Goddess Worship was created as part of Experimental Archeology, a larger cycle of reenactment projects. For it, Ter Heijne reconstructed select archaeological artefacts from Marija Gimbuta’s book The Language of the Goddess: Unearthing the Hidden Symbols of Western Civilization. The Lithuanian-American archaeologist analyzed patterns and symbols carved into prehistoric objects, adding new insights from the fields of archeology, mythology, and linguistic ethnography to prove that a language of female divinity also permeates Western culture as a whole. To enhance the authentic “aura” of these rebuilt objects and emulate the originals, Ter Heijne used an archaic wood-burning method to fire the ceramic reconstructions during several full moon healing rituals. Some of the objects were given specially-made portable altars as well. Each of the black boxes contains a short text about the original artifact along with a black magic mirror that can be used for fortune telling.
This installation has been shown
Any Day Now, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, 2010
Long Live Matriarchy!, Stedelijk Museum Bureau, Amsterdam, 2009
An Archeology, Zabludowicz collection, 176 Project Space, London, 2007
No Depression In Heaven, Galerie Arndt & Partner, Berlin, 2006