How is art best understood in connection with its use in religious, political rituals of a culture? What is the meaning of art in relation to its ceremonial context? How can such works be portrayed in such a way that viewers in a museum will be able to understand this critical aspect of their meaning? How has modern curation become an art of it's own, and how has it made art more accessible to the public?
The Art of Ritual
ritual (noun)
...the prescribed order of performing a ceremony, especially one characteristic of a particular religion or church
...a series of actions or type of behavior regularly and invariably followed by someone
"Ritual is in fact an inevitable component of culture, extending from the largest-scale social and political processes to the most intimate aspects of our self-experience. Yet within this universality, the inherent multiplicity of ritual practices, both between and within cultures, also reflects the full diversity of the human experience. It was then neither pure coincidence nor primitivist exoticization that placed ritual at the center of the development of anthropological thought: it was instead ritual’s rich potential insights as an object of sociocultural analysis."
Cultural Anthropology,American Anthropological Association (http://www.culanth.org/curated_collections/4-ritual
...the prescribed order of performing a ceremony, especially one characteristic of a particular religion or church
...a series of actions or type of behavior regularly and invariably followed by someone
"Ritual is in fact an inevitable component of culture, extending from the largest-scale social and political processes to the most intimate aspects of our self-experience. Yet within this universality, the inherent multiplicity of ritual practices, both between and within cultures, also reflects the full diversity of the human experience. It was then neither pure coincidence nor primitivist exoticization that placed ritual at the center of the development of anthropological thought: it was instead ritual’s rich potential insights as an object of sociocultural analysis."
Cultural Anthropology,American Anthropological Association (http://www.culanth.org/curated_collections/4-ritual
Case Study: The Art of the Americas
Integral to the culture of many Native American tribes was ritual dance, which was meant to call upon guardian spirits. These dances incorporated elaborate dress and striking masks, which added to the spectacle of the ritual.
The Hamatsa society utilized Hamatsa masks within their particular dance, which re-enacted the taming of Hamatsa, a cannibal spirit, and his attendant spirits, within the ceremony of initiation of new members to the society. Using masks like this heightened the drama and vibrancy of Native American rituals, which reflect the concepts of their culture and beliefs.
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Attributed to Willie Seaweed, Kwakwaka’waka Bird Mask, Alert Bay, Vancouver Island, Canada. Prior to 1951. Cedar wood, cedar bark, feathers, and fiber, 10” x 72” x 15”. Collection of the Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver, Canada.
Costume art can be hard to curate effectively, because the museum setting can lend little to portray the “vivacity” these pieces would have in performance. To showcase pieces like these, curators could dress mannequins in the traditional manner in an attempt to translate the context of these pieces.
In other cases, ritualistic art is not meant to be portrayed to the public, much less in museums. This applies to the sand painting tradition of the Navajo tribe, as sand painting was made in association with the chants of shaman-singers in healing and blessing ceremonies. Shamanism was an essential channel for ancient cultures to communicate with their deities, and remains an important aspect of ritualistic art. The sand paintings are meant to prompt the restoration of harmony to the world during these ceremonies, but were also meant to be destroyed by nightfall of the day on which they were made.
Hosteen Klah, Whirling Log Ceremony, sand painting; tapestry by Mrs. Sam Manuelito. Navajo, c. 1925. Wool, 5’5” x 5’10”. Heard Museum, Phoenix Arizona.
Sometimes, curating ritualistic art would require a curator to provide modern interpretations of a ritualistic tradition or otherwise exhibit an innovative twist on the medium of the ritualistic art in order to create permanence. Either way, blurbs of explanation could accompany these pieces to establish the historical significance and proceedings of the ritual. In the realm of sand painting, for example, Hosteen Klah, a more contemporary artist, began to incorporate sand painting into weaving, who used his new medium to expound on other ritualistic tradition and ceremonies of the Navajo culture.
| Ultimately, curation needs to contextualize the artworks within a time period and culture, and that's sometimes difficult in our contemporary society, where people are coming more and more detached from things that they might not understand or identify with. Cecily Cullen, a modern curator, attempts to put Native American culture and indigenous identity in a new light in her exhibition "Cross Currents." The artists that she exhibits use their art to ritualize their own expression and highlight how their culture is and should be portrayed, often incorporating ritualistic art. | Contemporary Interpretation"I’m contemporary, I’m Native American and I’m an artist." |
Case Study: The Art of Africa
Sometimes, photography is the most effective way to contextualize ritualistic art, and this was especially emphasized in the Africa chapter. Photography can show the spectacle of the performance and the active purpose of a ritualistic piece. Portraying ritualistic art in this way can also reveal the repercussions of traditional ritual in modern day, as these ceremonies and practices have carried on to the age of cameras.
Five Masks in Performance Dossi, Burkina Faso. Bra Culture, 1984. Wood, mineral pigments, and fiber, heigh approx 7’.
| A small number of traditional rituals and ceremonies remain in the contemporary societies of Africa, particularly marriage ceremonies. Marriage rituals are especially complex and conventional, as they are age-old practices, and also involve the whole community and many families. Scroll through National Geographic's Photo Gallery of African Marriage Rituals by Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher to get a glimpse of some beautifully ornate artwork and understand the context behind the photos. Often times, photography, as in this case, can also give a face to these rituals and capture the humanity within these rituals. |  Afar Daughter, Djibouti |
The Art of Curation
curate (etymology: from the Latin word, curare meaning "to take care")
... (n.) any ecclesiastic entrusted with the cure of souls,as a parish priest.
... (v.) to take charge of (a museum) or organize (an art exhibit)
... (v.) to pull together, sift through, and select for presentation
Four Steps of Effective Curation:
... (n.) any ecclesiastic entrusted with the cure of souls,as a parish priest.
... (v.) to take charge of (a museum) or organize (an art exhibit)
... (v.) to pull together, sift through, and select for presentation
Four Steps of Effective Curation:
- Preservation, protecting the heritage of art
- Selection of new art
- Connection to art history
- Displaying and organizing the work
Albert Barnes: the Barnes Foundation
Albert Barnes, who originally made his fortune off of a breakthrough pharmaceutical, serves as a model example of a connoisseur of curation. For Barnes, curation facilitated “the advancement of education and the appreciation of the fine arts,” so in turn, he devoted most of his personal wealth and livelihood to the development of the Barnes Foundation, which houses a vast collection of artworks from artists and cultures that span the globe. Barnes curated his works to emphasize patterns of color, light, line, and space within individual artworks and throughout ensembles. This provided a different lens through which to view the art, in all its cohesion and deviation. Barnes projected his own interpretations on his curation.
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The Alliance of American Museums reports that there are approx. 850 million visits to American museums on a yearly basis.
Modern museums and exhibitions have become ritualistic in their own rights.
According to Barnes, art could make you a better citizen. In my interpretation, this is because you are encountering and pondering different perspectives, which can often be portrayed through ritualistic art. But, ultimately, art represents humanity, no matter what or how you might practice.
“It’s the curator’s job to bridge the gap between the material they’re presenting and the people they’re presenting it to. Some things are more self evident than others, and it’s the job of the curator to provide as much or as little interpretation as the material needs." | |
This video essentially asks “What is a Curator?” and answers with a variety of interpretations. Most importantly, however, the video reveals the true purpose of curation and the obligations of curators in presenting and coordinating exhibitions. The video especially emphasizes the relationship between the artist and the viewers, and how it is up to the curator to translate the significance of the work and engage the viewers.
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