Art Through Time: Ceremony and Society

Ceremony and Society

 People across the world engage in a wide range of ceremonial rites and spectacles. Some of these are religious, others political or social. Through these practices and the arts that accompany them—costumes, masks, vessels, ancestor figurines, altarpieces, staffs, and other objects and images—people across cultures define identity, build community, express belief, negotiate power, and attend to the physical and spiritual well-being of both individuals and societies.

Watch the video located at this address:
http://www.learner.org/courses/globalart/theme/4/index.html

 then respond to the following questions:

1. In examples featured in the program, how has the transformative power of masks been used?
 2. How have cultures used ceremonial objects to promote the well-being or betterment of the community?
 3. Compare the political undertones of the Carnival celebration in Haiti with Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
 4. In the examples featured in the program, how has ceremonial dress conveyed position or status?
 5. What makes a trip to an art museum a kind of ritual?

Your answers are due in class by Monday, March 18th