Our Magic Circle I

“Like everything else that transcends the bounds of logical and deliberative judgement, myth and poetry both move in the play-sphere. This is not to say a lower sphere, for it may well be that myth, so playing, can soar to heights of insight beyond the reach of reason.”

• Johann Huizinga, Homo Ludens, 1950

We started American Cyborg as an artist collective in 2015, inspired by Donna Haraway and Gertrude Stein. Our magic circle is about building a creative workspace, elevated from the habits of the ad-based, capitalist internet. Our goal is to find money for artists so they can focus on making art. We use these two forms from art and literature — the Mandala and the Heroic Cycle — as a way to structure and motivate our progress.

The Mandala and the Heroic Cycle are two Magic Circles, and we are blending those two images to create two perpetually-redrafted diagrams of our own: the Cyborg Temple and the Cyborg Cycle.

American Cyborg is at the center of our Magic Circle — the organizational, structural DNA. Rookery is the primary entrance for online visitors. Excelsior! is for online community members. Peridot Green is our temple entrance — our homebase in NYC. Big Cypress is our outdoor network across America.