Agents of Faith: The Exhibition Experience


Faith is common to all human societies. Examining votive objects—often created to fulfill a vow or as a pledge and placed at a sacred space or site of communal memory—Agents of Faith: The Exhibition Experience will look at the things humans choose to offer in their votive transactions and will strive to uncover the most intimate moments in the lives of humans, revealing how our dreams and hopes, as well as our fears and anxieties, find form in votive offerings. The seminar is given in conjunction with the exhibition Agents of Faith: Votive Objects in Time and Place opening at the Bard Graduate Center Gallery in September 2018. The seminar therefore will deal not only with the study and research of votive offerings, their meaning and function, but will also delve into issues which surrounded the planning and execution of the exhibition. How do we curate and display objects that have religious or sentimental value? How do we juxtapose objects from various cultures and what is the danger in this practice? Questions of globalism, comparativism, and transnationalism as avenues of research and curatorial practice will also find their way into our seminar. 3 credits. Satisfies the pre-1800 requirement.