Teaser for Magical Thinking (In Production) by Laura Parnes

Magic Thinking

2023-2026

Premier at Hauser & Wirth.

“If Laura Parnes’ “experiMENTAL” art and its ingenious recruitment of video is, as Chris Kraus once inimitably put it, cinematic to the extent that “cinema itself is the dead girl dancing on Laura Parnes’ arm,” then let’s take this premiere of the tour-de-force that is Parnes’ Magic Thinking as a chance to do some dancing with the deadly in the dark into which Parnes dares to take us.”

-Jill Casid

Magic Thinking is a multi-platform project that is steeped in the current moment when climate catastrophe, the COVID pandemic, and the rise of fundamentalism combine to contribute to an apocalyptic aura. With this aura, magical thinking can become a survival strategy, creating surprising bedfellows. In particular, the confluence of the far right and the “wellness” world.

Magic Thinking follows the relationship between Doug (played by Becca Blackwell), a human optimizer, and Nancy (Laine Rettmer), a meditation class teacher, as they grasp for certainty in the face of unrest. Their spiritual journey is tainted by hyper-masculine self-help gurus, burned-out ex-climate activists, psychedelic-pushing big tech entrepreneurs, and viciously Darwin-obsessed wellness influencers. As they search for “Truth,” the limits of self-actualization become increasingly clear.