The Curating Contemporary Art (CCA) MA exhibition Ritual Without Myth considered the potential of ritual as a catalyst for transformative experience. Bringing together a group of international artists the show featured the international artists Danai Anesiadou, Asco, Erick Beltrán, Lygia Clark, Joachim Koester, Patrizio Di Massimo, Ioana Nemes, Ocaña, Amalia Pica and Yeguas del Apocalipsis. Incorporating film and video, installation and sculpture, the exhibition included documentation of influential performance-based works, in particular processions, staged by artists outside the gallery.

The title of the exhibition was inspired by a quote from Lygia Clark, ‘I manipulate the rite without the myth.’ Her later works, which existed only through the experience of an audience, acted as a point of departure. The exhibiting artists share a concern for engaging the viewer as a participant through direct experience, confronting visual languages as a way to up-end or reconfigure ideologies and existing iconographies. The exhibition design also aimed to reflect the works as a series of encounters for the visitors, as well as incorporating performance events within the programme. The publication, designed by Rustan Soderling, further expanded on these themes.


Research


2011/12 saw the graduation of two PhD students: Olga Fernández (CCA) was granted her PhD by external examiners Alex Alberro and Charles Esche, for her critical study on the influence of the Marxist legacy on six exhibitions taking place between 1968 and 1998 in Latin and North America.


José Costa (CCA / Visual Communication) was granted his PhD by external examiners Hartmut Bitomsky and Nicole Brenez, for his project-based exploration of land occupations during the Carnation Revolution in Portugal. José’s documentary Linha Vermelha (Red Line), which explored the legacy of Thomas Harlan’s documentary Torre Bela (1975) for a politically activist documentary practice.