Embedded in everything we do at Baukunst—whether building an ecosystem of innovative minds or investing in new startups—is a goal to reinforce the potency of a building ethos that melds technology expertise with critical design thinking. We believe this intersectional approach is what wields wildly new tools that exceed, or sometimes wholly divert from, expectation. Within this cross-section is where we are betting the “magic” of the future lies.
In our work supporting founders on their journey of starting a company, we witness firsthand another form of magic: the process of transforming an idea into reality. In this “chrysalis” phase of any startup, there’s never quite a 10 point plan or one size fits all approach to getting it right. At Baukunst, we relish in this messy magic, as it is fundamental to the art of building. Despite our desire to build a perfect plan, errors and diversions that change our course inevitably take place. A founder’s big idea sometimes spawns from a seemingly magical coincidence. As a company builder, they need to refine and utilize their intuition as often as, if not more than, their strategy. To build something ambitious, there is a need to tap into a sort of sixth sense.
Finally, in our quest to nurture a visionary community of creative technologists at Baukunst, we recognize a fundamental truth: those responsible for building a better future vision must possess a willingness to embrace the unknown. And a product of value in the future will be one created with a layered sensitivity to (a) the emerging technologies that will shape tomorrow, and (b) the culture in which they will live.
What do we know about the future today? Perhaps most confidently, that we know very little. Today’s world feels increasingly uncertain; the anxiety we experience as a result may feel new to us, but echoes a long-standing human desire to exert control over our environment. Historically, civilization’s earliest solutions to uncertainty often took the form of magic.
All of the above curiosities are what drive Issue 2 of Baukunst Stories, where we'll explore magic as a lens to understanding, innovation, and creativity.
Magic: a history
Chris Gosden’s A History of Magic suggests that ancient magical practices functioned as proto-technologies, helping humans navigate survival challenges. In ancient society, Gosden writes, “there was no room for modes of thought that were not conducive to survival. A belief in magic was not a luxury but integral to understanding and gaining a living from large, dangerous animals and scarce plant foods over many thousands of years.”
One curious example dates back to the Paleolithic era in modern-day Czechia. In 1951, archaeologists uncovered a kiln filled with over 23,000 small clay animals, seemingly designed to explode when fired. This ritual, thought by some historians to be hunting magic, reflected an attempt to influence nature and create an active relationship with the environment. These acts and rituals, perhaps now seen by us as symbolic and ornamental, to earlier humans were akin to science.
Similarly, alchemy was an early precursor to chemistry as we know it. The alchemist’s preoccupation with transmutation, or “the breaking down of matter to create entirely new materials,” was an early variation of human’s logical interest in the nature of chemical reactions. Isaac Newton, a deeply religious man, even found inspiration for his law of gravity in alchemical theory.
But perhaps most importantly, alchemy is also what largely inspired a more experimental approach to the sciences—in the Middle Ages, universities were largely pre-occupied with the study of old information rather than the new. “While alchemy was indeed a part of that scholastic mainstream,” Glynis Coyne writes, “it always had much more of an active, indeed experimental, aspect. Alchemists did not just discuss ideas; they performed their procedures with a clear goal in mind.”
Magic today
Today, as uncertainty grows, an interest in magic is resurfacing. In a recent Wired article about the uptick in curses on Elon Musk upon his White House appointment, journalist Vittoria Elliot writes, “Seeking out witches, psychics, mediums, or other purveyors of magic or mysticism during times of change or uncertainty has been happening for centuries. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Yelp noted a 74 percent increase in Americans searching for psychics and a 63 percent uptick in searches for astrologers. Following Trump’s first election in 2016, US witches did a mass spell to try to bind him. Witches on TikTok and Instagram similarly hexed Trump and his supporters in the wake of the January 6, 2021 insurrection. After Brexit, some turned to astrology for indications of what might come next.”
But magic today isn’t limited to its stereotypes. In a recent interview with Baukunst's current reseacher-in-residence Toby Shorin shares the thought that magic exists today in our relationship to many connected points: “I think that the encroachment of science can basically never eradicate magic, because magic has to deal with symbols and meaning…And it's because we see something and it means something bigger to us that it seems to possess causal power of that.”
One could also argue technologies of today embody magic more than they ever have—and perhaps as such, we’ve never been more susceptible to their powers. How is tarot, a tool where people rely on communication with a force outside of themselves in order to understand something better within themselves, any different than the modern phenomenon of asking ChatGPT for advice on managing a relationship? And could we not regard smartphones as representing a form of “dark magic,” subtly transforming our behaviors and amplifying anxieties over time?
In Issue 2 of Baukunst Stories, we explore:
- Why does magic remain undermined in Western thought, even as we fall under technological spells?
- How can magic be reclaimed as a tool for creativity and understanding?
- What does it mean to embed magic in future innovations?
Our latest issue will investigate three facets of magic:
Magic as Experience
Opinions on each topic included are highly complex and subjective; this is merely a visual exploration of the different ways magic is embedded within technological experiences.
As technology advances it becomes more seamless, and much like magic, its inner workings become ever more mysterious. How can creative technologists take influence from magical principles to create magical experiences? What must we consider about the darker sides of magic and its parallels in the world of technology?
For Issue 2, we’ll talk to companies within the Baukunst portfolio that embody magical brand experience to learn from, and explore with writer and media theorist Andrew McLuhan on media’s magical influence on our behavior and our technologies.
Magic as Mechanics, Tool and Guide
Just as a hammer is used to secure a nail, magic is a tool to navigate forces beyond logic, offering a means to explore emotions and mysteries we can’t easily rationalize. Philosopher R.G. Collingwood put it well, describing magic as “any practice in which we evoke and sustain emotions for a practical purpose.”
Is Tarot an unparalleled tool for tuning into your intuition as a creative professional and your own executive decision making? Can astrology help you find greater harmony with your professional collaborators? In this issue, we’ll explore the potential for magic to be reclaimed as a guide, and where some of its modalities can be applied in a professional context.
Relational Magic
Magic emphasizes our interconnectedness with the universe, and asks us to consider unknown forces to better understand ourselves. In this issue we explore, how can we improve future technologies if we consider culture’s effect on our behaviors and the consequences technology has on humanity? How might communities act as catalysts for change?
In the latest issue of Stories, we'll dive into all of the above and more—stay tuned to our Stories section for more Magic features coming soon.