Two UMBC professors are exploring their longtime interests in the paranormal from different perspectives. Mark Alice Durant, associate professor of visual arts, examines how artists are influenced by the paranormal, while Stephen Braude, professor of philosophy, is a recognized expert in parapsychology.
Artists and the Otherworldly
Durant’s latest project is “Blur of the Otherworldly: Contemporary Art, Technology and the Paranormal,” which he co-curated with Jane Marsching, assistant professor at Massachusetts College of Art. The exhibition opens at UMBC’s Center for Art and Visual Culture on October 20 and features 28 contemporary artists whose work employs modern communication technologies (photography, film, video, computers, radio, Internet and digital media) to explore culturally inbred questions/superstitions concerning parallel worlds to our own.
“I’ve always been interested in marginal histories in art—the quirky and the absurd—and loved ATOS—all things outer space,” said Durant. “There’s a lot of scholarship around photography and the paranormal. Photography has always been used as evidence in a variety of environments, so it’s not surprising that it was adopted by people who wanted to prove the existence of other worlds.”
Durant first met Marsching, an artist who works with issues of belief, representation, science, and perception, when both were teaching at Syracuse University. They co-organized a panel on 19th-century photography and the paranormal for a College Art Association (CAA) conference in 2002, and in 2003, Durant and Marsching guest- edited the fall issue of CAA’s Art Journal, which explored photography and the paranormal. After that experience, Durant said he began thinking about the influence of the paranormal on contemporary art. “Artists have always been interested in creating other worlds through fantasy and imagination—that’s the basic gesture of creation. In ‘Blur,’ instead of using paintbrushes and marble—the artists use modern communication techniques like radio, the Internet and digital imaging.”
Some of the art in “Blur” is serious, while other pieces are more satiric or playful. It includes work from UMBC’s Special Collections by thoughtographer Ted Serios, reputed to be able to print images from his mind onto photographic paper. (Fourteen works by Serios held in Special Collections are currently on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for their exhibition “The Perfect Medium” which continues through December 31.) Other work includes Zoe Beloff’s 3-D video re-creations of séances; Jeremy Blake’s animated abstract painting on the mythic icon of superstition; and Chrysanne Stathacos’ aura photographs.
In the future, Durant and Marsching plan to continue exploring how artists are inspired by the paranormal and hope to co-edit an anthology of essays on the topic.
A Philosophical Perspective
Stephen Braude is currently spending his sabbatical writing his next book. “The book will be largely autobiographical and will document some of my own case investigations--successful and unsuccessfu--as a series of cautionary tales,” he said. “It includes a case I’ve presented several times to audiences at UMBC: a woman in Florida whose body breaks out spontaneously and under careful scrutiny in what looks like gold leaf.”
Braude's book also includes his attempts to study a psychic superstar he caught cheating, as well as the concept of synchronicity and how best to make sense of meaningful coincidences that seem to be more than mere chance occurrences. Braude received a grant from the Bial Foundation in Portugal to write his book; next year he'll be the keynote speaker at the foundation's annual research conference.
The author of four previous books, Braude has been interested in the paranormal since graduate school, but decided to pursue scholarship in logic, philosophy of language and philosophy of time before letting his curiosity about the subject take over. “Then I recalled my earlier experience and knew that if I valued the truth as much as I professed, I needed to look into the matter.
“After satisfying myself that there was something worth studying seriously, I resolved to become an insider in the community of scientists and academics doing research in parapsychology,” said Braude, who is past-President of the Parapsychological Association, an affiliate organization of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Braude played a significant role in bringing Serios work, some of which is on view in “Blur,” to UMBC’s Special Collections. “Ted’s principal investigator, Jule Eisenbud, was a close friend and kindred spirit,” said Braude. “When Jule died, his family assigned me the task of going through his papers.” The family also gave permission for Serios’ work—including original photos, films and signed affidavits from witnesses—to be deposited in Special Collections.
Braude also wrote an article on Serios for the traveling exhibition now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and is currently advising Chris Carter, executive producer of the “X Files,” on a screenplay about Eisenbud’s relationship with Serios.
“Blur of the Otherworldly: Contemporary Art, Technology and the Paranormal” is on view at CAVC through December 17. Admission to the exhibition is free. The Center for Art and Visual Culture is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is located in the Fine Arts Building. For more information, call 410-455-3188 or visit www.umbc.edu/arts.
