federico campagna

Antonio Menchen, colección, 2008–ongoing

interview

by OLIVIER ZAHM and ALEPH MOLINARI

portraits by BRIGITA ŽIŽYTĖ and MARKN

artwork by ANTONIO MENCHEN

 

He is one of the rare young philosophers to explore the world of magic — a topic often dismissed in philosophy.

In his remarkable book “technic and magic,” he rehabilitates magic as a legitimate approach to reality. His concept of the ineffable defies the total dominance of language.

 

OLIVIER ZAHM — How do you explain this long and systematic repression of magic and magical traditions by the forces of rationality?

FEDERICO CAMPAGNA — Well, magic is a very large field, and there are many aspects to it. Some aspects have not been persecuted but developed. There is a technical part of magic, called mechanical magic, which means performing a series of actions that have immediate results mechanically. This idea has been developed as…