<q>The Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will.</q>
The above quote, however fitting as a description of the business of branding and advertising, is actually Aleister Crowley’s definition of magic.
Between 2017 and 2019 I studied a masters degree at the Umeå Academy of Fine Arts. In my masters project I explored the relationship between technology and spiritualism by treating the branding process as contemporary use of magic and the personal brand as a tool of self transformation. The ongoing project <NEITHER> investigates Crowley’s field-transgressing definition by engaging in a branding process where I shape a personal brand based on myself as the client. 
Chaos magic, which is the kind of magic I am exploring in this project is not about religion, deities or ancient rituals, it is about transformation, about refusing rigidness and dogma and it is about breaking boundaries. Chaos magic can be seen as the child of traditional occult techniques and postmodernism. In chaos magic, belief is not treated as virtue or a goal in itself but rather a tool for manipulation of reality.
The technique in chaos magic I have been working with is the creation of sigils. The basic sigil is a glyph crafted from a desire or intention. In a charging process this glyph then becomes an object that wants your desire to be met. Now I’m not staying completely true to any documented procedure of sigil crafting in my process, however that approach is staying true to the practice of chaos magic which encourages the practitioner to find one’s own way.
Photo: Laura Cemin
The sigils can be found on the roll-ups and drawn on the screens, but there is also another form of sigil which has been even more central to the project. That is the hypersigil. It is a sigil that is not bound to any specific shape, such as a glyph, but is defined instead by being an extension of its creator. It is an extended persona of the person crafting it. It could be anything, a poem, a song, a self portrait or an Instagram account. The idea is that this extension of the self will affect the creator, that it will create a feedback loop so that the person shaping the hypersigil is also being shaped by it. It becomes an object with its own direction and will.
Photo: Laura Cemin
In my case the hypersigil is my personal brand <NEITHER>, I have created it with the intention that I will transform more and more into it over time. I think of it as a self fulfilling prophecy that I am writing about myself. The idea is that If something is believed to be true, the behaviour of the believer(s) can make it true. So by sharing it here at Behance and presenting it at exhibition venues and galleries I aim to gain believers in that prophecy about myself and eventually become <NEITHER>.
</body>
if. (Human_2k19=cyborg); {
<I_am_cyborg>
}
}
<I_M_CBRG>
img.src=gnosis_state
be_amateur
<parent=false
if. (belief=rigid); {
<be_blasphemous>
}
}
<B_BLSPHMS>
<I_M_BLSPHMS>
if. (id=limit); {
<break_bounderies>
}
}
<BRK_BNDRS>
<B_NEITHER>
The nature of the brand itself adds a secondary layer to the project in which new questions are posed about the freedom of virtual identity in relation to identity politics and privilege. <NEITHER> can be seen as a contemplation on Donna Haraway's concept of the Cyborg identity in our contemporary conversation about identity politics. <NEITHER> is certainly an offspring of the Cyborg and the name points to what I consider to be at the core of them both, a simultaneous acknowledgement and rejection of two given options. A rejection of western dualistic thought.
<NEITHER>.
<NEITHER>.
