In Taoist rituals, "transformation" refers to the process of transition between material and spiritual realms. Our research on the bîng-kun-toh in Fenggui documents how local residents made offerings of "imagined" Western food to foreign spirits, while in traditional Taiwanese ritual culture, the "feng-pian-gao" (cloud slice cake) transforms physical offerings into symbols using glutinous rice and sugar, embodying the Taoist wisdom of "seeking spirit through form."
Continuing this practice of cross-cultural imagination and transformation, this workshop invites participants to consider: when you are both the worshipper and the spirit, what offerings would you prepare to feed your own "ghost"? Through materials such as glutinous rice and red dye, each person will create offerings for their own soul, reconsidering the form of spiritual solace in this cross-temporal self-dialogue.
In traditional ritual culture, the boundary between "us" and "the other" has always been clear: the living worship the dead, this shore makes offerings to the other shore, rituals are built upon such binary opposition. However, when we position ourselves simultaneously as both the worshipper and the worshipped, this established boundary dissolves. In feeding our own "ghost," we become both the provider of offerings and the receiver of spiritual sustenance. This dual identity compels us to re-examine the essence of ritual practices. If worship has always been about pacifying the souls of others, how do we confront our inner hunger when we become our own "ghost"?
Program Components
- Contemporary interpretation of traditional ritual practices
- Creation of personalized offerings
- Sharing of symbolic comfort food: · Handmade noodles (for longevity) · Sweet glutinous rice balls (for wholeness) · Taiwanese black tea
Lin Szu-Han is a visual artist and social designer whose practice is rooted in her father’s work as a mortician. This background has shaped her exploration of social beliefs, death rituals, metaphysics, and spectral narratives within specific landscapes. Lin works across video, performance, sculpture and installation, transforming social issues into visual narratives using everyday objects and accessible artistic techniques. Marginalised and non-human perspectives lie at the core of her work, offering new outlooks on epistemological and socio-environmental crises. Lin’s long-term practice centres on spatial narratives and bodily experiences, exploring emotional attachments to land and identity through spatial representations and religious symbols.
The core themes of Lin Wen-Hsuan’s work are memory and psychological space, transforming past negative experiences into symbolic gifts as a way to let them go. Growing up in the countryside, Lin struggled with the fast pace of modern life, which led her to adopt a slower artistic process—through rituals, this extended creative journey becomes a nurturing experience that helps her release past troubles. In recent works, she has begun observing how objects change within psychological space, focusing on the viewer’s experience and interaction with the space itself. Lin Wen-Hsuan's early ceramic works treat clay as a material shaped by geography, history, culture, space, and time, carrying unique meanings in people's minds.
Tickets
Full price €25 | *Discount €20
*We give a discount to students, artists and Stadspas holders. If this applies to you we might ask to see your kvk nr/portfolio or student card for this option.
Information
November 24, 2024
14:00-15:30
Attendance limited to 15 people
Location: Mediamatic Sluisdeurenloods
This event will be held in English.
The organizer reserves the right to make changes to the event.