Dusza by Ruudt Peters

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Ruudt Peters

A catalogue with an interview of Benedikt Fischer and Ruudt Peters accompany the exhibition, here is a little excerpt:

Benedikt Fischer: There is an image that shows you as a kid, wearing a catholic priests outfit and reenacting a church scene. I find that very unusual, I know nobody who did that.
Ruudt Peters: I stitched the chasuble myself as you can see, it's very badly done. I was eight years old, I think, and I was fascinated and very serious. I made this wafer, circular bread, and gave it to my friends and they had to be VERY serious, otherwise I would slap them in the face. Be silent and so on, so it was a very serious play. But I think this play, and also the catholic upbringing, made me want to have a meaning and a background within pieces, in what I am doing. Without meaning there is no need. Why should you add a piece of jewellery to this world without any meaning? There is already so much shit in the world.

BF: Would you say you are still religious?
RP: I am religious. I feel that I have these rituals and I feel that I have this mystery, this feeling of mystery. I don’t like the church as an institution, that is not where it comes from. But there is something more than what we can see, that’s a belief, that’s what I believe in.

BF: How do you see your work in relation to religion?
RP: I think that if Geist[1] and the soul are part of a piece it has a lot to do with religion, with what is inside of you.
Some series have a religious starting point. It may not be so visible in the end. But it's about Buddhism or Judaism some people say hey, now you tick off another religion but that is not the way it goes. It's maybe more alchemy and very dark, strange mystery of things. And in that whole path of searching I found some things, they pop up. And when they do I think well, I have to do something with it - or not.
I don’t want to be a fundamental Christian gay jewellery maker. When I made corpus, I had a huge fear that people would abandon me because of the fact that I made this crucifix. I had a big fear. I thought oh my God, what am I doing here. Because honestly, you can talk about Hinduism, Judaism, Kabbalah, blah blah blah, alchemy, but when it comes to your own religion, when it comes very close, CHRRR, they can fire you directly, because they can knock you down. And I was like,.. that was very very,.. I found it dangerous. And on the other hand I wanted to do it because it was something that was already there for years. It's not only that I am talking about Christianity. I am talking about religion in general when I am doing something.
(...)

[1] German word for spirit