November 1. Encounter with Lauryn Youden. Sacred Serpent Sessions: The soul is quickened in her grave, the peacock’s tail shimmered
Thursday, November 1, 19:00, RSVP requested
Sacred Serpent Sessions: The soul is quickened in her grave, the peacock’s tail shimmered
Encounter with Lauryn Youden
Through lecture and guided meditation with accompanying music by Dylan Spencer-Davidson this ritual provides its participants the opportunity to learn and engage with the fifth operation of alchemy, Fermentation. Like the chemical process of the same name, it is a two-stepped process that begins with Putrefaction, the rotting and decay of a material, followed by fermentation, the growth of new life – this metaphorically referring to a dual process of ego death and the following resurrection of the soul.
Samhain, celebrated between Oct 31st and November 1st, is the celtic new year and festival of the dead. It is believed to be a liminal time, when the veil thins between this world and the Otherworld and this boundary can be more easily crossed by living beings, supernatural beings and the dead. Therefore, it is the time of the year to not only honor those who have passed but to also meditate on death itself; to come to terms with the mortality of our physical bodies, and to consider what death not only means to us personally but also on a communal, cultural and metaphysical level.
The lecture and meditation will follow with time for open discussion and conversation. Water kefir will be served.
Please RSVP to reserve a spot. Space is limited. theinstituteforendoticresearch
This event is kindly supported by the Canadian Embassy in Berlin.
Sacred Serpent Sessions: The soul is quickened in her grave, the peacock’s tail shimmered is a special Samhainian iteration of the alchemic ritual performed by Lauryn Youden previously at Very Project Space, Berlin as part of the exhibition Digesture.
Lauryn Youden (b.1989 Vancouver) is a Canadian artist based in Berlin. Her practice is a methodology of performative ceremonies. The objects, installation and writings found in her work are both traces left behind from these actions as well as tools for providing self-care. These derive from Youden’s lifelong research in and navigation through modern Western medicine and alternative healing practices for the treatment of her own mental illnesses. By publicly presenting her personal experiences, and an active and engaged feminist lens on the history of medicine and care, Youden’s work inevitably illuminates repressed, marginalized and forgotten practices and knowledge in medicine and care. As delicate and vulnerable as Youden’s visual language may seem, it is ultimately political at its foundation, questioning the loss of knowledge in our society. Youden was awarded the Berlin Art Prize in 2016 and is co-director of the project space Ashley Berlin.
Recent exhibitions and performances include: Group Therapy at the Frye Art Museum, Seattle (USA), You Say I for me at Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (NL) as part of the symposium Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Paradiso, Amsterdam (NL); 5X5X5 at Manifesta 12, Palermo (IT); May the Bridges I burn light the way at Exile, Berlin; Digesture at Very Project Space, Berlin (DE); Well::ness Bad::ass Festival by Orga Orga at Kunstverein Speyer, Speyer (DE); I am large, I contain Multitudes at Galerie Wedding, Berlin (DE); Beneath the Salt at Kinderhook & Caracas, Berlin (DE); Sacred Serpent Sessions with Reflektor-M, Frankfurt (DE); Silent Empire at Funkhaus Berlin, Berlin (DE); Salon Ghol at Galerie Noah Klink, Berlin (DE); This will never finish at Support, London (CA); and Dream Pool at Pushmi Pullyo, Toronto (CA).
Photos by Benjamin Busch
