Magic Show

May 2 — Jul 25, 2026
Field:

Exhibition

Description:

Rosamunde Bordo’s solo exhibition Magic Show brought together new metal-cast, woodworked, blown glass, and sewn objects, alongside videoworks. These forms resemble clues or magical instruments, positioning the figures of the detective and the magician as corresponding frameworks for making meaning through intuition and association, iteration, and sleight of hand.

Magic Show built on Bordo’s ongoing project The Denise File (2018–), an interdisciplinary work of serial detective fiction written through physical space and material form. The Denise File evolved from Bordo’s interaction with a collection of found postcards addressed to a woman named Denise. With each chapter, Bordo responds by materializing objects, sourcing found items, and constructing installations. Paradoxically, through this, Denise becomes increasingly real, even as the same process of artistic invention renders her ever more fictive.

In Magic Show, ritual and investigation unfolded in parallel. The works function as talismans holding material, linguistic, and supernatural resonances, while also acting as evidence of Denise’s existence. Together, they constituted the dispersed ingredients for a “potion” within the gallery space, one that corresponded and communed with Denise, conjuring her presence.

Working across craft- and time-based processes, Bordo approaches material practices as a reciprocal action between inner reality and the external environment. By learning to work with her hands in new ways, Bordo uncovers further aspects of the enigmatic Denise, who continues to emerge through tactile forms. Drawing on esoteric knowledge traditions, the works operate as conduits for sympathetic transference—where objects and their traces act upon one another, and upon the viewer, across distance. In doing so, relationships between part and whole, microcosm and macrocosm, come into focus, opening onto speculative encounters extending beyond empirical perception.

A commissioned text by Lara Mimosa Montes titled “M / A / G / I / C S-P-E-L-L” (2026) accompanied the exhibition.

Curated by Kiel Torres.

Presented with support from the Audain Foundation. 

Documents:

Wide shot from outside the gallery from the foyer looking through the open doors. The open gallery space shows a second black room in the distance. In the front gallery space, the walls are white with artwork on the left wall. On the foyer wall beside the gallery doors is a rectangular display case playing a green-tinted video of murky water.
A frontal view of a white-framed digital display mounted on a white wall. It shows a green-tinted video of murky water. Behind its semi-transparent surface there is a blown glass object, holding a lock of synthetic hair.
A wide view shows the white gallery with a wooden floor and high windows on the right. A round table with a rust-coloured velvet tablecloth stands in the centre. On the left, a wooden hand-shaped sculpture and a hanging crimson cloth are on the wall, and a dark doorway and a mirrored triangular frame are at the back.
At the center of the room, a blown glass sculpture sits on a round table with a rust-coloured velvet tablecloth. Two wooden hand-shaped sculptures hang on the wall on the left, one with a crimson cloth draped from it. A dark doorway is at the back, and a mirrored triangular frame is on the wall on the right.
A close-up view of a blown glass sculpture on a round table draped in a rust-coloured velvet tablecloth. A ring of glass tubes holds a pentagram-shaped frame and five upright glass forms. One has a blue spiral coil, and another has green-tinted spikes. A triangular frame hangs on the wall behind.
In close view, a looping clear glass tube surrounds a blue glass rod wrapped in a clear spiral coil. A goblet-shaped glass vessel is out of focus on the right. A rust-coloured velvet tablecloth and a glass rod structure are visible below.
A clear glass flask with yellow-green tinted spikes is mounted on a twisted glass stem, shown up close. A pentagram-shaped frame of glass rods spreads out beneath it over a rust-coloured velvet tablecloth. Other glass forms are blurred in the background.
A heart-shaped glass vessel topped with a small organically-shaped knob is shown in a close-up. It stands on a frame of glass rods above a rust-coloured velvet tablecloth. The clear glass catches the light with the pale green liquid inside.
Crafted from light wood, a wavy hand-shaped sculpture is mounted on a white wall. A fine silver chain hangs from the fingertips. Small silver shapes are attached to the chain, including a winged cherub.
A partial close-up of a fine silver chain draped from a wooden sculpture with finger-like extensions. Small symbol charms are attached to the chain, including a winged cherub. The wall is white.
In a dark room, a large table is lit by a projection of tarot cards laid out in a spread. A small triangular cutout panel glows on the wall behind. On the right, a bright doorway opens onto a brightly lit room with a wooden hand sculpture holding a hanging red cloth on the wall.
A wide view of a dimly-lit room. At right, a low rectangular table is lit by a projection of tarot cards laid out in a spread. On the left, a small silver pendant hangs on the wall in a soft pool of light. The darkness makes the lit table and pendant seem to float.
A detailed shot showing a silver necklace with the name “Denise” in cursive lettering. It hangs against a dark wall. The thin chain forms an angular, open shape, and a small star charm set with a chartreuse gem is attached to the chain on the upper right.
In the dark gallery room, a small bronze duck is on a floating black shelf, lit by a cone of dim light. On the right, a triangular opening in the wall glows orange. The two light sources draw the eye across the dark space.
A close-up shot of a small bronze duck stands on a black floating square shelf. Spotlight lighting highlights the bird’s rough surface. The warm glow on the metal surface of the duck feels precious against the darkness.
Seen through a triangular opening of a dark wall is a pink-hued gallery. A small jagged wood frame of yellow fabric hangs on the far side. A blown glass sculpture sits on a round table draped in a rust-coloured velvet tablecloth. The triangular opening frames the room like a window.
A wide shot of the gallery. In the middle of the room is a table covered in a red velvet tablecloth with a blown glass sculpture on top. The stems of the sculpture connect in a pentagram. A small jagged wood frame with yellow fabric hangs on the back wall. An open doorway leads to another room.
A close-up view of a wood and textile sculpture. A pale yellow quilted textile sits in a thin wooden frame on a white wall. The frame forms a jagged shape with pointed lower edges.

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We acknowledge the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations as traditional owners of the land upon which Western Front stands.

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