Due to unforeseen circumstances, the museum is closed today. We regret any inconvenience.
Closed Today
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the museum is closed today. We regret any inconvenience.
The Allen presents changing exhibitions along with engaging guest speakers and public programs.
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Learn MoreAugust 19 - December 12, 2023
In Ripin Gallery
August 19 - December 12, 2023
In Ripin Gallery
Between 1470 and 1800 in Europe and the Americas, spells were a resource for those in despair. Spellcasting was a practice that was often part magia amorosa (love magic) and brujería (witchcraft). It offered solutions to spiritual, economic, and physical hardships. But spells also allowed people to deceive and transform others, disrupting the imposed order to achieve one’s desired goals. In response, the Spanish Inquisition (1478–1834) used surveillance and punishing mechanisms to maintain and restore the spiritual and political health of the empire.
Collaboratively curated by 33 students studying witchcraft in Spain and colonial Latin America, What’s in a Spell? visually explores the subversive opportunities spells offered and the oppressive tactics used to suppress them. In the colonial context, spells drew on local and foreign knowledge about botany and the human body, reason, and emotions to challenge the hierarchies imposed by European colonizers. In this exhibition, we read European prints against the grain to understand the cultural anxieties about deception and transformation that were part of early modern European consciousness and further amplified in the hybrid cultures of its colonies. The works of contemporary artists remind us that the power of spellcasting persists today.
Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies
Curator of Academic Programs
September 7, 2023 at 5:30 p.m.
All are welcome to an open house highlighting our newest exhibitions. We will have games, crafts, music, food, and fun! Oberlin Co...
September 12, 2023 at 3:00 p.m.
The exhibition What’s in a Spell? Love Magic, Healing, and Punishment in the Early Modern Hispanic World explores spell-cast...
October 28, 2023 at 12:00 p.m.
Join us for a mystical event inspired by the exhibition What’s in a Spell? Love Magic, Healing, and Punishment in the Early ...
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