TURIN, ITALY, April 9, 2009: According to La Repubblica newspaper, Italian museum Fondazione Merz in Turin will host an exhibition of Wolfgang Laib. A German artist, Laib’s work is characterized as “Land Art.” He employs natural materials, such as beeswax and rice, and uses nature to point towards philosophical concepts. For this installation, Laib will draw from Hinduism and South Indian priests, with a Mahayagna performed inside the museum.
“There will be thirty-three homas, or fires,” says the German artist, “with thirty-three South Indian priests and another twelve that will bring all necessary materials, as well as three cooks who will prepare the food offerings. Three hours in the morning and three hours in the evening, for seven days in a row.” According to the artist’s understanding, “Mahayagna is a ceremony that has been handed down unchanged for millennia. It has its roots in the Vedic Hindu culture but also transcends it because we are performing it for the welfare of the whole world and all living beings. It burns the material world, symbolized by rice, lentils, butter, fruit, vegetables, flowers and milk, along with pieces of cloth, herbs and medicinal plants and then gives birth to something new and completely different.”