Mondriaan Museums & Exhibitions Projects Sacrality Thoughts & Ideas Visual Art

Book! Art & The Postsecular

Earlier this year, a little book I wrote was published in the series Brill Research Perspectives in Religion and the Arts. It combines insights from a various research projects I have been working on for the past years.

In sum, this is what the book is about:

Beyond the Return of Religion: Art and the Postsecular explores the conceptual potential of the postsecular for investigations of (late) modern art and religion. Indicating a public co-existence and merging of religion and the secular, the postsecular is approached as an alternative to the return of religion narrative. Rather than framing artistic concerns with religion as a recurrence after temporary absence, it is argued how the postsecular allows for seeing the interaction between art and religion as enduring, albeit transforming relationship of mutual nature. Whereas secularization theories are intrinsically connected to modernity, the postsecular requires a pluralized perspective, covering the processes of secularization, diversification, and spiritualization. The postsecular reinforces the interconnectedness of these processes, which are, in turn, embodied in the concept’s interdisciplinary nature. While this essay predominantly focuses on visual art and its institutional context of the museum, the postsecular has interdisciplinary relevance for broader artistic and academic disciplines.

For more information, check out the publisher’s website.

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