In a cultural moment still reeling from burnout, grief and digital fatigue, a new kind of artistic journey is taking shape: pleasure pilgrimages. These aren’t your average gallery crawls or wellness retreats. Instead, they are immersive, multisensory experiences – part ritual, part rave, part performance – where art becomes a conduit for collective joy, sensual reconnection and spiritual inquiry.
Whether it’s a First Nations light installation under desert stars, a barefoot ceremony on Tasmanian soil or an ecstatic art walk through European cities, the concept of pleasure pilgrimages is gaining traction among artists and audiences alike. These experiences don’t just inspire – they transform.
The rise of the pleasure pilgrimage
While not always using the term explicitly, a growing number of events and festivals now embody the ethos of the pleasure pilgrimage: a deliberate journey into beauty, community and altered states of awareness through art.
One example is The Pilgrimage, a roaming performance developed in the UK by artists at Passage Festival. The work invites audiences on a walking tour devoted to ‘the adoration of great works of art’ as a form of salvation – merging movement, ritual and sensory immersion in public space.
Closer to home, Tasmania’s Nayri Niara Good Spirit Festival draws together music, ceremony, storytelling and embodiment practices in what organisers call ‘a gathering for deep listening and connection to Country, culture and spirit’. Its founder, Rasta Albert, describes it as ‘a container of healing’, adding, ‘We’re not separate from art, from land or from spirit. Pleasure isn’t frivolous – it’s sacred.’
Pleasure pilgrimages and collective light at Parrtjima
In central Australia, Parrtjima, A Festival in Light has become a potent example of a pleasure pilgrimage, drawing thousands to Mparntwe/Alice Springs each year. Curated by Rhoda Roberts, the Festival is grounded in First Nations storytelling and celebrates sacred connection through immersive light projections, music, installations and communal reflection.
Roberts told The Guardian: “Parrtjima is not just a light festival, it’s a gathering of knowledge … it’s a pilgrimage into Country and story”.
The event invites visitors to experience art not just as visual consumption but as ceremony and shared truth-telling, a form of joy that carries weight. ‘People come here to feel something,” Roberts said. ‘And they do.’
Why pleasure pilgrimages are resonating now
The rise of pleasure pilgrimages aligns with a broader shift in post-pandemic arts and wellness culture. Audiences are no longer just looking to be entertained – they want to be transformed. After years of separation and screen time, many crave touch, sensation, collectivity and meaning.
This shift is particularly evident in the resurgence of transformational festivals such as Portugal’s Boom Festival, where psychedelic art, electronic music, ancestral rituals and wellness zones merge in a celebratory fusion of ecstasy and introspection. While based overseas, Boom has had a profound influence on Australian artists, many of whom cite the event as a rite of passage and source of community.
From fringe to framework: the evolution of pleasure pilgrimages
What began as a fringe aesthetic – blending rave culture, spiritual practice and immersive performance – is now moving closer to the cultural mainstream. Pleasure pilgrimages ask a simple but profound question: what if seeking joy, wonder and beauty is itself a serious artistic practice?
They also challenge the long-held belief in the binary between suffering and seriousness in art. As Nayri Niara’s artistic team states: ‘Healing is art. Joy is resistance. Rest is a weapon. These are not indulgent ideas – they are ancestral ones.’
What pleasure pilgrimages mean for Australian artists
For Australian artists and arts organisations, pleasure pilgrimages offer a powerful framework to explore. How may we design events and experiences that centre embodied joy? What does it mean to create art that prioritises community care and emotional depth? And how can we reclaim pleasure, not as escapism, but as a radical return to feeling?
As this movement grows, we may see more festivals, galleries and performance-makers embracing the pilgrimage format, not just in deserts and forests, but in laneways, theatres and city streets.
After all, art has always been a journey. Maybe now, it leads us back to ourselves.
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