Abstract
This article contributes to the study of ritual in art, which is an unconventional setting for ritual studies. It concerns ritual, ritualization, and religion in the oeuvre of the up-and-coming Kazakhstani artist Anvar Musrepov. We discuss the prayer ritual, the process of ritual erasure (by covering in black), consumption rituals, and a cleansing ritual with a drone and ritualization with computer-generated imagery. Musrepov seeks to reimagine Kazakhstani national identity. His art, we argue, draws on what Alfred Gell has called the technology of enchantment.
Highlights
Anvar Musrepov is one of the most fascinating and imaginative young artists of Kazakhstan. We focus on his works of art that have ritual as their theme and/or show the process of ritualizing
Due to a positive review of a work displayed at an exhibition in Almaty by critic Anna Tolstova, Musrepov was accepted at the Rodchenko School of Photography and Multimedia in Moscow in 2014, from which he graduated in 2018. He continued his education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, until the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic forced him to return to Almaty
“A theory of art as ritual might seem plausible, since art can involve a gathering guided by certain aims, producing symbolic value by the use of ceremonies, gestures, and artefacts”
Summary
Anvar Musrepov (born in 1994) is one of the most fascinating and imaginative young artists of Kazakhstan. Musrepov is not the only artist from Kazakhstan working with ritual as a theme. Due to a positive review of a work displayed at an exhibition in Almaty by critic Anna Tolstova, Musrepov was accepted at the Rodchenko School of Photography and Multimedia in Moscow in 2014, from which he graduated in 2018 He continued his education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, until the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic forced him to return to Almaty. As Tsay (2019), observes: “In countries like Kazakhstan, where classic forms of freedom of speech may not be respected, contemporary art plays a unique role, offering alternative narrative and practices and contributing to the structuring of an independent public sphere.” She singles Anvar Musrepov out as one of the most outspoken artists. We will discuss two works on ritual erasure or covering in black (Section 3) and the use of a drone and digital works (Section 5) that demonstrate ritualizing in Musrepov’s art practice
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