The Yoga of Art – Spirituality and Art Practice
Synopsis of an article in: Jahrbuch der Fakultät Gestaltung, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, 2015
The quest for a fulfilling and meaningful life has become a prominent topic even in mainstream news media. Title stories in DER SPIEGEL, FOCUS, DIE ZEIT have repeatedly focussed on various facets of this matter stating an urgent need of orientation in society and a rapidly growing interest in spiritual experience. A broad market for all kinds of approaches and techniques has developed promising the well-being of body and soul, for example with yoga, meditation and seminars to explore the self. For an increasing number of people this has become part of a contemporary life style. How does this trend show in art? Motivated by personal experience I began to examine metaphysical aspects in art. The findings have since been a source of inspiration for my work as an artist and lecturer.
In 2013, I conducted a workshop for Ph.D.-students with the title »Spirituality and Art Practice«. My lecture was centered around motifs such as light, fire, love, emptiness, sound, dance, sexuality, nature, all known from spiritual and religious traditions as being keys to transcendental experience, and I suggested to examine picture material from art and visual culture in order to discuss the spiritual methods, aesthetics and content appearing in them. Personal statements from artists such as Bill Viola, Marina Abramovic, James Turell and Wolfgang Laib confirm a steady interest in exploring, appropriating and reflecting paths to transcendental experience. This includes references to the origins of art in religious cult, to shamanism, prophecy, priesthood, healing, mysticism, alchemy and magic.
Probing into a terrain that extends to the limits of rational thinking one is quickly confronted with the inevitable problem of precise definition and with experiences that cannot be validated objectively. An array of stimulating questions invites discussion, such as: Under what conditions are spiritual and artistic practices compatible? Are there similarities, ties and creative potentials to be developed? Can this be the subject of artistic research? What consequences for the production and perception of art has the shift of the observation perspective attained in contemplation and meditation? Could this change of perspective lead to a convergence of scientific and artistic ways of working?