What forms of knowledge exist beyond dominant historical narratives? How have artists used myth, ritual, spirituality, and embodied practices to imagine alternative ways of understanding ourselves and the world?

This course explores how contemporary artists draw from esoteric traditions, cosmologies, mythology, and ritual practices to challenge dominant systems of knowledge. From shamanic practices and spiritual mediation to feminist witchcraft and speculative futures, we will examine alternative states of consciousness and the relationships between humans, nature, and the cosmos. Moving beyond the notion of myth as fantasy or folklore, the course approaches myth as a living framework for interpreting the world–a way of transmitting cultural memory, preserving ancestral knowledge, and imagining alternative futures. We will explore how artists mobilize myth to question official histories, recover marginalized perspectives, and propose new ways of understanding identity, ecology, technology, and collective survival.

What You Will Learn:
This course develops critical approaches to contemporary art that engages with spirituality, mythology, and non-Western knowledge systems. Students will examine the roles of the shaman, healer, and mediator; explore artistic relationships between humans, nature, and the cosmos; investigate speculative spirituality and science fiction as new mythologies; consider how Indigenous cosmologies preserve cultural knowledge outside dominant histories; and examine witchcraft as a political strategy within radical feminist movements.