12 September – 22 October 2016
Artists: Matthew Cowan, Xin Cheng with Chris Berthelsen, Philippa Emery, Bernardo Oyarzún, Brydee Rood, Harpreet Singh and Sam Thomas.
Curated by Balamohan Shingade
The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to go sharper. – W.B. Yeats
Sacred Economies draws our attention to how experiences of the sacred manifest through social transactions. It is interested in how ritualistic social movements give life to events that can transform or transcend our ordinary ways of thinking about and participating in the world. How do transactions of forms like poetry or folklore, which hold little monetary value, create an economy of ‘sacred’ moments? How do networks of ritualized action hold the potential to create moments which are more than the sum of their parts? What resemblance do the creative arts hold to the industries of spiritual and religious experiences? For these artists, sacredness and everyday magic is about transitioning to a more connected way of being in this world through gift economies, ritual exchange and the restoration of the commons.
Image: Matthew Cowan, The Dance of the Tractor & the Chocoł, 2008.