Art as ritual: the return of the sacred

Contemporary art is increasingly turning to the sacred. In performances, installations and even digital forms, artists are looking for rituals that bring the viewer back to fundamental experiences. Where does this interest in the spiritual and ritual come from? Perhaps in an age where technology is making us both closer and more isolated, art is becoming the space where we try to reconnect - with ourselves, with each other, and with something bigger than ourselves.

Contemporary artists are redefining ritual as a medium, restoring its importance in a devalued, secularized reality. In their work, ritual becomes not a religious act, but a tool that awakens collective memory and explores the nature of our presence in the world.

Ritual as performance: the boundaries of action and contemplation.

Performance is perhaps the most obvious example of the use of ritual in contemporary art. Artists such as Marina Abramović, Joseph Beuys and Ana Mendieta create performances by building a structure similar to a ritual. Their works return the viewer to a space of attention and intense presence. Marina Abramovic is one of the key figures in performance art, exploring rituals of body, time and consciousness. Her works, such as The Artist is Present, transform the interaction with the viewer into a meditative and transformative act. Joseph Beuys - has utilized ritual gestures, shamanistic symbolism and collective action in his performances. His How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare (1965) is a mystical ritual to communicate with the art world through absurdity and metaphor. Ana Mendieta - combined feminist performance art with ancient ritual practices, exploring the relationship between body, earth and spiritual traditions in the Silueta Series.

The materiality of ritual: objects as symbols

Contemporary installations return the object to its sacred function. Elements that used to be merely decorative or utilitarian become carriers of meaning. For example, Wolfgang Laib's works often use organic materials - pollen, grain, fabrics - as metaphors for the cyclical nature of life and time. In 2012 Marina Abramovic traveled to Brazil to study local customs and rituals, to get acquainted with shamans and healers. The documentary “The Space in Between” is dedicated to this trip. In memory of the trip, she brought with her stones and crystals, which, according to the artist, have a strong energy.

If art is a modern ritual, technology becomes its tools. Virtual reality, which can be perceived as a utilitarian tool, suddenly acquires mystical potential. Works such as *"Tree ”* by the New Reality Company turn the user into a participant in an ecological ritual where you literally experience the transformation from human to tree. In this new ritual practice, the boundary between the body and technology, the individual and the collective, disappears.

Technologies, seemingly completely stripped of their sacred aspect, become new guides to meditation, mindfulness and collective experience. In this way, they not only blur the boundary between man and machine, but also help to restore the lost connection with nature and metaphysics.

Contemporary art offers more than just analysis or critique. It creates new ritual practices that help the viewer experience moments of sacred presence in an age of decentralized spirituality. These rituals are not tied to a particular religion, but are open to all who are willing to experience the experience of attentive contemplation, bodily action, or sensual immersion.

The modern world lacks a unified language of the sacred, but art is able to create it anew. It is a language that combines performativity and contemplation, technology and nature. Ritual in contemporary art is no longer an act of worship, but becomes a space to search for and reconnect with what lies beyond words and images.