In many eras and cultures, art, sound and music have played a prominent role in the healing traditions of shamans, mystics and other healers. In this time of planetary crises, these cosmic restorative practices can contribute to a search for other, collective ways in which we can grieve and heal. The artists in the exhibition and the event program therefore invite us to experience the interdependence with our surrounding material world and the metaphysical realm in various magical and sensory ways.
In the exhibition, the artists bring enchanting worldviews to life through intimate, poetic and speculative stories. Their works are rooted in an ongoing investigation of magic that transcends any narrow definition of the term and manifests itself in material traces, diverse vocabularies and imagery, and in sound and music. Using critical imagination, energy transfer and ritual actions, the artists navigate through past, present and future. The works come from diverse backgrounds: from enchanting narratives to autobiographical elements, local perspectives and diasporic imaginations. What unites them is a future in which a binary worldview no longer plays a role. Some works address dominant narratives of science and history that have shaped our living environment. They explore ways in which narratives and practices of centuries of exploitation can be recast and revised. Other works rely on the idea that loss, suffering and deprivation will not end overnight, but suggest that we can alchemize them to create space for other, new forms of growth. Together, the artists invite us to experience different sensory experiences that show us what other, less individualistic forms of grief and healing can look, feel and sound like.
CACHE/SPIRIT, a project by electronic music duo Animistic Beliefs (Marvin Lalihatu and Linh Luu) and multimedia artist Jeisson Drenth, addresses issues surrounding bi-culturality, inherited family traumas and subjectivity in the digital age. The conversations between the artists that preceded the work are embedded in the local Rotterdam context. The installation is a sensory and spatial experience of images and forms of listening that simultaneously fascinate, challenge and invite reflection. The installation by Animistic Beliefs and Jeisson Drenth can be seen from 10 September to 17 October.
Natalia Sorzano's work Contesting Madness is also embedded in the local Rotterdam context. The installation's starting point is an exchange between people with different cultural backgrounds and spiritual practices. Sorzano's work explores 'scientific colonial' perceptions of mental well-being and illness, in order to shed light on mourning processes and healing methods that have long been in the shadow of institutionalized Western views on mental health.
In Mehraneh Atashi’s Seeding My Feet in the Chant of Bells, a garden of black-eyed beans and the suggested presence of a gardener evoke a personal and poetic form of animism. The plants may be rooted in local soil, but their seeds carry histories and memories of migration. In this installation, the beans grow on the vibrations of the universe and are thus connected to a cyclical ecosystem of death and new life.
The Dust of Venus by Anna Hoetjes consists of clay tablets that have the same chemical composition as Venus, often considered the 'sister planet' of Earth. The inscriptions on the tablets refer to ancient star charts and venerations of Venus from various cultures. The glaze on the tiles of Aphrodite Terra refers, among other things, to the colour spectrum technique used by the first female astronomers to analyse the light of stars.
With the work As Far as Eye Can See, Shertise Solano builds an ever-changing world full of frenzied and mythical figures that emerge and move in an infinite universe without a specific time and place, beginning or end.
Attempts for Refuge, Narges Mohammadi’s monumental clay sculptures, represent important places and memories from the artist’s youth. The clay that has been carefully applied to the two large wooden structures – a corridor and a tower of mattresses – shows traces of the meditative energy transfer between the artist and the material.
Finally, with her drawings, Tja Ling Hu brings to life a magical universe in which people are united with the mystical truths of the natural world.
The exhibition is accompanied by an online and live programme of small-scale gatherings, listening sessions and podcasts that invite participation and discussion, and further thinking along the lines set out by the artworks in the exhibition. Participants include Mourning School and Raoni Muzho Saleh. Keep an eye on our website and social media for more information.