Conjuring The Spirit World: Art, Magic, and Mediums
On view September 14, 2024 through February 2, 2025
Featuring magic and illusion performances select Saturdays
SALEM, MA – This fall, the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) invites you to explore the essential role art and objects played for mediums and magicians “communicating” with the dead during the 19th- and 20th-century Spiritualism movement — an era during which people actively debated and wondered, "can spirits return?" Conjuring the Spirit World: Art, Magic, and Mediums is on view at PEM from September 14, 2024 through February 2, 2025 and examines the ongoing human impulse and desire to connect with the departed, as well as our enduring fascination with the supernatural and the otherworldly. Paintings, posters, photographs, stage apparatuses, films, publications and other objects transport visitors to the age of Harry Houdini, Margery the Medium, Howard Thurston and the Fox Sisters. Whether you’re a believer, a skeptic or somewhere in between, visitors will gain a new perspective on the timeless draw of mediums and magicians, séances and magic shows.
“The subject matter, artworks and interactive and performance features of Conjuring the Spirit World reanimate an era that was marked by a curiosity around mortality, an embrace of the mysterious and, fundamentally, a deep yearning for connection,” said Curator-at-Large George Schwartz. “This exhibition is among the first to look at mediums and stage magicians in relation to the Spiritualist movement, a movement which had deep roots here in Salem, Massachusetts.”
Objects from PEM’s collection, several of which have never been exhibited, offer a glimpse into how visual and material culture influenced the perception of Spiritualism at the time and how the legacy of the movement and its concepts surrounding death and the afterlife persist today. PEM works include advertising posters, mourning jewelry and a rapping hand used to conjure spirits. These works are presented alongside key loans from collectors across the country.
On select Saturdays from September 21 through February 2 between noon–3 pm, a theater within the exhibition gallery showcases magic performances by two Salem magicians: Anton James Andresen (the Official Magician of Salem) and Evan Northrup (also a Boston-area theater artist and previous PEM collaborator). Expect storytelling, sleight of hand that illuminate the real stage performers and illusions featured in the exhibition. Videos, silent films and interactive experiences are installed throughout the exhibition to heighten the experience.
Conjuring the Spirit World provides an opportunity to learn about lesser-known aspects and considerations of the era, including how mediumship and magic served as a source of agency and reinvention for women and other marginalized communities; the relationship between science and Spiritualism; and a neuroscientific understanding of belief. The exhibition also explores how pop culture continues to reflect this movement through art, film and performance, including popular games and toys like Ouija boards (made by Salem’s own Parker Brothers), as well as works by contemporary artists, including Tony Oursler, José Alvarez (D.O.P.A.) and Shannon Taggart.
PEM GALA INSPIRED BY CONJURING THE SPIRIT WORLD
Join us November 9, 2024 for the PEM Gala! Revel in the magic and explore the mysterious at a dazzling evening of dinner, dancing and art experiences, themed around Conjuring the Spirit World: Art, Magic, and Mediums. This event provides valuable funds for the inspiring programs, exhibitions and initiatives PEM offers each year.
PEM POP-UP SHOP: THE GHOST BOX
Shop ghostly goodies in PEM’s new pop-up shop, The Ghost Box, located at 135 Essex Street. Browse parlor magic kits, Ouija boards, gifts from Salem artists and more to celebrate Conjuring the Spirit World: Art, Magic, and Mediums. All proceeds support PEM. The Ghost Box is open Wednesday to Monday, 11 am–6 pm.
PRESS & INFLUENCER RECEPTION
Please join us for a press and influencer preview reception on Thursday, September 12 from 5:30–6:30 pm, featuring remarks and a curator-led tour. Invitation to follow.
EXHIBITION BOOK
The 144-page hardcover exhibition companion book from publisher Rizzoli Electa, Conjuring the Spirit World: Art, Magic, and Mediums, published September 17, 2024, is the first illustrated volume to gather the art and objects that made mediums’ and magicians’ performances iconic during the Spiritualism movement and beyond. An international selection of paintings, photographs, posters, stage apparatuses, films, publications and other objects reveal how audiences were entranced and mystified by these experiential performances, captivating willing believers and garnering skeptics as they navigated the intersecting realms of science and spirituality. From the origins of the Ouija board to spirit photography, this book is a treasure trove. The book is edited by George H. Schwartz, Curator-at-Large at the Peabody Essex Museum, with contributions by Tedi Asher, Neuroscience Researcher, and Lan Morgan, Assistant Curator, at the Peabody Essex Museum; Christopher Jones, Stanton B. and Nancy W. Kaplan Curator of Photography and Media Art, and Jennifer Lemmer Posey, Tibbals Curator of Circus, at The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art; Tony Oursler, an internationally renowned video and multimedia installation artist; and Mark Schwartz, Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology at Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan. The book is sold in the PEM Shop and can be found at shop.pem.org.
Exhibition Opening Celebration
Saturday, September 14 | 11:30 am–3 pm
Enjoy a panel discussion and a magic performance from the official magician of Salem.
TOURING SCHEDULE
The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art | March 15–July 13, 2025
SOCIAL MEDIA
Follow along and share your experience on social media using #ConjuringatPEM
IMAGES CREDITS
- The Otis Lithograph Company, Cleveland, Thurston The Great Magician — Do the Spirits Come Back?, (detail) 1929, Lithograph. Peabody Essex Museum, museum purchase, 2023.14.1. Photo by Kathy Tarantola/PEM.
- Artist in the United States, Ava Muntell - The Woman with a Million Eyes, early 20th century. Hand-painted photo collage. Collection of Tony Oursler. Photo courtesy of Oursler Studio.
- John Beattie, Abstract manifestations, 1872. Albumen print. Collection of Tony Oursler. Photo courtesy of Oursler Studio.
DIGITAL MEDIA KIT
Find publicity images, exhibition information and more HERE.
SPONSORS
Conjuring the Spirit World: Art, Magic, and Mediums is organized by the Peabody Essex Museum. This exhibition is made possible by Carolyn and Peter S. Lynch and The Lynch Foundation and Furthermore: a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund. We thank Jennifer and Andrew Borggaard, James B. and Mary Lou Hawkes, Chip and Susan Robie, and Timothy T. Hilton as supporters of the Exhibition Innovation Fund. We also recognize the generosity of the East India Marine Associates of the Peabody Essex Museum.
About the Peabody Essex Museum
Founded in 1799, the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts, is the country’s oldest continuously operating museum. PEM provides thought-provoking experiences of the arts, humanities and sciences to celebrate the creative achievements and potential of people across time, place and culture. By connecting people through inquiry, empathy and dialogue, PEM encourages an understanding of our shared humanity and fosters a sense of belonging in a complex, ever-changing world. We build, steward and share our superlative collection, which includes African, American, Asian Export, Chinese, contemporary, Japanese, Korean, maritime, Native American, Oceanic and South Asian art, as well as architecture, fashion and textiles, photography, natural history and one of the nation’s most important museum-based collections of rare books and manuscripts. PEM offers a varied and unique visitor experience, with hands-on creativity zones, interactive opportunities and performance spaces. The museum’s campus, which offers numerous gardens and green spaces, is an accredited arboretum and features more than a dozen noted historic structures, including Yin Yu Tang, a 200-year-old Chinese home that is the only example of Chinese domestic architecture in the United States.
MEDIA CONTACTS
Whitney Van Dyke | Director of Marketing & Communications | whitney_vandyke@pem.org | 978-542-1828
Kristen Levesque | Exhibition Publicist | kristen_levesque@pem.org | 207-329-3090