New Spirituality
oryginal tittle: “Nowa duchowość”
Mark Rothko Art Centre, Daugavpils, Latvia, 2022
Curator:
Eulalia Domanowska
Photo:
Eulalia Domanowska
Sculpture:
This will be our secret (2020)
Mixed media. Jute bank bags, stole
97 x 37 x 126 cm
The exhibition examines the phenomenon of the socalled “new spirituality” and the related socio-cultural trends that we have been observing since at least the nineties of the twentieth century.
Sociologists distinguish the “new spirituality” as a separate modern phenomenon, which is simultaneously rooted in the religious and esoteric traditions of both the Eastern and Western worlds and resonates with new life practices and ways of philosophical contemplation of the surrounding reality, which always appear in times of religious crises.
The “new spirituality” seeks sacred experiences. They tend to mean personal and intimate experiences and the inner strength hidden within us. In this view of spirituality, sensory and psychospiritual exercises play an important role. The human body is seen as a vessel full of inner, spiritual meanings and as an expression of the spirit’s creative power.
The “new spirituality” includes a wide range of esoteric pursuits – from astrology to the occult and even borrowings from various Asian and pre-Christian religions. A worldview seeking a new form of spirituality is strongly syncretic. First of all, people want help in very specific – often difficult – life situations and seek to expand the boundaries of their consciousness behind the strangleholds of bored, meaningless everyday life. Many rely on new forms of spirituality in their search for meaning in life. Various meditation centers and other groups and individuals offer them miraculous healing, personal and spiritual growth workshops, coaching, videos on spirituality, music for relaxation and meditation, and on and on.
Why have these different forms become so popular? Our age is undeniably characterized by “colossal upheavals in employment and household budgets, political polarization and the dissolution of communities under the influence of social media. So people quite naturally crave the meaningful attachment and connections that these various programs generously promise followers.” [1]
[…]
The “New Spirituality” project is a creative attempt to offer the viewer a series of ideas and works of art and to stimulate reflection on this phenomenon.
Eulalia Domanovska
[1] Rosecrans Baldwin, Los Angeles. The City-State in Seven Lessons [Los Angeles. The City-State in Seven Tutorials], Polish edition, Wydawnictwo Czarne, 2022, p. 38. Artists: Daniel Koniusz, Ida Karkoszka, Iza Tarasewicz, Jacek Jagielski, Justyna Sołomianko, Katarzyna Krzykawska, Małgorzata Niedzielko, Nicolas Grospierre, Paweł Dudko, Paweł Nowak, Ryszard Ługowski, Katarzyna Zabłocka
SCULPTURE 
This will be our secret
(2020)
97 x 37 x 126 cm
Mixed media. Jute bank bags, stole