Jasmijn Mol

ICONOSTASIS
22 March – 2 April 2025

The exhibition combines Anglo-Western Christian thought with alchemical ideas and theories on the occult. In particular, ICONOSTASIS highlights two alchemical materials that are questionably material: light, for Wilkins-Lang and his analogue photographs, and sound, for Page. In its broadest sense, alchemy can be seen as a combination of philosophy and occult theories that come together in a material-based practice of magic. As the primordial parent of the modern-day chemist, the alchemist was thought to purify not only the materials they worked with, but also themselves and their environment, ultimately penetrating the “mystery of life.” ICONOSTASIS reinterprets the figure of the alchemist on one hand, and materials as alchemical on the other, and explores their potential within the context of the art gallery through light and sound.

Through Wilkins-Lang’s photographs, which build upon a history of both West and East-European Orthodox iconography and icon-building, ICONOSTASIS works towards an active practice of spirituality which could shed new light upon such icons, outside of the constraints of institutionalized religion. The title of this exhibition refers to the Eastern-European Christian iconostasis (or the Greek εἰκονοστάσιον): a wall of icons and religious paintings in orthodox churches, separating the nave from the sanctuary. Often, only the high priests or church orderlies were allowed behind this wall and into the sanctuary, as a physical-metaphorical separation between the sacred and the profane. The iconostasis can thus be seen as a wall that acts as the spiritual anchor of the divine within the infrastructure of the church. Similarly, Wilkins-Lang’s large-scale analogue photographs serve as physical anchors of the divine within the art space.

The exhibition takes place at the Cristel Ballroom Gallery, which is located in a central area of Amsterdam – the birthplace of the stock market and global capitalism. This environment and its visual ecosystem are nowadays dominated by a transient and fleeting language of urban tourism ruled by selfies, souvenirs and Nutella shops. Ruled by the soulless regime of capitalist imagery, this visual language drains everything it touches from its divinity, and supplants it with dead code. ICONOSTASIS attempts to create a space for stillness and reverence that counters this ecosystem. Its engagement with the sacred and sainthood then not only acts as a religious or spiritual manifestation, but also as a political force to reject these empty and interchangeable images of the capitalist Spectacle. This twofold employment of the spiritual raises questions on its validity: is it possible to transform the contemporary art gallery into a place of true, honest ritualization and transcendence, or are such ideas always forced to stay within the confines of the metaphorical? Can we once again open up the art world to include religion and spirituality, or are they nowadays inextricably bound to its highbrow conceptual merits?