Anna Reutinger | Stuck in the same muck

Tutor Documentation 4 June 2021

Anna Reutinger, alum (2014–2016) and tutor at Main Department Dirty Art Department, presented the solo show Stuck in the same muck at Editorial, Vilnius, 7–29 May 2021.

Apotropaic symbols were widely used in medieval times, to ward off evil spirits and protect those who applied them. They were stitched to the hems of garments, carried in concealed purses, woven and knit into the patterns of clothing, scratched into walls and carved into the tools of everyday life. These symbols often gave reference to natural elements—plants, animals, cosmological geometry and grotesque hybrids—while connecting to elaborate mythologies and visual proverbs. While illiteracy prevailed, these symbols can be seen as some of the only surviving first-hand traces of medieval non-elite, and their hopes, fears, and values. Over a vast expanse of time, as values shifted—science negating the spiritual and craft giving way to industry—these symbols have slowly been consolidated and abstracted into abbreviations of their former significance.

See more at: http://www.annareutinger.com/stuck-in-the-same-muck-apr-2021/

Reutinger will present a performance at SETU, festival de performances, Elliant, Finistère, France, on 29–31 August 2021.
More information: https://www.setufestival.com/