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Harry Smith: American Magus is a retrospective that ponders the pioneering film works of Harry Smith: American filmmaker, painter, folk music historian, self-professed shaman and occultist. Some films also feature a live score performed by local miscreants.

2018 Program (PDF)

Dark Mofo

Ottawa International Animation Festival

Abstraction No. 10. was included in a collage animation screening series titled “Burst like Stars: The Golden Hits of Collage” at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. The work consists of an exposition of Buddhism and the Kaballah in the form of a collage. The final scene shows Agaric mushrooms growing on the moon while the Hero and Heroine row by on a cerebrum.

Program

Blessed Be is an exhibition focused on mysticism, spirituality, and the occult in contemporary art. Smith’s lecture on Native American cosmos, “Heaven and Earth Magic” is featured in a listening booth (pictured above).

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Harry Smith’s experimental cinema simultaneously engages with Kabbalah and reflects on the Beat Generation’s wider exploration of esoteric spiritual practices. Smith’s Tree of Life (1954) will be exhibited. Bookmarks featuring Smith’s Tree of Life will be available to visitors.

Related Publication: https://www.cornerhousepublications.org/publications/kabbalah/

World Receivers explores an unknown chapter of modernism with the works of Georgiana Houghton, Hilma af Klint and Emma Kunz complimented with films by Harry Smith, James Whitney, and John Whitney. The exhibition is curated by Karin Althaus and Sebastian Schneider and held at Kunstbau. A two-day symposium titled “World Receivers. Mediumistic Art in Theory and Practice 1850-1950” was held on January 25-26, 2019.

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