This site is the successor to the Second Renaissance website. Why the new name

Candles in a stone bowl beside a bowl of fruit and leaves, laid out for a ritual
A Seeds of Renaissance Collective

Art of the Second Renaissance

Redefining art. Shaping a new paradigm.

What we make

A spread from Mythos, Issue #2 of the magazine: two figures, one nude, one painted in clay Magazine · yearly

The magazine

Our magazine is a yearly publication which aims to share with the world the artistic embodiment of transformation for a Second Renaissance. Our first issue is on the theme of Impermanence.

See the magazine → Paintings hung on the stone walls of a barn at the Impermanence exhibition Exhibitions · 2024

Exhibitions

Our exhibitions showcase artworks which embody the values of the Second Renaissance – interbeingness, awakening, wisdom and inner-evolution.

See the exhibitions → A woman in white beneath hanging dried flowers, during the Art of Ritual residency Residency · July 2026

Art of Ritual: Shadow Work and Creative Rebirth

In July 2026, Sylvie Barbier and Kay Michael led a week of shadow work and creative rebirth at the Life Itself Farmhouse in south-west France.

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Along the way · 2024 to now

The magazine’s crowdfunding, 2025

Support a new artistic era

Our crowdfunding campaign for the Second Renaissance Magazine is now closed – thank you to everyone who supported it.

This is more than a magazine, it’s a cultural movement. Every issue gathers artists, writers, and performers who embody the Second Renaissance: art as oracle, art as ritual, art as a guide toward a new world.

Thanks to your support, the magazine is now launched – read it and discover the vision and work of the artists and contributors who brought it to life.

Read the magazine
Oct 2026Cover of Issue #3, EternityOpen call: Issue #3, EternityThe magazine’s next issue is open for art, poems, stories, practices and essays.Magazine Sep 2026Episode art: Sylvie Barbier and Amanda ZamparoArt at the Edge of the UnknownAmanda Zamparo talks with Sylvie Barbier about making art from a shared field.Podcast Jul 2026Cheryl, Sylvie and Amanda together at the gatheringA Gathering of the Art of the Second RenaissanceOracular practice, ritual and collective presencing, around Source, Money, Power and Shadows.Gathering Jul 2026Looking out of a cave onto a river, at the residencyArt of Ritual residencyA week of shadow work and creative rebirth at the Life Itself Farmhouse, France.Residency Jun 2026Cover of Issue #2, MythosIssue #2, MythosIssue #2 Mythos is out now.Magazine Oct 2025Sylvie Barbier introducing the magazine campaignCrowdfunding the magazineThe campaign that funded the magazine.Campaign Jan 2025Invitation to the manifesto and magazine launchManifesto and magazine launchThe art manifesto and the first issue, launched online.Launch 2024Pages from Issue #1, Impermanence: a contents page and flowers laid on stonesIssue #1, ImpermanenceThe first issue of the magazine.Magazine Sep 2024Berlin launch poster for the Art of the Second RenaissanceBerlin launchThe art movement launches at MOOS Space, Berlin.Launch Aug 2024Sylvie Barbier on the Soul Awakened Leadership podcastArt as a Catalyst for the Second RenaissanceSylvie Barbier on the Soul Awakened Leadership podcast.Interview Apr 2024Calligraphy scrolls hanging in a barn at the exhibitionThe Impermanence exhibitionWorks and films by five artists, in Thénac, France.Exhibition

Vision of the Second Renaissance

“Art of the Second Renaissance is an art movement which aims to relate to and make art in a fundamentally different way and contribute through art to the emergence of a new paradigm – the paradigm of the Second Renaissance.”

An audacious quest to redefine art-making practices and be a bridge between the dying past and the future unborn.

Cover of the Art of the Second Renaissance manifesto and essay

Manifesto

Seeking an artistic tribe for an emerging cultural paradigm. Marrying the artistic, political and spiritual worlds.

We have written a manifesto and essay to explain in more detail the philosophy behind the Art of the Second Renaissance. These are the principles on which we come together as a collective and curate our magazine.

Read the manifesto and essay

The collective

A small collective of women making art in service of the Second Renaissance

The purpose of the collective is to make art at the service of the Second Renaissance. One key aspect in approaching art differently is to integrate the individual with the collective.

This newly formed collective is in an experimental phase that will last six months. The Collective operates based on the principles outlined in the Second Renaissance essays.

It currently brings together four women who unite to serve and create art for the Second Renaissance. The art produced may differ from conventional notions of art, embracing new and unique forms. The collective is a safe place of sisterhood and also a group which takes artistic action together. We envision that in some later stage the collective will open up to more members to join, including men. Yet, as of now, at this embryonic stage, we are choosing to be a small group of women who can commit and be the nurturers of what is to be born.

A red paper lantern among leaves, seen between white curtains
Sylvie Barbier in a long white dress in a ploughed field

Sylvie ‘Shiwei’ Barbier

Sylvie ‘Shiwei’ Barbier is a French-Taiwanese artist. Her work synthesizes Eastern and Western philosophies and aesthetics. She is also the co-founder of Life Itself, an organization dedicated to practical action for a radically wiser, weller world.

Her performance art pieces are contemporary rituals, where the audience is invited to take an active and interactive role.

Schuyler Brown kneeling in long grass, smiling

Schuyler Brown

Schuyler Brown teaches the skills necessary to cultivate emergence within individuals and teams. She facilitates meetings and retreats of all sizes to help groups solve complex problems and navigate conflict and turbulence within the system. Her work lives at the intersection of leadership development, organizational design, and esoteric spirituality.

Cheryl Hsu outdoors among green leaves, smiling

Cheryl Hsu

Cheryl is transversal designer, braiding living root bridges of wholeness and intimacy in the time between worlds, she is a soul-maker of the imaginal, transmuting desire (eros) into art. She is an intersubjective space-holder and gap-diver for collective creativity from Source. She is a spiritual activist, devoted to the democratization of mystical participation and the renewal of the sacred.

Amanda Zamparo beneath a tree, looking up

Amanda Zamparo

Amanda graduated in biomedical sciences in 2015. After getting underwhelmed with the traditional academic research world, she went on to explore different paths. Social impact, sustainable development, conscious entrepreneurship, collective wisdom and more... While traveling to communities like Tamera, she discovered new ways of living and the love for the Earth became her silent inner compass. In 2023 she was recognized as one of the few stewards of the Flow Game practice, and she keeps nurturing communities that also nurture her back. She is curious about how we humans can surrender to the streams of love and eros, in a wise and regenerative way, and she thinks that creating Art in communion with Lover Earth might be one answer.

Two women embrace in a dim room while others sit and watch, during a performance

Take part

The collective is a small group and isn’t taking new members yet, but you can take part: send work to the magazine’s open call, come to a gathering or residency, or write to us at [email protected].