M

SHAMANIS
OF
E
C
E HO

S
ECHOES OF SHAMANISM took 14–16 September, 2018
place between September 12 and 16,
2018, in Het Glazen Huis of Zone- ECHOES OF SHAMANISM
2Source in Amsterdam’s Amstelpark. Where Performance Art and Shamanism Meet
During the first two days, artists, Live art project by PAE (Performance Art Event)
organizers and other participants met
informally to prepare and share time
together. The public event took place
on September 14, 15, and 16.
ARTISTS:

Artist Nina Boas noticed a recurring Irina Birger (RU/NL)

use of shamanism in contemporary Jasper Griepink (NL)
performance practice and had a wish Kleoni Manoussakis (GR)
to create an event around this topic. Dimple B Shah (IN)
The aim was to bring together artists A k u z u r u (TT)
who use shamanic practices either in
their public performances or as part LECTURER:

of their method of preparation. After Fons Elders (NL)

two years in conversation with vari-
ous artists about the idea and slowly
bringing shape to the full project, we
invited Irina Birger, Jasper Griepink,
Kleoni Manoussakis, Dimple B Shah,
and A k u z u r u.

Artists shared their practices and

approaches on the first day that was
open to the public. The activities con-
cluded with a lecture by philosopher
Fons Elders. On the 15th a program
of live art took place inside the venue
and outside in the park. The 16th pro-
vided participants and visitors some
time to reflect on their experiences
together.

For this publication we invited art

critic Dr. Boukje Cnossen to write
an essay on the event and what she
observed. In addition, we have added
a text composed by Fons Elders for
the occasion.
At Zone2Source
Het Glazen Huis
Amstelpark 4, Amsterdam
2 3
Kleoni Manoussakis, Mother Sea, photo Konstantin Guz
 T
O TOWARDS AN AFFECTIVE
W
A UNDERSTANDING OF
R
D SHAMANISM IN ART
S
PRACTICE
A
N What happens when artists draw on shamanic traditions and prac-
tices? The three-day event Echoes of Shamanism brought together an
A international group of performance—and installation artists to show-
F case their ongoing engagement with the ritualistic, the mystic, and
F the pagan. Not only did the artists present work, but the set-up of the
E event allowed for short artist talks as well as an exchange between the
C artists that could take shape across multiple days. Aside from inves-

Irina Birger, Drawing Diagnosis, photo Konstantin Guz

T tigating the links between art practice on the one hand, and shamanic
I practice on the other, my aim in this essay is to ask a larger question:
V What is it that such ritualistic practices have to offer to the artist
E and the viewer? What can we experience, aesthetic or otherwise, by
opening up these cultural and social repertoires? Before we delve into
U this larger question, we must set the stage for the current encounter of
N contemporary performance art with shamanism, in order to contextu-
D alize the work of the artists of Echoes of Shamanism.
E by Boukje Cnossen
R
S ART AND SHAMANISM: to the left with her materials.
T Dimple B Shah (India) and
A S A k u z u r u (Trinidad and Tobago)
N E T S are sitting chatting at another
D T H T table filled with tea and snacks.
I I T E A Once everyone is there, a round
N N I G of introductions quickly evolves
T G N E into a deeper conversation. When
R G asked to describe their artistic
O practice, people mention nothing
D On a Wednesday in September less than the universe, cosmos,
U I approach a glass house in the nature, and humanity. To mark
C middle of the Amstelpark. With the beginning of these three days,
T its large windows, Zone2Source organiser and artist Nina Boas
I blends in with its outdoor sur- asks us to join her in a ceremonial
O roundings. Once inside, Irina cleansing of the space with sage.
N Birger (Amsterdam-based and I imagine feeling the most out of
Russian-born) is setting up a table place out of everyone here, and

6 7
picture these world-travelling art-
ists, with residencies and projects
across the globe, as being able to
flawlessly turn any foreign space
into an instant sanctuary with the
sheer force of their presence. To
my relief, Nina gives some useful
advice to first time ritual clean-
sers such as me: ‘It helps if you
imagine it works’.
These instructions, I realize
later, cover both the position of
performance art and of certain
shamanistic or ritualistic prac-
tices in this day and age: many of
us need to be opened up to the
possibilities of these practices
first, in order to then be impacted
by them. The artists of Echoes
of Shamanism each have unique
ways of doing so. What is more,
their practices and reflections all
challenge the distinction between
art and shamanism in their own
way. Or, in the words of the phi-
losopher Fons Elders, who was
present throughout the event to
offer input: ‘It is all about going
back to a source’.
But before we end up there, it
is important to note that perfor-
mance art has made a point of
defining itself against already
existing genres and categories.
Particularly in the fields of fine art
and theatre, the 1960s and 1970s
saw a movement aligned with the
much wider-spread call for the
democratization of public insti-
tutions. Much like the student
protests of 1968, many artists did
not want to cater to the standards
of hermetic and hierarchic institu-
tions anymore. This led to several
new genres, of which one was
performance art (Goldberg, 1989;
1999). In performance art, also
referred to as live art or art cor-
porel, the body of the artist turns
into artistic material (Freeland,
2003).
Fifty years after its emergence,
a plethora of communities of
practice has emerged, many of
which intersect with performance
art in various ways. Genres and
fields such as applied theatre,
participatory art (Huybrechts,
Schepers, & Dreessen, 2014),
artistic interventions (Beyes &
Steyaert, 2011), institutional
critique (Gielen, 2013), and rela-
tional aesthetics (Bourriaud,
1998), although different in
emphasis and locus, all share
with performance art the need
to challenge what art sociologist
Pascal Gielen (2013) refers to as
the ‘verticality’ of the art world.
While methods, approaches, and
political commitments vary, the
endeavour—to borrow the central
term used by art critic Hans den
Hartog Jager (2014)—is always
to find ways of eliminating the
artificial separation between art
and the so-called ‘real world’.
As useful as it may be to reflect
on these existing and emerging
genres, coming up with new cate-
gories only creates new separa-
tions. Such attempts to ‘thingify’
—to borrow from Heidegger
(1962)– maintains boundaries
and stabilizes things. In order
to investigate the potential of this
shamanism-inspired art practice,
I will turn away from the classifi-
O cations of art history and—theory,
F and instead will draw on a line
of thinking developed in anthro-
S pology. Despite its own obvious
H problematic baggage of coloni-
A alism, anthropological thinking
M has proven particularly useful in
A asking not what the world is made
N of (categories, domains, spheres,
T I and other modern sociological
O S terms come to mind), but rather
W M how it is continuously being created
A through practice and interaction.
R I In line with this positioning, I will
D N foreground my own experience
S of viewing the performances and
A artist talks, and taking part in the
A R events that took place over the
N T course of the three days. Focus-
ing on not only the aesthetic (the
A P obvious dimension for art criti-
F R cism) but also on the affective, an
F A often neglected category of con-
E C temporary world-making (Michels
C T & Beyes, 2016; Thompson &
T I Wilmott, 2016), allows us to ask
I C not what certain art works are, but
V E rather what they do (Deutscher,
E 2000).
U D higher state of consciousness in
N I the audience. She had carefully
D V I
E I N
R N
S G
T their sacred nature.
A In the back space of the venue
N Zone2Source, encapsulated by
D a cosy cubicle made out of trans-
I parent fabric, Dimple B Shah
N has installed herself. One by one,
G the artist invites us participants
in. We all queue on the floor in
8 9
the dark space surrounding her,
curiously taking in the scarcely lit
space providing us with contours
of the encounters inside the cube.
Earlier, Dimple had walked from a
small distance outside the venue,
dressed in traditional Jain cloth-
ing consisting of a loose white
gown and white headband. Inside
the space, she was cleaning the
floor using a white brush, her
movements and facial expression
testimony to the focus and dedi-
cation that can only come from an
intimate familiarity with the ritual,
cultivated over years.
Prior to the performance,
Dimple B Shah had already
explained how she indeed grew
up with the Jain religion, which
requires its adherents to take
extraordinary care to not hurt other
living beings, and had started to
miss the cleansing rituals once
she stopped going to temple. The
elements of these rituals—sugar,
herbs, a tiny mirror—were now
the basis of her performances,
which had the ambitious goal
of achieving catharsis and a
put them on display during the
evening programme of artists
talks, the care and precision with
which she did so indicative of
Hailing from Trinidad and
Tobago, A k u z u r u also draws
from practices she was always
familiar with. She provides a mes-
merizing mixture of masquerade,
disguise, and rhythmic movement
that paid homage to the carnival
A k u z u r u, TranceMuTation SongMine, photo Konstantin Guz
traditions of her homeland as it
did to Orisha, a religious tradition
brought to Trinidad from West
Africa, and indigenous Caribbean
practices. Her performance is as
much installation as an event,
consisting of the building of an
intricate web of natural elements.
A k u z u r u herself (who took
on her name when she moved
to Nigeria, the space in between
the letters signalling room for
possibility and continuous com-
munication with the universe) is
dressed in white, her face painted
white too, and attached to a heap
of white textile, a blob of white
paper covering her head. Draw-
ing never-ending circles on white
paper with black charcoal, her
long, black dreadlocks fall along
her back seemingly forming a
long, dramatic, exclamation point.
Her screeching and scream-
ing accompanies the sounds of
bamboo rods beating on stone
and against glass bottles. Once
she moves outside and into the
park, the audience following her,
she brings new elements into her
performance, and interacts with
trees while children, intrigued by
her magical creature-like appear-
ance, try to pin down the train of
her dress.
In a brief chat right before
going on stage, A k u z u r u
herself calls her performances
meta-physical and communica-
tive gestures, all spatial in nature
and extending beyond what she
calls ‘our designed world’, and
into the cosmos. Sat in a cor-
ner of the space, away from the
audience, she eloquently explains
how she uses ‘primal, tactile, raw,
and visceral parts of culture’ in
order to ‘get back to our primor-
dial selves’. ‘We have to realise
we are dependent on the earth,’
she adds. As well-researched
as her performance looks, a few
minutes before she will take her
position among the elements she
will use to make her metaphysical
gesture, she adds that she has no
idea what will happen.
Meanwhile, Jasper Griepink is
roaming around the trees sur-
rounding the venue. Yesterday,
in his talk, the Dutch artist had
explained his current interests
in European pagan figures and
traditions, such as druids. His
interest in rediscovering such
pre-Christian traditions stems
from a politics of criticizing capi-
talism which very essence is that
it exploits natural resources. His
inquiry into alternatives for our
relationship to nature brought
him to permaculture and Rudolf
Steiner’s philosophy, but has also
led him to argue for eco-sexu-
ality as a more radical attitude
towards nature, inviting people to
move beyond mere sustainability,
and direct our sensual powers—or
kundalini energy for those familiar
with the phrase—towards nature.
Dressed in a tight, white outfit
with shiny elements and make-
up, his ginger features underlining
the Celtic reference, Jasper
embodies something of a disco
druid, his strong ‘stage’ presence
raising expectations for his next
project, an album of pagan hip-hop.
O He calls his performance a long-
F term ‘commitment to connect
energetically with the park’,
S further illustrating how his literal
H tree-hugging practice is embed-
A ded in a multi-faceted framework
M of political-spiritual interests.
A Jasper Griepink’s engagement
N with Western European paganism
T I comes from a conscious decision
O S to investigate his own cultural
W M heritage, after travels and proj-
A ects in other parts of the world.
R I The line between genuine interest
D N and exoticism is very relevant,
S one only has to think of the explo-
A sive growth of ayahuasca cere-
A R monies catering to international
N T travellers, and the known nega-
tive consequences of this spiritual
A P tourism. While an engagement
F R with one’s own cultural heritage
F A brings along its own difficult
E C questions (Can we ever claim
C T ownership of a tradition? How
T I about the use of European pagan
I C traditions by fascist regimes and
V E movements, or Rudolf Steiner’s
E race theory?), it is necessary to
consider the historically shaped
U power relations between cultures,
N whether between the West and
D Global South, or between European
E pre- and post-Christian societies.
R Furthermore, drawing from
S what is known and what is avail-
T able fuels the encounter with the
A artist in an authentic way.
N Amsterdam-based Irina Birger was
D born and raised in Moscow during
I the Soviet era, where religion was
N banned, but where communism
G was just as ideological. She
mentions always being intrigued
12 13
by the monuments celebrating
socialism in public space, even
though her family was critical of
the regime. Living in Israel and
China at later times in her life, she
became aware of the role ideology
and religion take on in public life,
as well as the similarities be-
tween totalitarianism and popular
culture in terms of aesthetics.
She currently describes her work
as dealing with the relationship
between the collective and the
individual, taking herself and her
recent reflections on her place in
society, as a starting point. Her
film, based on a illustrated docu-
mentation of her participation in
an ayahuasca ceremony in Israel,
was full of reflections on her rela-
tionship to the other participants,
the shaman figure, and the larger
social structures she is embedded
in. Her style of drawing as well as
her narration is clever and playful,
merging philosophical reflection
with down-to-earth anecdotes
about the physical discomfort all
too familiar to me and all others
who ever imbibed the hallucino-
genic tea.
Besides her film, Irina is also
present in the art space through-
out the day, quietly performing
an ongoing encounter with the
audience at the same time and
in the same space as A k u z u r u
and Dimple B Shah. Also dressed
in white, her persona differs from
those of the other artists. Sat
behind a desk, she invites people
to sit down in front of her and
draws an intuitive portrait based
on their stories. Her classic look
exudes mystery and trustworthi-
ness in equal measure, portraying
the artist as something between a
psychotherapist and a psychic.
After hours of drawing and
intense conversation, the draw-
ings taped against the glass wall
behind her offer material proof
of her laborious day. She links
people’s willingness to share their
feelings and biographies with
her, to their need to connect and
feel like they belong. ‘In Russia
and China, you march and sing
together, but here we are yearning
to be part of something, and it is
not so easy’, she says.
The feeling of a spiritual deficit
and the subsequent need for
healing underpins many of the
artists’ approaches, in more or
less explicit terms. Out of all the
artists present, the Greek Kleoni
Manoussakis engages the most
in direct interaction and conver-
sation with the audience. ‘I have
a need to reconstruct rituals,’ she
says. Towards the end of the after-
noon, she invites the audience
into the dark back space of the art
venue, where Dimple had previ-
ously conducted her one-on-one
consults. A contemplative video
work with interesting sound-
scapes introduces us to some of
the questions she is grappling
with, around stories of origin,
knowing and belonging. Yesterday
evening, as part of the evening
programme of artists talks, she
had already chosen to facilitate
a group discussion on what she
terms ‘cosmology’, or a mapping
of what people believe makes up
their world. Now, she invites peo- O
ple to stand in formation in order F
to direct sources of light onto the
ceiling, and then to sit down on S
the floor in the dark while she H
uses her drumming skills to guide A
people in meditation. As I lie M
down on the floor among every- A
one else, I feel myself supported N
by the rhythm of the drum and her T I
strong presence, and realise how O S
rare it is to lie down in the dark W M
next to strangers, and feel part of A
something. R I
In her own words, being D N
Greek, it is again no coincidence S
that Kleoni speaks of cosmo- A
Dimple B Shah, Negotiating Purity, photo MADS
logy and mythology in describing A R
her approach. At the same time, N T
as much as these words sound
common to anyone exposed to A P
Western philosophy and history, F R
Kleoni’s approach moves well F A
beyond mainstream reflections E C
on existential dilemmas as well. C T
While the way she positions her- T I
self—as a humble and perceptive I C
workshop leader and facilitator V E
– is accessible, she explained to E
me earlier that she is concerned
about what she calls ‘the com- U
modification of life’, a statement N
which, similar to Jasper Griepink’s, D
can be understood as being E
radically opposed to capitalism’s R
defining features. S
T
A
N
D
I
N
G
14 15
Irina Birger, Drawing Diagnosis, photo Konstantin Guz
 O C To emphasize doing and search-
F O ing over representing and know-
N ing, some words resonate better
S C with the participating artists.
H L Ritual is better than New Age.
A U Imagination is better than belief.
M S Practice is better than regulation.
A I The focus is on doing and inquir-
N O ing, not on disciplining. Things
T I N can be playful, while at the same
O S time not losing their impact. In or-
W M At first sight, the rituals from der to explain what is meant with
A different spiritual traditions impact, we can think of
R I are theatrically interesting and A k u z u r u’s mention of the pri-
D N aesthetically pleasing. Their mordial and tactile, and enter the

Jasper Griepink, Silent Bard (treehugger), photo Konstantin Guz

S choreography and dramaturgy subjective realm of the affective.
A instil a sense of excitement and When Dimple invites you into her
A R importance. This is more about tent, takes your hand, and asks
N T rhythm than visual language, as a you to give over your sorrows,
‘copy-paste’ from contemporary or when she asks her audience
A P spiritual practices in western to stand hand-in-hand, giving
F R cultures would end up looking cli- you warm milk with turmeric
F A ché, perhaps because this would after, you start to understand
E C remind us too much of the New that there is nothing ethereal or
C T Age aesthetics we have grown intangible about all this. Rather,
T I so accustomed to. Hence, the she draws from the same tactile,
I C artists of Echoes of Shamanism physical, and even emotional
V E draw from various repertoires and reservoirs that are activated in
E tools, rather than ascribing neatly children’s games and practices
to specific traditions. This already of care-giving. Perhaps this
U allows for some wiggle room qualifies as an act against the
N around definitions, because even commodification of life, but what
D if you do not mind the religious or is more important, is that you
E spiritual terminology, it is easy to sense something being activated.
R get lost in the discursive over- The same goes for watching
S load once people talk paganism, A k u z u r u perform her intimate
T Wicca, mysticism, mythology, dance with natural elements,
A indigenous tradition, animism, rhythms, and sounds. As foreign
N nature religion, and so on. If the as it may look to the relatively
D classifications of art historians ignorant viewer I am, one cannot
I are a dead end when it comes to escape a sense of seriousness
N understanding, as I argued above, and symbolic weight that reso-
G the same may go for understand- nates in the body as well as in
ing different shamanic practices. the mind.

18 19
 This is not to say that the
affective quality the artists bring
are exclusively reserved to the
use of their bodily movements,
voices, and one-on-one inter-
actions. Soundscapes and moving
image convey this too, adding to
an atmosphere of mystery and
intuition. Returning to the earlier
statement of Hans den Hartog
Jager, and his interpretation of
the separation between art and
the real world, it seems that Den
Hartog Jager has forgotten the
ways in which art has been an
integral part of the real world be-
yond his insistence on the central-
ity of assignments from church
and aristocracy in the arts (den
Hartog Jager, 2014). However, as
the work of art anthropologist
Alfred Gell (1998) continues to re-
mind us, art is a system of action,
not of meaning. Relying on stu-
dies of Oceanic, Polynesian and
Maori cultures, he considering art
works as persons, a statement as
radical as it is intuitive, since its
idea rests on the simple fact that
art, in many societies does (rather
than means) something. These
works of art are not symbols, but
indexes of agency, and as a result,
this means they accomplish
things. The art practices present
during Echoes of Shamanism can
be understood in the same way.
Rather than referring to elements
of spiritual traditions (a semiotic
relation), it takes these elements
in order to accomplish something.
Whoever thinks this view of art
is reserved to non-Western or
pre-modern societies, is mistaken.
Media theorist Arjen Mulder
(2010) adopts 1970s conceptual
artist Allan Kaprow’s distinction
between ‘artlike art’ and ‘lifelike
art’ (ibid, p. 30). Mulder surely
has the latter in mind when he
explains that to see art is to gain
new possibilities of seeing, of
being in the world:
As soon as you relate to an art-
work, however futile it may look,
what is activated is the possibility
of behaviour which, up until that
moment, was unimaginable and
unfeasible. This might just be a
type of attention which seemed
out of reach. The world becomes
multi-layered. Feeling, empathiz-
ing, reflecting, looking around
anew, refining feelings, thinking
oneself from that which is ir-
relevant now, imagining what one
is not now, but could become:
reality does not need the be re-
presented, it already exists. Art is
made for a world which does not
exist, or, more hopeful, does not
exist yet (2010: 24, my transla-
tion).
In other words, art can accom-
plish, rather than represent. This
achievement is certainly not re-
served to performance art (artis-
tic interventions are based on this
premise, see Beyes & Steyaert,
2011) but since performance art
uses the body as an intelligible
vehicle (Zembylas, 2014), the
accomplishment can acquire an
affective dimension next to other
dimensions, rendering it even
more powerful.
O The artists of Echoes of References
F Shamanism show that the ech- Beyes, T. & Steyaert, C. (2011). The ontological
oes can keep on resonating, if we politics of artistic interventions: implications for
S open ourselves up to what these performing action research. Action Research, 9(1),
100-115.
H practices accomplish. Each in
A different ways, the artists sum- Bourriaud, N. (1998). L’esthétique relationelle. Dijon:
Les Presses du réel.
M mon ‘something else’ in order to
A reconnect domains separated un- Den Hartog Jager, H. (2014). Het streven: kan
hedendaagse kunst de wereld verbeteren? Amsterdam:
N necessarily. Trained to separate Atheneum- Polak & van Gennep.
T I meaning from feeling and art from
Deutscher, P. A Matter of Affect, Passion and
O S the ‘real’, paying attention to the Heart: Our Taste for New Narratives of the
W M affective dimensions can provide History of Philosophy. Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist
A an entrance point for understand- Philosophy, 15(4), 1–17.
R I ing (or more importantly: sensing) Freeland, C. (2003). Art Theory: A Very Short Intro-
D N the impact of such practices. duction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
S Gell, A. (1998). Art and agency: an anthropological
A theory. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
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F R Gielen, P. (2013). ‘Introduction’. In: P. Gielen,
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C T Heidegger, M. (1962). Being and time. Oxford:
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I C Huybrechts, L., Schepers, S., & Dreessen, K.
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20 21
Dimple B Shah, Negotiating Purity, photo Konstantin Guz
 S
H
S HAD OW S OF SH A MA NI SM
A
by Fons Elders
M
A
The longing for beauty is universal and indestructible, being
N
an innate quality of the human mind. This explains why aesthetics is
I
central to any culture that seriously reflects and seriously deals with all aspects
S
of everyone’s Quo Vadis?
M
Western culture lost this capacity because it lost its sense for
‘wholeness’ after the schism between its culture and nature.
The Newtonian World View severed the umbilical cord between
nature and culture. The awareness of time broke free from
nature, from the body and from space. An infinitely future time
took possession of the European mind: Prometheus breaks

Jasper Griepink, Silent Bard (treehugger), photo Konstantin Guz

away, boundless and timeless. Three hundred years after the
Newtonian myth, Earth & Cosmos respond with a climate
change. Its linear time becomes: Future equals Progress.

The schism between culture and nature became more radical in

the 20th century by logical positivism and radical empiricism due
to their doctrine of the ‘empty mind’. One no longer believed that
the human DNA was a source of ‘beauty’ as well as ‘goodness’
and ‘truth’ with its innate intuitive desires, comprehension and
empathy towards life, and whatever we sense in our environ-
ment.

One doesn’t realize that the doctrine of the ‘empty mind’ is

nonsensical. Why? Because all humans share “an unbroken
material connection between every human alive today and every
one of our ancestors—even to the very origin of living matter, to the
very first primordial cell”, a statement by Albert Hofmann. (LSD
My Problem Child—Insights / Outlooks tr. Jonathan Ott ed. Amanda
S
Feilding Beckley Foundation Press Oxford University Press
H
2013, 177)
A
D
***
O
W
S
Shamanism and animism are closely related.
Becoming a shaman, woman or man, is a vocation, destination
O
or obligation, usually determined by tradition within a com-
F
munity in ancient cultures.

24 25
 S Its multiple tasks imply caring for the members of the commu-
H nity, in fact the well-being of the whole community, especially
A during birth, sickness, dying and through communication with
M the ancestors. Why ancestors? Because animism believes in the
A ongoing transformation between the living-living; living dead and
N the yet to be born.
I
S ECHOES OF SHAMANISM, an appropriate title for the
M performing artist, aspires to open the channels to the hidden
layers of our consciousness. Shamanism runs parallel with
the discovery of deeper layers reaching from the individual
subconsciousness into the collective unconscious layers. By
sharing the process with each other, we discover how hidden
tensions and blockades dissolve. Dissolving implies liberation
of hidden energies like in Xi gong movements. The entrance to deeper
layers is a source of inspiration for all artists, but especially for the performing

A k u z u r u, TranceMuTation SongMine, photo MADS

ones because of the simultaneity of action, expression and place.

Where Performance Art and Shamanism Meet is the space—the

theatre where the personal exploration of body-consciousness
coincides with the body-consciousness of the members in the
audience.

This is a remarkable event because the uniqueness of each

human being is not an isolated ‘anything’. On the contrary.
This uniqueness has its origin in the world of plants, snakes
and birds. It participates in the infinite, limitless potential
of living nature, of which humankind is the last phase in its
timeless evolution. Humans are carriers of the first living cell
and everything that follows from there in the domain of plants
and animals: Where Performance Art and Shamanism Meet.

S Text copyright Fons Elders

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26 27
Kleoni Manoussakis, Mother Sea, photo Konstantin Guz
 Irina Birger (RU/NL)
Born and raised in Moscow, Birger was greatly
influenced by Social Realism and ‘imperial’
Stalinist architecture. The monumental
arrangements inspired admiration, humility and
wonder, similar to the visual impact of sacred
formations. As a result, she is strongly interested
in the visual strategies and formal principles of
different religions, cults and totalitarian regimes,
and incorporates them in her work. The Book of
Happiness and Sadness, made in 2018, is an
example of this.  by her work with Shamans from Mexico, Columbia,
Alongside Birger’s performance, The Book
of Happiness and Sadness, which is a 8:35-minute
video, was screened throughout the event. The
video is based on one of Birger’s drawing diaries
and on her participation in the Ayahuasca cere-
mony. Ayahuasca is an entheogenic brew used
in the ceremony and made out of Banisteriopsis
caapi vine and other ingredients. The brew is
used as traditional spiritual medicine in ceremo-
nies among the indigenous peoples of the Amazon
basin. In the video Birger scrolls through the
pages of abstract drawings in the book and recites
her psychedelic group experience. The narrative
and the patterns in the drawings mimic human
inter-dependency and explore the significance
of belonging to a group versus individualism.
The Book of Happiness and Sadness is sponsored by
the Mondrian Fund.
irinabirger.com
Jasper Griepink (NL)
Since 2016 Griepink has been rooting his
ephemeral and shamanic performance-based
practice back into the earth by involving (social)
permaculture and community practices into his
work. This was followed by durational land-art
pieces, such as Grove 2.0—Chapel of Wild Wisdom, a
futuristic druidic greenhouse in a public wood-
land area. Upon ending various pilgrimages in
the tropics he returned to European soils seeking
to reanimate and explore local ‘indigenous’
knowledge for the sake of getting at the roots of
colonialism and global capitalism. With his re-
cent anti-capitalist and pro-pagan spoken-word
piece, Ultra Ecosexual Polyamory. Permaculture ASAP,
he looks to revive the oral tradition of the Druidic
Bards (or Greek Rhapsodes) in a contemporary way,
forwarding eco-sexuality as nature’s unorthodox
spirituality. Embedded in this Renaissance of
matriarchy is social justice, ending racial bias,
empowering creative expression, embodying
ecstasy and restoring the ecological homeostasis
on the planet we cohabitate.
jaspergriepink.nl
Kleoni Manoussakis (GR)
The work entitled Mother sea is a collective call to
experience the primordial birth. Starting from
the present where Life is patented and sold as
a commodity, and with the use of video, voice
and narration artist and participants will call out
to the ancient waters and try to travel past time
and connect to the mythical times of the Great
Beginning.
Living and traveling in South America,
Manoussakis creative practice has been inspired
Peru and Brazil. By bringing the ceremonial pro-
cess to the fore, her work is inviting the viewer to
collective moments of exploration, and to actions
that we could also call rituals or prayers that are
formed with the use of shamanic and artistic
tools.
kleoni.com
Fons Elders (NL)
The origin of my biography is similar to the one
of all humans: “an unbroken material connection
between every human alive today and every one of
our ancestors” (A. Hofmann). Pindar’s saying to
become whom we are, stems from this insight. The
space of time between conception and dying (not
death) is like a leaf in the wind. If you like walking,
search for Ouroboros Quo Vadis? on my website.
In his youth Fons Elders studied systematic
philosophy, international relations and history
in Amsterdam, Paris and Leiden. Professional
curriculum 1965-2001: Film academy, Theatre
School, Academy for Physical Education, Gerrit
Rietveld Academy for Visual Arts, Academy for
Architecture, Urban Planning and Landscape,
Amsterdam; University for Humanist Studies,
Utrecht, The Netherlands. Director Elders Spe-
cial Productions BV, since 1986, Amsterdam.
fonselders.eu
Dimple B Shah (IN)
Sanctity, Purification, Solitude, Seeing true self,
Healing, Rituals, Meditation, Filtration, Cathar-
sis, and Attaining a state of blissfulness make up
the central elements of this performance. Shah’s
performance is basically about attaining ca-
tharsis through various ritual processes. These
rituals are of everyday practice in Jain Culture.
They are meditative processes through which
one slowly enters into a deep state of conscious-
ness and slowly experiences blissfulness. This
performance will focus on both one-to-one and
community interaction and healing. An important
part of the rituals is to involve all five senses.
Through the process of ritual, mind, body and
soul enter a higher state of understanding.
A Material used in ritual will help to intensify the PAE is artists Nina Boas,
process of achieving the desired result. Shah
R wants her audience to experience a ritualistic
Martijn Stellinga, and ieke Trinks,
T process and have an experiential moment. who organize events that give
I dimplebshah.blogspot.com priority to visual art practices
S intended to be experienced live.
T A k u z u r u (TT) The first PAE event took place in
A k u z u r u is a performance and trans-discipli- 2008 in the Wolfart Projectspace
nary artist from Trinidad and Tobago. The human
B and natural world has catalyzed her study of the in Rotterdam.
I metaphysics of movement and gesture, the
O vastness of space, and shamanistic inferences. performanceartevent.nl
Mystical nuances are deeply felt through her
S experimental sounds, concept clothing, tableaux info@performanceartevent.nl
vivants, monumental drawings, and writing.
& Her productions in the famous multi-layered
performance traditions of the Carnivals of
Trinidad and Nottinghill, UK, have been vital to Programming
C her emphasis on processional performance as a Nina Boas
0 profound dynamic art form. Organization
Her conceptually and physically intense
L interactive Experiential Art Productions leave an Nina Boas, ieke Trinks,
O indelible memory, activating energy processes Martijn Stellinga
P through visceral situations and engagements. Editors
The artist asserts that: “Trance connotes the
H electro-sensory firing within the corporeal that triggers the Nina Boas & ieke Trinks
O memory space, ak-tivating the potential exchange of know- Images
N ing, unveiling one’s ORI within the conscient-sphere…… a Konstantin Guz and MADS
mind-expansion endeavor, whereby, ORI- Projection estab-
lishes one’s reach along one’s meta-journey of advancement.” Design
akuzuru.blogspot.com Karoline Swiezynski
Printed
Boukje Cnossen (NL) Netherlands, 2019
Dr. Boukje Cnossen is a scholar and art critic,
currently working as a post-doctoral researcher
and lecturer at the Institute of Sociology and Thanks to
Cultural Organization at Leuphana University Zone2Sourse, Stichting Trickster,
of Lüneburg (Germany). She holds a BA in Reli-
gious Studies from the University of Amsterdam, Artists & Volunteers, Karoline
with a focus on Western esoteric currents and an Swiezynski, Mondriaan Fund
Honours Certificate in Art & Research, a Master
of Research in Humanities & Cultural Studies
A from The London Consortium (University of Supported by
R London), and a PhD from the Tilburg School Amsterdam Fund for the Arts,
T of Economics and Management at Tilburg Prince Bernhard Culture Fund
University. Her doctoral thesis focused on the
I role of materiality and discourse in the organizing North-Holland, Stichting
S practices of artists in shared and temporary Stokroos
T spaces of production. Her academic research,
art criticism and journalistic work have been
published in peer-reviewed international scien-
B tific journals (e.g. Human Relations and European
I Journal of Cultural Studies), national newspapers
(e.g. NRC Handelsblad and Het Parool), and art and
O culture magazines (e.g. De Gids, Rekto:Verso, and
S Metropolis M).
boukjecnossen.nl
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