Intimate Immensity
installation
mythology
body extension
death
installation
mythology
body extension
death
06/2022 Rotterdam/Katowice
Death, through the current lack of cultivation of rituals associated with it, became isolated from the life cycle that used to begin, continue and end in the domestic space. Due to contemporary changes in cultural norms, death is perceived as something to be faced rather than consciously celebrated. Family and loved ones don’t take part in the pre-burial rituals anymore, therefore becoming detached from the intimate and communal experience of death and the farewell process. In the past it was the family who used to prepare the body in the pre-burial ritual, thus being part of the final farewell to the deceased. Currently, the rapid isolation of the body from the domestic space and the pre-funeral activities taken over by specialised funeral homes causes a discontinuity in the life cycle in the domestic space.
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The spatial perception of the ritual includes its materiality and the performative element, the rite itself. The performance of the ritual consists of actions conducted within the space. Consequently, spatiality is an integral part of the ritual distinguished and perceived in the process of performing it. (Brown, 2003, p. 4) The Slavic pre-burial ritual, part of which I’ve observed in the family picture, knits tangible elements of death with the aspects of the performativity of ritual, thus representing the dialogue of both in the domestic space. The reflection on this specific ritual leads me to the observation that, through the presence of death in material and performative elements, death circulates in the domestic space.
Are there other Slavic rituals related to death but not involving the pre-burial process? Was there a Slavic ritual through which the element of death could be cultivated in the domestic space beyond the pre-burial phase? Was death circulating in the Slavic domestic interior in everyday life?
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Death, through the current lack of cultivation of rituals associated with it, became isolated from the life cycle that used to begin, continue and end in the domestic space. Due to contemporary changes in cultural norms, death is perceived as something to be faced rather than consciously celebrated. Family and loved ones don’t take part in the pre-burial rituals anymore, therefore becoming detached from the intimate and communal experience of death and the farewell process. In the past it was the family who used to prepare the body in the pre-burial ritual, thus being part of the final farewell to the deceased. Currently, the rapid isolation of the body from the domestic space and the pre-funeral activities taken over by specialised funeral homes causes a discontinuity in the life cycle in the domestic space.
The spatial perception of the ritual includes its materiality and the performative element, the rite itself. The performance of the ritual consists of actions conducted within the space. Consequently, spatiality is an integral part of the ritual distinguished and perceived in the process of performing it. (Brown, 2003, p. 4) The Slavic pre-burial ritual, part of which I’ve observed in the family picture, knits tangible elements of death with the aspects of the performativity of ritual, thus representing the dialogue of both in the domestic space. The reflection on this specific ritual leads me to the observation that, through the presence of death in material and performative elements, death circulates in the domestic space.
Are there other Slavic rituals related to death but not involving the pre-burial process? Was there a Slavic ritual through which the element of death could be cultivated in the domestic space beyond the pre-burial phase? Was death circulating in the Slavic domestic interior in everyday life?
