Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Interreligious Dialogue in a Changing World
- 2 Reflexive Religiosities and Complex Otherness
- 3 A Creative Perspective on Interreligious Dialogue
- 4 A Dialogue of Souls: Jordi Savall
- 5 Exploring Estrangement: Susanne Levin
- 6 Only the Idea of Snow is White: Marita Liulia
- 7 When Language is Not Enough: Chokri Mensi
- 8 Beauty is a Hole in the Wall: Cecilia Parsberg
- 9 Inhabiting a Mystery: Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt
- 10 Conclusions: The Art of Dialogue
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index of Names
- Index of Subjects
6 - Only the Idea of Snow is White: Marita Liulia
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Interreligious Dialogue in a Changing World
- 2 Reflexive Religiosities and Complex Otherness
- 3 A Creative Perspective on Interreligious Dialogue
- 4 A Dialogue of Souls: Jordi Savall
- 5 Exploring Estrangement: Susanne Levin
- 6 Only the Idea of Snow is White: Marita Liulia
- 7 When Language is Not Enough: Chokri Mensi
- 8 Beauty is a Hole in the Wall: Cecilia Parsberg
- 9 Inhabiting a Mystery: Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt
- 10 Conclusions: The Art of Dialogue
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index of Names
- Index of Subjects
Summary
My recipe is to combine art, research and technology and to spice it with a pinch of humour and a considerable dose of beauty.
This statement is given as a motto by the Finnish contemporary artist Marita Liulia as she describes her multimedia art project Choosing My Religion: a comprehensive, multilayered and complex journey into nine world religions presented side by side in paintings, photographs, media installations, films, artefacts, texts and interactive websites. As a contemporary artist, her focal point is the human aspects of religion and in particular the religious bricolage of contemporary post-secular culture where spiritual seekers often satisfy their existential needs in segments and by using a variety of sources. Especially urbanized westerners can, according to Liulia, “pick and choose from religions [and cultures], and tailor them to suit their own needs at any particular time.” It is within this context that the creative dialogue contribution examined in this chapter finds its place.
Marita Liulia describes Choosing My Religion as her “personal attempt to give a view of religions today.” For the sake of analysis, this multi-religious endeavour is hard to categorize as it moves in the grey zones between knowledge and experience, public and personal, academic and artistic. The researcher of religion Terhi Utriainen poignantly describes it as a “collective shrine to many religions” and comments: “The work is not a realistic documentation of the world of religions, nor is it a conviction-filled manifesto for either religion in general or for any specific religions.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Art and BeliefArtists Engaged in Interreligious Dialogue, pp. 104 - 121Publisher: Acumen PublishingPrint publication year: 2012