Columbia, Missouri, USA

Rituals: The Liminality of Death

Rituals is a collaborative work, created with Morgan Erutti, Jacob Mallard, Katina Bitsicas, and Cynthia Evans for the University of Missouri’s 2021-2022 ASH Research Program. The piece was installed in the University of Missouri’s Conley House from April 18, 2022 to April 22, 2022.

Rituals: The Liminality of Death

Rituals: The Liminality of Death creates a space that recalls traditional practices surrounding the death of a loved one. This installation is located in a refurbished 1868 home, The Conley House, that features two conjoined spaces.  

In the first sits a water basin with a projection that the viewer must pass through to enter the next space, thus separating the two spaces. The basin evokes a cleansing process, another layer detaching viewers from conceptions of death they might carry into Rituals. The projection of a moving surface of water communicates the unpredictability of moving into an unstructured space. This spiritual space removes the viewer from the “real” world, plunging them into the liminal. Viewers are invited to reflect on their own experiences with death and fears of dying.

The second space features a mantle and fireplace where three handmade paper urns are placed.  We selected paper as a unifying material for its organic quality, bringing to mind the body and physicality of death as a natural process. Variances in color and form reflect each individual artist’s approach to and experiences with death and grief. The viewer interacts with the urns via augmented reality (AR) and soundscape.

The AR component consists of 3D models of the urns that the viewer then aligns with the physical urns. As viewers move around the space with their devices, proximity to each urn will trigger different soundscapes and establish a threshold between digital and physical methods of processing. AR viewing both creates intimacy between the space and the viewer and provides a comfortable distance to the work through the use of a device. Using the technology as a medium, Rituals translates the liminal processing of death and grief into a cohesive, multi-sensory experience.

This statement was published in the University of Missouri’s Artifacts Journal, and can be seen here.