Mediums
of Conjuring
exhibit design, 3D design
Rhode Island School of Design
Mediums of Conjuring is a speculative exhibit on the junction of spiritualism, technology and art. It aims to highlight various tools and mediums employed by 19th-century spiritualists, as well as the movement’s cultural legacy.
The exhibit is designed to be held at nighttime and span across the outdoor space of Providence’s Dexter Field Park, and the indoor space of the adjacent Cranston Street Armory.
There are multiple parallels between our time and the 19th century— heightened cultural awareness of mortality, accelerated emergence of new technologies, and a resurging interest in spirituality and mysticism. In their seances, spiritualist mediums claimed to conjure up spirits; in a way, exhibit, whether dealing with the past, present or future, is an act of conjuring.
Spirit photography
The exhibit’s opening section, which spans its entire outdoor area, is dedicated to the work of three photographers—William Mumler, Frederick Hudson and William Hope—who claimed to have the ability to visually capture the spirits of the dead. Through what was at the time groundbreaking manipulation of an already groundbreaking new medium, spirit photography held significant appeal and emotional resonance.
The photographs are projected on dark, translucent vertical surfaces 30 ft. tall and 20 ft. wide. Motion activated, they fade in from the dark when visitors approach.
The visitors walk upon a twisting elevated ramp, constructed of transparent material to create a feeling of floating. A glowing path is embedded within the ramp to light the way.
Eclipse
The armory is encased in black fabric, with the first eclipse ever caught on film projected on its façade.
While the sun and moon have figured in various spiritual and occult beliefs throughout history, filming the eclipse in 1900 wasn’t a spiritualist act in itself. This footage serves to emphasize the immense impact photography had on the era—allowing people to see, for the very first time, that which up until that point had remained unattainable. Viewing spirit photography within the same context, we can understand its vast emotional and spiritual appeal.
Continuing inside, the exhibit involves four additional areas—three instances of work produced by spiritualists, followed by a final section devoted to art exemplifying spiritualism’s cultural impact. The glowing path, embedded within the floor, continues to guide the visitors through the armory. While the original architecture of the space is preserved, temporary structures intervene in the form of curved, semitransparent walls.
Guided by spirits
Georgiana Houghton, a self-proclaimed medium active in England in the 19th century, created these ‘spirit drawings’—vibrant, fluid watercolors, which she maintained were guided by the spirits of the dead. Her work preceded abstract art and Surrealist automatism by decades.
Projected in highly enlarged scale, each drawing fills a ‘pod’, allowing visitors to immerse themselves completely in Houghton’s beautiful chaos of form and color.
As above, so below
In this segment, cones of sound hang overhead, forming localized sound fields. As they pass below each cone, visitors can hear faint, spectral voices reading aloud the writings of Joseph Peace Hazard, a 19th-century Rhode Island medium. Beneath, original texts are displayed inside glass cases mirroring the shape of the cones— as above, so below.
The substance of thought
Theosophy is a religious occultist movement established in the United States during the 19th century. Thought Forms, a book published by the Theosophical Society in 1901, was intended to showcase the observation of the substance of thought using sets of abstract imagery created by theosophists Annie Bessant and C.W. Leadbetter. These vibrant forms were meant to convey abstract intellectual concepts such as radiating affection, vague religious feeling, or the intention to know.
Seance
At the end of the second section, a séance table awaits the visitors.
Spiritual influence
The final section of the exhibit showcases twenty-one works of art influenced by Spiritualism, spanning from 1883 to 1978—including Symbolist, Surrealist, and Abstract art.
The visitors are now slowly eased from the mystical ‘void’ into the ‘real world’. The space is no longer entirely dark, and the artworks are tangible, physical originals rather than ghostly projections or sounds.
Nevertheless, the air of mystical wonder remains, from the soft, pale gradient of the walls, to the glowing path which still continues to guide the visitors along the artworks, and eventually to the exit...
Back to reality.