Johan Huizinga’s phrase “magic circle” circumscribes cultural fields whose logic manifests itself in rules and rituals that mark a distance from normative societal orders. At the same time, the economic and political realities surrounding the “magic circle” act upon it, are renegotiated within it, and sometimes result in rule changes of the sort that this issue of TEXTE ZUR KUNST scrutinizes by comparing two of the practices Huizing approach with his concept: art and sports. The contributions examine a variety of historical moments and cultural phenomena, including Impressionism’s revolt against the academic disciplining of art; physical-performance-focused artistic practices that dismantle misogynistic traditions; platform capitalism’s effects on the politics of the body supported by digital technology; and the use of technically generated imagery to enforce fairness in sports competition.