Ritual Dream of The Shaman
Martina Cleary
Ritual Dream of the Shaman (2019) is a six-channel video installation, including video projection mapping to allow presentation on screens and surfaces of varying scales and materials. The running time is (18min) , presented on loop. The original soundtrack is a composition written and performed by Irish humanist researcher, writer, folklorist, experimental archaeologist, and musician Billy Mag Fhloinn, who also features as the shaman. Contemporary dance artist Isabella Oberlander also participated in the work, as Elen of the Thresholds, a figure which emerges on the threshold or crossroads, as a harbinger of change. Thematically the work explores ritual and it’s reinterpretation, as a means of reconnection with a more ecologically balanced understanding of human interaction with the natural environment. Re-imagined and reinvented actions are used as a creative means of tapping into deep memory, whether genetic or cultural. Here ritualised performance is a creative action to find meaning within the present; to reconnect with a sense of personal agency and collective purpose, at a time when individual detachment, alienation and anxiety, fuelled by disillusionment with institutionalised forms of collective belief or action are endemic. Ritual performance is treated as a generative choice, and used within the work to re-imagine a sense of meaning, belonging, re-connection and route to a realignment of values and consciousness. This includes drawing influence from older traditions more psychologically cognisant of balanced human relationship with other life on the planet. These performative elements within the work also explore the agency and role of the artist as shaman, and shaman as artist, within the context of contemporary neo-pagan and eco-activist movements. Theoretically the piece is also informed by theories on generative myth-making of Pierre-Yves Jacobin, Jungian ideas on the active imagination, and the feminist research of Mary Condren into the socio-political construction of patriarchal theology as a system of material control and enforcement. The work was first shown in The Luan Gallery, Athlone from June-August (2019). In addition to the video, the installation also includes found and 3D printed artefacts, related to the performances on screen.
Ritual Dream of The Shaman (2019) Six-channel video installation (18min) Installation view, The Luan Gallery Athlone.
Ritual Dream of The Shaman (2019) Channel 1 projection directly onto gallery wall (385x220cm), with shadows cast through hand painted trees. Installation view, The Luan Gallery Athlone.
Ritual Dream of The Shaman (2019) Channel 2 (left), on maxi-white front projection screen (185x220cm), Channel 3 (right) on MDF screen (125x90cm), & Channel 4 on sphere (40x40cm) plus gallery wall (200x220cm). Installation view, The Luan Gallery Athlone.
Ritual Dream of The Shaman (2019) Channel 5 (left) on crystal rear projection screen (200x140cm), & Channel 6 (right) on curved MDF & plywood screen (220x125x30cm), Installation view, The Luan Gallery Athlone.
Ritual Dream of The Shaman (2019) Six-channel video installation Installation view, The Luan Gallery Athlone.
Ritual Dream of The Shaman © Martina Cleary (2019)