Donna Huanca, Harminder Judge, Hermann Nitsch: Embodied Rituals

Under the title Embodied Rituals, Galerie Kandlhofer brings together three artistic positions that stand out in the international art world through their interweaving of performance, painting, installation and sculpture. Donna Huanca (b. 1980, Chicago), Harminder Judge (b. 1982, Rotherham), and Hermann Nitsch (b. 1938 - d. 2022, Austria) have developed distinctive artistic practices that not only produce highly recognisable works, but also establish a unique mode of expression. The exhibition Embodied Rituals offers insight into the multifaceted and complex work of these three artists through a selection of painterly pieces.

To begin with, it is important to consider what is meant by the term ritual. In everyday language, it is often used synonymously with routine, custom, ceremony, or a sequence of actions in a cultic context. However, within the framework of contemporary discourse and the performative practices of the exhibiting artists, a more precise understanding is needed. A ritual refers to a sequence of actions characterised by standardised external form, repetition, performative character, and symbolic meaning. All of these elements appear in different ways within the work of the three artists. Their pieces are created through performative processes, shaped by repeated gestures, and often unfold in similar or recurring forms. While there is a certain consistency and recognisability in their visual language, each artist's process also allows for freedom, spontaneity, and immediacy of expression, along with continual development.

Rituals are also processes of embodiment. The actions involved are not only physically performed and often include a specific staging of the body, but also reflect internalised patterns of behaviour. These events are perceived corporeally, as the body serves as both the medium and the means through which we experience the world. The German art historian Gottfried Böhm suggested that every artwork corresponds to a specific form of experience. As such, it requires our attention and calls for an appropriate engagement of the senses in order to fully reveal itself. In today's digital age, where we are confronted with an overwhelming flood of perfectly curated images, the question arises as to which images are still capable of capturing our attention and prompting genuine reflection. The prevailing gesture of image interaction today is the swipe of a finger across a touchscreen interface. The time an image has to be seen, and ideally reflected upon, is often reduced to a matter of milliseconds. We touch countless images every day, yet rarely grasp them in any meaningful way.

Donna Huanca, Harminder Judge, and Hermann Nitsch draw from existential sources to create works that, through their physical dimension, generate a powerful presence. This presence has the potential to disrupt our everyday flow of time and momentarily pull us out of it. The images presented in the exhibition are the results of symbolic acts that extend beyond themselves. Through their intensity, they transcend the moment and place it within a broader context. Unlike the serial perception typical of the digital present, these works demand a symbolic perception that recognizes permanence within transience. To borrow the words of the German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer, they invite us to discover the lasting within the fleeting. The essence of the temporal experience offered by this kind of art lies in the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the images and, ideally, to internalise them.

In theory, rituals have the potential to transform social reality by altering the perspectives and expectations of those who participate in them. This transformative capacity is also present in the works of these artists. In a highly original way, their pieces connect past and present while opening a view toward the future.

- Text by Roman Grabner