Barbara Bickel

Ancestral Journeys

Working with the moon and the sun the five women artists of the Gestare Art Collective (2011-2012) travel together at geographical distances across time and space through performance ritual, trance, and artworkings. During each quarter and cross-quarter, the collective members concurrently enter a trance within the three-day window around each quarter and cross-quarter of the cycle of the moon and the sun. In the journeys each woman engages in a ritual and trance practice with the intention to attune with the ancestors of the land and their lives. 

Below are Barbara's ancestral journeys transposed into short experimental videos. To see full documentation of the collective's journeys see the Gestare Art Collective website.

Freed from a singular level of consciousness, the collective crosses time and place, grounding into a deeper understanding of the past while opening to wisdom and guidance for the future. The resulting artworkings seek to remember and wit(h)ness collective and individual life experiences embedded in the earth and the cosmos. The collective's ongoing temporal explorations highlight the specific inner dimensions and relationships of artmaking with the self and other. 


                                                                                                                                       Ancestral Journey VII          
                                                                                                                                    Lammas, Aug. 1, 2012         
                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                        17 minute experimental video          
                                                           Camera, editing & production, performance & sound by Barbara Bickel

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Ancestral Journey VI    
                                                                                                                     Summer Solstice, June 20, 2012         
                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                        13 minute experimental video          
                                                           Camera, editing & production, performance & sound by Barbara Bickel

                                                                                                                                       Ancestral Journey V          
                                                                                                                            Lunar Beltain, May 5, 2012         
                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                        12 minute experimental video

                                                                                                                               Camera R. Michael Fisher          
                                                          Camera, editing & production, performance & sound by Barbara Bickel 

 

                                                                                                                                       Ancestral Journey IV          
                                                                                                                    Spring Equinox, March 19, 2012         
                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                         9 minute experimental video          
                                                          Camera, editing & production, performance & sound by Barbara Bickel 

                                                    To read a reflection on this
                                                      Ancestral Journey see PDF
March 19 journey, reflection.pdf March 19 journey, reflection.pdf
Size : 39.132 Kb
Type : pdf

 

          Ancestral Journey III          
                                                                                                             Lunar Imbolc, January 21. 2012         

                                                                                                                15 minute experimental video          
       Camera, editing & production, performance & sound by Barbara Bickel          

                                          To read an interview on this
                                             Ancestral Journey see PDF
Jan 21 Ancentral Journey 3 (interview).pdf Jan 21 Ancentral Journey 3 (interview).pdf
Size : 37.647 Kb
Type : pdf

 

                                                                                                                                        Ancestral Journey II
                                                                                                               Winter Solstice, December 21. 2011

                                                                                                                         5 minute experimental video
                                               Camera, editing & production, sound & sound arrangement by Barbara Bickel


                                                                                                                                         Ancestral Journey I
                                                                                                                   Lunar Samhain, October 26, 2011

                                                                                                                        11 minute experimental video
                                      Camera, editing & production, performance & sound arrangement by Barbara Bickel

 

  To see the full project go to the Gestare Art Collective site.