Religion in East Asia: Material Practices of Resurgence and Transformation

This event is co-chaired by Aymei, Jack, and Shuwen, each presenting a 20-minute talk followed by a 30-minute audience Q&A.

Aymei Wang’s research and practice often return to the materiality of images, the dynamics of activating and deactivating forms. Beginning from the Buddhist understanding of ashes and paradoxical funerary rites that both revere and sever forms, Wang analyses the burning of Ghost Money through iconoclasm. This talk will explore a Buddhist economy of the visible, in which destruction is the very condition of transmission, return, and becoming, with ashes being the visual residue of this transaction.

At the intersection of anthropology and critical theory, Jack Bartley’s research explores the shifting cultural perceptions of the Korean indigenous religious practice musok, its shamans (mudang), and their portrayal in post-Korean War cinema. This presentation examines the liminal spaces mudang occupy in South Korean society, their adaptation to rapid modernisation, and the resurgence of their spiritual significance beyond national heritage. Drawing from his recent fieldwork, Bartley discusses the dichotomy between ancient sites of worship and the material consumerism of modern musok rituals. 

Shuwen Wang’s presentation will explore Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766), an Italian painter trained in Milan, who in 1715 arrived in Beijing as a Jesuit Brother and became an artist at the Qing imperial court. First, Shuwen will discuss Castiglione’s collaborative paintings, emphasising how religious culture influenced his teaching and his work at the Qing court. Then, Shuwen will analyse Castiglione’s transmission and transformation of European painting techniques and motifs in eighteenth-century China.

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