Alchemy as Restorative Practice: A Case-Study of { remnants } of a { ritual }
Abstract
Through the lens of ritual studies and playful design, this paper reevaluates past traditions of collecting to reimagine new rituals of offering. { remnants } of a { ritual } is an exploration of memory crystallization and social exchange; a new framework for offering as manifested by a site-specific, autotopographical wunderkammer. This immersive installation is a refraction of my nostalgia for Venezuela, and an invitation to reimagine our relationship to diaspora.
By creating a cycle of offering and receiving, { remnants } of a { ritual } reinterprets the wunderkammer as a site for social healing: subverting hegemonic capitalist structures to serve as a catalyst for speculative play. Pulling from notions of transmutation and alchemy, I examine representations of memory, ritual, immersion, participation, and aesthetics to deconstruct the emergent processes that led to the development of { remnants } of a { ritual }