reliqte, reloaded: On the Legacy of Christian Pictorial Worlds Today

Rarely before has it been so hard to discuss religion. What is the situation in terms of how we deal with the legacy of a visual culture defined by Christianity?

What remains of the religious world of images that for centuries dominated Europe? For a long time, relics of this legacy were found above all in contexts of pop culture, in this country, for example, in music. Meanwhile the subject of Christian iconography and motifs is regarded as passé, outgrown or – beyond ironical treatment – at least as impossible to lend form to.

It would seem that no serious discussion takes place outside of the academic or theological world. The public sphere tends to dodge the subject of religion, narrowing it down to fundamentalism, at best drawing on the general concept of spirituality or even pushing this legacy on to the sidelines of history.

Yet different and new forms of artistic analysis of this rich bedrock have once again begun to emerge in recent years. The question is thus what motivates these artists to re-examine these relics from the “basement of history”. In the “Reliqte, Reloaded” exhibition, Kulturzentrum bei den Minoriten joins QL-Galerie to examine this phenomenon, asking about the failure to enrich the current debate on religion with the relics, traces and legacies of European, Christian culture.



reliqte, reloaded: On the Legacy of Christian Pictorial Worlds Today

“Reliqte” (Relics)—a (German) title that can be swallowed easily. However, the ‘U’ is missing. Relics are leftovers. Remnants of someting greater. The ‘Q’ (of this German word) has been borrowed from its sacralised predecessor: Relics are remains of saints. Traces that assert themselves in the presence of the one who once physically disappeared. reloaded means made fit for a new time, as a game, as a process, as the burden of evidence, as a function, and as a benefit. At any rate, discharge, relaxation preceded, an entropical process, down to a zero level so to speak.

The Legacy of Christian Pictorial Worlds: The Return of Iconographies?

“reliqte, reloaded: On the Legacy of Christian Pictorial Worlds Today” is an exhibition in the Kulturzentrum bei den Minoriten Graz in the frame of the steirischer herbst festival programme. In 2015, the latter deals with relics, traces, and legacies. This exhibition
is watching out for artistic solutions in contemporary art which treat the legacy of
Christian pictorial worlds as something inspiring: The approaches are respectful
and cheeky, resistant and pious: They develop from the perception of a return of
iconography in the beginning of this millennium.

discontinuities?

The works presented embrace this; they juggle with this legacy, make discontinuities visible, and sometimes boldly interlink things that are hundreds of years apart. However, they are no aesthetic game in this. Sacred signs are erected in the face of the horror vacui, the horrible void, in the hope that they can bear up against it. The exhibition takes notice of the secularization of Christian images but does not leave it at that. Of course, the absence can be felt. But the possible presence too. The exhibition faces up to criticism of the image and religion inherent in the Christian pictorial world.

urging

The about 100 works shown cover an extremely wide range: In the 30 artistic positions, highly skilled painterly execution and radical denial of the image are densily juxtaposed, from painting and installation right down to video art and performance. Violations of images are turned into networks for political action. Distress is served literally. Proposals against the gloomy spirit of this world are made. Instructions in the face of threat can be read.

timeless and poetic

However, the lyricism of the images has priority. It lures us into cultural timelessness—despite their contemporariness. The proposals to view the iconography of the Christian pictorial world by means of contemporary works of art range from its literal reversal and captivation in the object right down to unleashed painterly pleasure and imagi-
nation. Irony and lightness are reading aids here. Missionary zeal is missing.



looking

But despite all stories of legacy, the exhibition is concluded with a view on (ultimate) knowledge and its promise because “eschatological portraits“ appear in this exhibition time and again. The ultimate legacy of the Bible is looking: “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then ... “ (1 Corinthians 13,12) So, what happens if the glass through which we we can see suddenly breaks?

http://www.kultum.at/?d=reliqte-reloaded-1#.Vgp36LTrIgI

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