PodcastEpisode 18
Art at the Edge of the Unknown: The Art of the Second Renaissance
On longing, belonging, and the art of sitting with not knowing.
In this episode, Amanda Zamparo, friend and fellow member of the Art of the Second Renaissance Collective, moves Sylvie back through her own journey: from her childhood dancing on tables as a small child, to being absorbed in the paintings of naked women, to founding Life Itself alongside Rufus Pollock. A portrait appears of an artist who has always been searching for the same thing — a practice that connects, that comes from beyond the self yet returns there.
Amanda and Sylvie discuss what it actually means to make art at the service of something greater than the individual artist, a living practice of collective reconnection. Sylvie traces the arc from her early fascination with Marina Abramović, through her encounter with Butoh dance and its shamanic currents, to the question that now drives the Art of the Second Renaissance Collective: what would it look like to make art that arises from a shared field rather than a single creative ego? It is, she admits, deeply experimental. Nobody has a full map yet.
“What is truly new — never seen before — cannot come from what is known. It can only come from the unknown.”
The conversation closes with an invitation to sit with not knowing long enough for something genuinely new to emerge. In a culture addicted to output, to making, to having answers, Sylvie offers a different kind of practice — one rooted in trust, in relational depth, and in the belief that belonging begins with following your longing. This is a conversation about art, but it is also about how to be alive at a moment when the old world is ending and something not yet named is trying to be born.
Chapters
- 00:52Amanda introduces the collective
- 03:02Sylvie’s origin story as an artist
- 10:15Dance, music, and performance as one practice
- 14:15Collective spirituality and the sacred
- 16:32The first ritual that changed everything
- 21:36How Life Itself began
- 26:06Learning across disciplines and building belonging
- 30:00Why the name changed to Life Itself
- 35:00The Second Renaissance and rebirth
- 39:09Feminine wisdom and the birth of the collective
- 42:49Trust, care, and depth in relationship
- 46:03How people can join the movement
- 49:39Relational art as the core practice
Speakers
Amanda Zamparo is a relational artist, facilitator, and member of the Art of the Second Renaissance Collective. She brings a rare combination of artistic rigour and heart intelligence to her work. She is drawn to the edges where art, ritual, and collective wisdom meet.
Sylvie Barbier is a co-founder of Life Itself, a performance artist, entrepreneur, and educator.
Notes and links
Art of the Second Renaissance Collective
Art of the Second Renaissance Manifesto
Art of Ritual Retreat Reflections
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