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Is it possible to consider art-making as a spiritual practice independent of explicit religious belief or content? This open access collection establishes a new paradigm that changes the conversation surrounding the spiritual significance of art. Where earlier research has focused on the religious significance of secular artworks, this innovative volume turns its attention to the role of the artist, and to specific examples of art practices, putting them into conversation with particular ritual practices.By creating a web of connections that emerge across multiple disciplines and practices, a team of scholars and artist shed new light on the way art-making and ritual embody non-discursive forms of understanding. Drawing on the work of scholars who argue that ritual practice is central to religious identities, they use close analysis of specific examples to address philosophical issues about the nature of knowledge and spirituality and the relationship between them.Bringing a practice-centered approach to the study of religion and the arts, this is a rich and in-depth examination of the possibility that art has spiritual meanings that are endemic to the practice of art-making itself. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Templeton Religious Trust.
List of contents
Figures Notes on Contributors Acknowledgments Introduction - Lexi Eikelboom (Haverford College, USA)Part One: Frames1. Religion, Art, Ritual: The History of Concepts, the Operation of Power - David Newheiser (Australian Catholic University, Australia)
2. The Challenge of Approaching Art-Making Through Practice and Discourse - Lexi Eikelboom (Haverford College, USA)
Part Two: Practices Movement 3. Movement in the Catholic Eucharist: Vulnerability and Precarity - Natalie Carnes (Baylor University, USA)
Reflection - Heather Hesterman
4. Movement in Heather Hesterman's Community Practice: Collective Attention and Practical Knowledge - Alison Fitchett-Climenhaga (Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry, Australian Catholic University, Australia)
Time 5. The Temporality of a Medieval Brahmanical Procession: Ritual Time and the Time of "Ritual" - Marko Geslani (University of South Carolina, USA)
Reflection - Adam Lee
6. Time in Adam Lee's Painting Practice: An Art of Keeping Company - Alda Balthrop-Lewis (Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry, Australian Catholic University, Australia)
Medium 7. Medium in Transformation: Sermons, Video Recordings, and Arthur Jafa's
akingdoncomethas - Jonathan Anderson (Duke University, USA)
Reflection - Chris Bond
8. Medium in Chris Bond's Drawing Practice: Reproductive Negations - Killian Quigley (Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University, Australia)
Subtraction 9. Subtraction in Art and Ritual: Effacement, Desire, and Universalizing Gestures - Elayne Oliphant
Reflection - Live Particle
10. Subtraction in Live Particle's Somatic Practice: The Poetics of Heidegger's Abyss - Maurizio Toscano (Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, Australia)
Invention 11. Invention in
Aleinu: On the Creation and Transformation of Ritual - Molly Farneth (Haverford College, USA)
Reflection - Dominic Redfern
12. Invention in Dominic Redfern's Video Practice: The Art of Discovery - Benjamin R. DeSpain (Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry, Australian Catholic University, Australia)
Attention 13. Attention in Rituals of Menace: Homeric Oath-Making Rituals and the 2014 Sotloff Beheading Video - Margo Kitts (College of Liberal Arts, Hawai'i Pacific University, USA)
Reflection - Harry Nankin
14. Attention in Harry Nankin's Photography Practice: Assisting Nature to Write Itself - Jason Goroncy (Whitley College, Australia)
Listening 15. Knowing Through Liturgical Practice: Spiritual Poesis - Graham Ward (University of Oxford, UK)
Reflection - Mark Newbound
16. Deep Listening in Mark Newbound's Video Practice: Embodied Knowledge Production from Decolonial Perspectives - Enqi Weng (Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University, Australia)
Part Three: DisciplinesSocial Science 17. Art Performances and Religious Rituals: How Transformative Experiences Can Foster Knowledge - Valerie van Mulukom (Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University, UK), Armin Geertz, Robert Clark, and Miguel Farias
Reflection - Sarah Tomasetti
Art History 18. Theorizing Ritual and Art After Modernity - Deborah Lewer (University of Glasgow, UK)
Part Four: Conclusion19. The Power of Unknowing in Art and Religion - David Newheiser (Australian Catholic University, Australia)
Bibliography Index
About the author
Lexi Eikelboom is a Senior Research Fellow in Religion and Theology at the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry at Australian Catholic University, Australia.David Newheiser is Associate Professor of Religion at Florida State University.
