Messages Received: Utopian Realities

New Museum, New York — 2024

As part of Utopian Realities, Ash Rucker presented Messages Received, an interactive moving meditation and collective prayer for the world. The performance responded to the grief, loss, and conflicting emotions present in contemporary life, inviting participants to join in raising vibrations of love and joy.

Through chanting, movement, and ritual, Rucker transformed the gallery into a space of communion and healing. Participants were invited to write prayers for the world, add them to a collective altar, and take part in chanting the Hare Krishna mantra. The performance emphasized the power of shared vibration to transcend isolation, echoing bell hooks’ reminder that “healing is an act of communion.”