The Norman Rea Gallery is proud to announce its first exhibition of both the new academic year and the 2025/2026 Committee, ‘Unbound: Art of the Mystical and the Magical’.

The ‘Occult’ has existed in various forms for hundreds of years, encompassing hidden and esoteric knowledge which falls outside organised religion and science. These visionary practices have often been at the centre of radical and alternative subcultures, subverting and offering a powerful alternative to dominant masculine scientific rationality, particularly that which shaped a narrow perception of art. It has provided important spaces for women and alienated groups, challenging dominant belief systems which have at times kept these groups at the margins. Unbound invites audiences beyond the boundaries of perception - into the alternate world of the magical, mystical, and the occult. Exploring the rituals, practices and theories associated with esoteric thought, this exhibition considers how, within these imaginative spaces, artists propose the possibility of different and free worlds.

It draws upon a rich plethora of ideas, beliefs, theories and practices that have been suppressed in favour of the prioritisation of reason and knowledge in art. In an age where art risks becoming disconnected and disenchanted, Unbound aims to make these hidden worlds visible, honouring imaginative spaces. Influenced by the New Age movement, the spiritual revolutions of the 1960s and 70s, and alchemical thinking, this exhibition celebrates artistic processes that resist the linear, the rational and the predetermined; instead opening up new ways of seeing, making, and understanding art.

The opening night for Unbound will take place on Thursday, 2nd October, from 18:30 - 21:00. In addition to the exhibition, the Norman Rea Gallery will run a rich programme of events and workshops, further drawing upon the themes raised within the artworks displayed.

Derwent College, University Road, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, United Kingdom