A Darkened Room: From Ritual to Theatre
This season's Study Sessions 'A Darkened Room: On Feminism, Rituals, Death and the Occult' touch upon Linder’s wide constellation of artistic influences and further explores the subjects presented in the exhibition. The topics discussed by guest speakers span from feminism, surrealism, death and the occult, as well as rituals, ancient cultures and magic.
For this Study Session, Ben Judd will respond to Gallery 3: The House of Unrest, in the exhibition The House of Fame. The session will focus on four areas within which art and the occult merge: Dream machines and magic lanterns; Mesmerism and group immersion; Altered states; and Describing the invisible. We will examine the grey area between performance and ritual, by looking at artists and practitioners who reuse the signs, codes and mannerisms of rituals, rites and ceremonies. Through their reimagining, these events, both everyday and profound, are used as readymades, re-exploring their value and cultural status.
From Ritual to Performance will explore the paradox of the parameters and freedom that self-imposed ritual provides. In relation to the cultural and historical baggage that these ritualistic acts suggest, the role of the initiate will be explored, a position which has a strangely exempted status.
As part of this Study Session, spiritualist medium Nikki Gunn invited volunteers to participate in a seance between 7.30-8.30pm. This involved delivering messages to people around the table from their loved ones in spirit, followed by some table-tilting. We hope that you will stay to either participate in or observe this part of the event.
Ben Judd uses performance and video to examine his relationship to specific individuals and groups; recently the choreographic and the rhythmic has been used as a method of constructing temporary communities. The work explores how the ritualistic activities of marginalised groups and individuals can be extended into an action realised by actors (one that itself hovers on the border between immersion and a more self-conscious, knowing state), and how, in turn, this action can be interpreted in a moving image work. Positioning himself and the audience as both participant and observer, he engages the grey area between ritual and performance, searching for an unreachable and idealised state of community.
Judd has exhibited widely in the UK and abroad, including: ICA, London; Whitstable Biennial, UK; Tokyo Opera City Gallery, Tokyo; The Barbican Art Gallery, London; Royal Academy, London; International Center of Photography, New York; Impakt Festival, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany; The Photographers’ Gallery, London; Kunstbunker, Nuremberg, Germany; Whitechapel Gallery, London; Rotterdam International Film Festival; The David Roberts Art Foundation, London; Zendai MoMA, Shanghai; Chisenhale Gallery, London. www.benjudd.com
Nikki Gunn is a spiritualist medium who through her work communicates with the spirit world to bring proof of eternal life and to help those who are in need of spiritual guidance or who are coming to terms with the loss of a loved one. Nikki first became aware of spiritualism in 2000 when a friend took her to a local spiritualist church. After numerous visits to mediums and spiritualist churches, Nikki found her own awareness to spirit was opening and in 2003 began her spiritual development with Donna Stewart, who has supported and guided her since.
Nikki is currently based in South Lincolnshire and works in Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and surrounding areas as a platform medium. She also offers one to one private sittings and group bookings. www.nikkigunn.co.uk
Event:
A Darkened Room: From Ritual to TheatreDates:
17 Apr 2018, 6.30pm–8.30pmSupported by:
