Research plan 2010
The roots of art and the sacred are intertwined. Eventually the sacred has been positioned inside the frame of religion and art through modernisation inside its own structures. For postmodern art the only sacred thing was secularisation.
Still the question of the meaning of life does not leave us alone. What is the most valuable thing for us, when the church, the king, the monoculture or the father does not decide it for us anymore; when survival is not an issue anymore; when every moment of our lives is the performance our own choices? Who will save us, when the world starts to break under the weight of our entertrainment? Is there still something that is not for sale, that transgresses the limits of our possibilities, that is unbreakable? Or vice versa – is there someone to whom nothing is sacred?
Sacred, like performances, slips through our fingers and leaves its invisible trace in our being. It is so personal, that when shared, it easily turns into hypocracy and petrifies into organizational stuctures. It is shrouded in its own sacrilege. Art, while transgressing our borders, destroys the sacred born from them, while the sacred destroys the freedom of art - and neither can survive without the other. Does art construct a religion out of itself? Does the sacred survive only when it is hidden and disappear when performed? Or is the lifeblood of performances in the ways they are sanctified? Are sacred acts performances or performances sacred acts? Can the sacred be performed?
ACTIVITIES
Workshop on Exposure to the Sacred
The workshop was organized on Thursdays at 18-21 pm and was focused on exposure to the sacred and its performances. The workshop was open to anybody.
PERFORMANCES
12 etudes on everlasting life
Practicing eternity monthly throughout the year.
Urbania
Mobile performance on urban rituals. March.
Belief
Personal encounterings with a guide. April, August and November.
Essay on Dante’s Purgatory
Performative installation in seven parts based on The Purgatory of Dante. April.
Henki
Experiences of breathing for one spectator at a time. October.
Naked/Sacred
A research on the relations of nudity, spiritual practice and sacredness. October.
Sacred City
A co-operational project with japanese artists searching sacred experiences in the urban environment. November.
Holyday
A performative event gathering the work done throughout the year. November.