Seminar in Helsinki, Finland, 27–28 May 2026
Images and visual tokens have long captivated the human mind. Throughout history, they have been believed to possess the power to influence reality and to serve as mediators between humans and the supernatural. Magical images – many types of which have historically been referred to as talismans – exhibit a remarkable diversity of forms, media, and contexts of use. Their rich and enduring tradition traces its origins to ancient cultures and classical antiquity, extending all the way to the present day, when talismans continue to be traded across internet platforms.
Talisman images, typically engraved on stone or metal, were widely discussed in medieval European texts on astrological magic. With the advent of the early modern period, printed versions of many of these texts were produced (often as part of a broader work, for instance Camillo Leonardi’s Speculum lapidum). Through such means, talismanic traditions entered new cultural contexts and became entangled in evolving scientific and religious discourses. Foundational medieval works like the Picatrix have garnered scholarly attention, and preliminary research has also begun to shed light on the scope and complexity of early modern traditions of image magic. Nevertheless, the corpus of image magic is still relatively understudied, particularly regarding the transmission and transformation of medieval traditions into the early modern period. Moreover, research is fragmented across disciplines, each offering distinct perspectives, which further complicates a comprehensive understanding of the field.
The KuKu project (Unillustrated Images / Kuvittamattomat kuvat) will organize an international seminar in Helsinki, Finland on 27-28 May 2026, focusing on image magic and its transmission, written culture, iconography, and cultural, social, and scientific contexts in the early modern period. Speakers selected for the seminar are invited to submit their articles for consideration in a themed issue on talisman images, to be published in Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism in January 2028.
The seminar will provide a platform for discussions addressing the current state of research on magical images and talismans, including methodologies, future directions, and the potential of interdisciplinary approaches: What is the position of magical images within art history and iconography? How do disciplines such as esoteric studies, religious studies, social history, or the history of science engage with magical images? Does the popularization of learned magic, observed in early modern magic studies, manifest in the evolution of image magic? Can these perspectives be integrated, and what are the next key steps in the historiography of talismans?
We particularly welcome multidisciplinary approaches, drawing e.g. from art history, manuscript studies, intellectual history, philology, archaeology, anthropology, and theology. Our main focus is on the late medieval and early modern periods, but we also welcome contributions addressing the ancient, early medieval, Byzantine, modern, and contemporary periods, as well as longue durée approaches.
Relevant topics and themes include:
1) The transmission history of image magic, including e.g.:
• The transmission of magical images through time, geographies, and languages, including editorial and translation histories (especially survival and mutations of medieval traditions in early modern Europe)
• Comparative studies of talismanic iconography across ancient, polytheistic, Islamic, Jewish, and Christian (both Western and Byzantine) traditions
2) The power and role of images:
• The power of images in medieval and early modern culture, e.g. talismans entangling with religious and apotropaic visual traditions
• Shifting ontologies and theoretical debates surrounding images with supposed magical power
• The role of images as mediators of influence in the history of magic and in other visual traditions
3) Social, cultural, scientific and religious frameworks, including e.g.:
• Reception and reinterpretation of image magical texts and images in changing intellectual, scientific, religious, devotional and political contexts
• Magical images in lapidaries, astrological texts, medical texts, natural histories and other adjacent contexts
• Image magic, idolatry and iconoclasms
• Magical images in fiction and art
• The interplay of talismans with broader visual traditions and art
4) Material approaches
• The materiality and agency of magical images
• Collecting and using images and texts
• Magical images in collections and Wunderkammers
• The mediums of magical images: texts, oral tradition, items (plates, stones, medals, figures, statuettes, paintings etc.)
Submissions exploring the history of nonwestern image magical traditions and the influence of historical image magic on the present day are also welcome, as are contributions that examine the methodology, theoretical basis or historiography of research on magical images. We also warmly welcome article proposals that approach image magic and its transmission from alternative perspectives.
Please submit an abstract of no more than 150 words as a PDF or Word file to miika.t.kuha@jyu.fi by November 15, 2025. Please include your contact information, institutional affiliation, and academic degree in the attached file.
Notifications of acceptance will be sent by November 30, 2025.
The KuKu project (Unillustrated Images / Kuvittamattomat kuvat, 2025-2027) explores the rich and varied traditions of talismanic image magic in the early modern period. We examine the transmission of texts discussing magical images, their scientific and magical contexts, reception history, the continuity of iconographies, and the presence of talismanic visual elements in Renaissance and Baroque art. We are particularly interested in the cases of textual, unillustrated transmission of images. In order to map out the early modern paths of talismanic knowledge, the project combines methods from a variety of disciplines such as art history, philology, cultural history, and book history.
Hankkeesta Koneen säätiön sivuilla.
Lauri Ockenström, PhD, Principal Investigator
Miika Kuha, PhD
Sara Norja, PhD
Janika Aho, PhD
Katariina Lehto, MA