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Laying
on of Hands, untitled,
approx. 1960's, vintage print, 9 x 9 cm
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Opening:
Wednesday, 09.16., 6–9 pm
The exhibition “Evidence of Ecstasy” examines views on spiritual performances and their artistic documentation. Ecstatic states are described both photographically and cinematographically. The issues addressed, concern observations on the states of spinning out of control, ecstasy, and trance.
In
the mid-1960s, American Ted Serios (1918–2006) demonstrated
powerfully before the film camera his ability to mentally will images
[so-called “thoughtphotographs”] onto photographic film. During
phases of intense physical and mental concentration he was able to
achieve the depiction of a variety of images, among them a
Neanderthal, on film. His powerful performance proves the probative
value of film.
Film
and photography as analog media befit a particular probative value
because they visualize the traces of the real, of something that is
actually there – so was the consensus until the onset of
digitization.
In
spiritualism, in vogue from the mid-19th to the 20th
century, photography played a specific role. Spirit photography
strove to make the invisible and inconceivable visible; this being
the approach of Francesco Ponte: In the 1920s, the Puerto
Rican dentist created a unique album of spiritualist photographs.
During the séances his medium, Carmen Wey, a housekeeper, was seated
behind a curtain. When the curtain opened, impressions of invisible
spirit-hands, -feet, and -limbs became visible, which Ponte cast and
subsequently photographed. These photographs are reminiscent of the
surreal photographs by Hans Bellmer or Jean Frautrier. Others show
ectoplasm, a white viscous, liquid substance, which exudes from the
bodily orifices and in spiritualist circles, is considered a medium
for the manifestation of spirits. Characteristic is a primarily
celebratory solemn mood. Ponte has decorated the 25-page album
carefully by hand – the result is a rare and fascinating testimony
of spiritualist photography.
The
impressive photographs of the anonymous collection Laying on of
Hands, originating from the 1960s, document the ecstatic states
of an entire African-American community: Children and adults are
photographed in a state of ecstasy, some lying on the floor, many
lifting their hands, others with closed eyes. The participants lay
hands on each other, perhaps as a gesture of healing. The perspective
of the photographs leads right into the heart of the unknown
ceremony, intensively transporting the enthusiastic mood, the music
in the space can almost be heard, the dancers’ sweat almost smelled
– at the same time everything remains strange and eerie.
Unlike
the works of Ted Serios and Francesco Ponte, the photographs of
Laying on of Hands do not
serve as evidence of the spiritual, but rather as documents of states
of ecstasy, of being out of control. The expressive body itself is
the evidence of the metaphysical process.
All
photographs have one thing in common: They show states of trance. But
as much as they reveal, at the same time they disguise, intrigue,
pose questions, and eventually remain unreal proof of a mysterious
reality. Here as in photography and film the photographed bodies
function as media, in the state of trance becoming transparent for
the Other, the actual which is absent.
In
the last decades much attention has been given to the phenomenon of
spiritual art. The great exhibition “The Perfect Medium:
Photography and the Occult” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York (2005) for example testifies to this as much as the exhibition
“In the Realm of Phantoms: Photography of the Invisible” curated
by Andreas Fischer and Veit Loers at Museum Abteiberg, Möchengladbach
(1997-1998).
The
film by Ted Serios will be presented with the generous support of the
Institut für Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene e. V. in
Freiburg im Breisgau.
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