The key visual for the 2024/25 annual theme

Collage by graphic designer Stefan Matlik illustrates the annual theme "Body and religion"

Collage with motifs for the exhibition and events in the annual theme
© exc/Stefan Matlik

Graphic designer and artist Stefan Matlik’s key visual for the 2024/25 annual theme illustrates and unites the Cluster of Excellence’s diverse annual programme and interdisciplinary research on the theme “Body and Religion”. The motifs in the modular collage include some of the fascinating exhibits from the exhibition “Body. Cult. Religion. Perspectives from antiquity to the present”, which is the focus of the first half of the annual theme and features loans from international museums. Other motifs illustrate how literature and the visual arts address the relationship between body and religion – which is the focus of the second half of the annual theme. Scholars from the Cluster of Excellence will present their research on the theme of “Body and Religion” during the annual theme. Planned are lectures, panel discussions, guided tours of the exhibition, discussion walks, dance workshops, readings and film evenings. Below are motifs of the key visual presented one at a time and with background information.

Motifs for the exhibition “Body. Cult. Religion. Perspectives from antiquity to the present”

Statuette of the Roman god Hermaphroditus from the 1st century CE

Replica of the death mask of the unknown woman of the Seine (orig. “L’inconnue de la Seine”)

Silver Levite jug with bowl, late 19th/early 20th century

Painted wooden figure of an ancient Egyptian Ba bird with human head

18th-century icon depicting the baptism of Jesus

Nkisi-Nkonde, a so-called nail fetish, from the Congo, 19th/20th century

Pietà from the 16th century

15th-century icon of the cross made of wood covered in gold leaf

Statue of the ancient Egyptian Great God's Wife Ahmose-Nefertari from the 19th dynasty

Photo by Lea Golda Holterman from the series “Orthodox Eros”, 2009

Motifs from the exhibition’s accompanying programme

Buddhist monk meditating

Sufi dervish performing a trance

Nun in religious costume

Motif for the dance workshop in the annual theme “Body and Religion” for the exhibition “Body. Cult. Religion. Perspectives from antiquity to the present”

Motifs for the programme in the summer term of 2025

Illumination from a manuscript of Boccaccio’s Decameron, around 1427

Marquis de Sade’s 18th-century scroll undergoing restoration

Italian artist Artemisia Gentileschis depicts Mary Magdalene in a state of ecstasy

Andrea Mantegna’s “Martyrdom of St Sebastian”

Image rights

Statuette of the Roman god Hermaphroditus – Lady Lever Art Gallery Liverpool, inv. no. LL13
Replica of the death mask of the unknown woman of the Seine – Museum for Sepulchral Culture Kassel
Silver Levite jug with bowl – Jewish Museum Dorsten, inv. no.: 91/063
Painted wooden figure of an ancient Egyptian Ba bird – Gustav-Lübcke Museum, inv. no. 1783
Icon depicting the baptism of Jesus – Bible Museum Münster, inv. no. 525/3
Nkisi-Nkonde from the Congo – Soul of Africa Museum Essen, inv. no. SoA 592
Pietà from the 16th century – Bible Museum Münster, inv. no. 478
Icon of the cross made of wood covered with gold leaf – Bible Museum Münster, inv. no. 479
Statue of the ancient Egyptian Great God's Wife Ahmose-Nefertari – Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection Berlin, inv. no. 10114
Photo from the series “Orthodox Eros” – Lea Golda Holterman
Buddhist monk during meditation – sasint, Pixabay
Sufi dervish performing a trance – klimkin, Pixabay
Nun in religious costume – DUCTINH91, Pixabay
Motif for the dance workshop – Private
Illumination of Boccaccio’s Decameron – gallica.bnf.fr/Bibliothèque nationale de France, manuscript Italy 63, fol. 256v.
Marquis de Sade’s scroll – gallica.bnf.fr/ Bibliothèque nationale de France, Béatrice Lucchese
“Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy” – Artemisia Gentileschi, Wikimedia Commons
“Martyrdom of St Sebastian” – Andrea Mantegna, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien