Shaman, Perform a Miracle
Votive Installation · Joseph Beuys · Symbolic Critique
In Shaman, Perform a Miracle, Fabrizio Ruggiero constructs a votive installation dedicated to Joseph Beuys, invoking the figure of the artist as a symbolic mediator between art, society, and transformation.
Through a deliberately ambivalent gesture—at once reverential and ironic—the installation reflects on the contradictions embedded within the contemporary art system, particularly the process by which artists are transformed into symbolic and financial “icons.”
Beuys’ concept of Soziale Plastik (Social Sculpture), which proposed art as a transformative force capable of reshaping society, is here both invoked and critically re-examined.
The installation stages a tension between two opposing conditions:
— art as ethical and transformative action
— art as speculative and institutional construct
Within this space, the votive structure—altar, candles, portrait—suggests devotion, ritual, and collective projection. Yet the gesture remains unresolved, questioning whether contemporary art still holds the capacity for real transformation.
The work reflects on the relationship between aesthetics and ethics, proposing that artistic integrity must remain inseparable from the conditions of its production.
Rather than reinforcing symbolic authority, the installation exposes its mechanisms.
The “shaman” is invoked—but the miracle is left suspended.
Installation elements:
Joseph Beuys — fresco portrait · cm 160 × 130
Altar structure · cm 220 × 100 × 70
Faux pietra serena
Hand-made wax candles
Felt elements
