Ritual

During the pandemic, people were forced to stay away -quite literally- from many everyday rituals. From big events and walkabouts to little but important gestures such as personally shaking hands by way of greeting. With many social interactions no longer possible, it became clear how important they are for a functioning society and how rituals define and facilitate our everyday life.

The artists Baptiste Brossard, Helen Dowling, and Sara-Lena Maierhofer explore rituals in their various contemporary forms and question their conditions and possibilities. Based on predominantly time-based media such as photography and video, their works discuss the social consensus of rituals and view it in a broader context with other cultures and exemplify the ephemeral and performative character of ritual acts.

Published as part of the exhibition of the same name at Galerie Stadt Sindelfingen, the publication Rituals imparts a critical perspective on this elementary social force. It illustrates that rituals are necessarily subject to change yet can also strengthen personal and societal resilience in the present day and how new rituals come about and ultimately how changeable and vulnerable they are.