RITUAL, 25.3.–7.5.02

This “room installation” by Miriam Cahn is composed of eighteen elements. The term room installation is used by Cahn to define an inseparable group of works that must be shown together in a single space, without interacting with other works. Each of the 18 elements was created independently; it was only at the end of the process that Cahn decided to bring them together as a single installation. The chronological order in which each element was made is important for understanding the deeper meaning of the work.

The period and theme referenced relate to her father’s illness and to the daily ritual the artist developed to cope with this painful time. The works evoke the main moments of this ritual: working, walking, visiting her father in the hospital, returning home and drinking a beer while looking at the landscape she saw from her window, or watching television.

As the artist explains in the video interview by Edith Juden (2004), the flowers depicted in Ritual were discovered during a walk in the mountains before one of her hospital visits. The artist sees flowers she wishes to pick for her dying father, but realising he would not be able to appreciate them, she ultimately decides to paint them. The installation can be understood as a self-portrait, and it is likely that some of the painted human figures resemble the artist’s father.