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Self-introduction / Installation art ritual space...

  
 
23chao5
18:19 / 31.01.03
Hello.... I've been watching this board for a while now and just thought I'd say hi as I intend to actually start posting now (at least on occasion).

Now for my question/idea:
I am an undergrad student right now, and as a senior next year I will have the whole year to develop one cohesive art show that will be up on display for a week towards the end of the year. I've been thinking that, artistically speaking, I want to incorporate everything I can--painting, drawing, photography, digital media, sound, video, sculpture, etc. As for a theme--well, I've really been wanting to approach this as an extensive working... one where I would develop a ritual approach to beginning and ending any work on the project (easy because I will have a personal studio) and one where the whole of the piece would work as one big ritual space with a very, er, intended effect on the viewers, as opposed to an incidental one, as is often the case with art displays.

I want to incorporate a big mishmash of symbols for this--from Terrence McKenna's Timewave Mythos and Leary's S M I^2 L E concept to Mahayana Buddhist ideas of Maitreya, Revelations, and so forth. So far I'm thinking I want to really base this thing around Dec. 22, 2012 and really link conceptions of "Apocalypse" and "end-times" with a sort of inner-Apocalypse in which the damned (antiquated self-destructive ideas, general ego-based viewpoints) are cast off and heaven (awakening, enlightenment, realization of Brahman, etc.) becomes everyone's new abode... a big sort of end-of-evolution, 2001: A Space Odyssey, the end of The Fool's Journey, end-of-time sort of space.

Anyway, I wanted to hear any suggestions, criticisms, ideas, etc. I am generally more familiar with Zen, Chaos Magick, 60's psychedelia writers, and so forth than I am with Christian symbolism and Western Mystery Tradition stuff, though I have been trying to pierce that whole mess for a couple of years now with some slow progress. I know I may be getting ahead of myself trying such a massive thing, but hey, I've done plenty of "little" things and am ready to try my hand at something more extensive... as long as no one gets hurt (by my fault) I'm not worried... heh. My intent, anyway, is not quite so massive--I just want to give people a little shove in a more self-reflective peaceful direction...
 
 
grant
18:30 / 31.01.03
An "apocalypse" is actually the name for a poetic form - a work describing a mystic revelation. There might be fertile ground if you look at the history of apocalypses.
 
 
Mike
19:18 / 31.01.03
http://cerritos.cyberbro.com/Narcissus/Narcissus22.html
 
 
Bill Posters
14:10 / 01.02.03
Sounds good, I'd recommend Googling 'British Museum Apocalypse' - you'll get a ton of stuff about an exhibition there on that theme (some time in 2001 IIRC) and may give you something to react against, go beyond, whatever.
 
 
Tamayyurt
15:42 / 01.02.03
Welcome to Barbelith, 23chaos5, I think I'm going to enjoy seeing this project develop. I'll see if I can help.
 
 
23chao5
16:43 / 01.02.03
Thanks... I'll of course update this thread as this progresses. I am months away from begining the project so it's all very foggy now, but I think it will definitely develop a life of its own as it goes on... at least I hope it does...
 
 
wembley can change in 28 days
14:02 / 02.02.03
Hey 23chaos5, wish you luck on your project. A couple of years ago my performance class did "The Serpent" by Jean Claude van Italie (was originally done in the 60s by the Open Theater). Because the piece was so ritualistic, our profs made us do little things to prepare for rehearsals - for instance, we all had to remove our shoes before entering the rehearsal space. All the women walked along the right wall and the men along the left. At the end of the room we changed into whatever we were wearing, in complete silence, and did an individual warmup of prescribed exercises that we all did more or less simultaneously, and only then was there any talking in the room, and of course by then it was work-talk. Super simple, but it made a difference.

Anyhoo, my offering to you is the idea of starting your work sessions with a simple ritual (that may eventually become more detailed). It was really good for focus to work this way, and also fun. Or just consider adding small rituals, because they do add up.
 
 
penitentvandal
14:32 / 02.02.03
If you haven't done so already, I'd suggest you check out Paul Lafolley's work too. He's an artist who designs his pieces to have very definite psychological effects on the viewer.

Another recommendation would be Diamanda Galas' early works, especially the Plague Mass stuff.

And there was this thing called the Invisibles, too...What was that about again?
 
 
penitentvandal
14:33 / 02.02.03
Oh, and good luck, btw! And tell us how you get on!
 
 
illmatic
15:13 / 02.02.03
If your interested in the whole Apocalypse thing - this seems as far as I know to come out of Christian Traditions which have a linear view of the world heading toward a definte end point (ie. Apocalypse and Judgement Day - see Trump XX). It might be interesting to contrast this with more cyclical notions of time that come form other cultures ie. the pagan ideas of the cycle of the year, the eternal shift between dark and light as represented in the I Ching. Just a thought - probably a very obvious one if you've done some background reading.

Frank Tipler might be quite interesting to read up on - he seems to be postulating an super-advanced entity/Artifical Intelliegece (the "Omega Point" which will arise at some time in the universe's future and resurrct everyone, due to it's infinte curiousity! Pretty fucking nuts, but might be interesting to look into.

What I wrote above above cycles vs. a linear end point reminds me of a fave passage from Gravity's Rainbow:

Kekule dreams the Giant Serpent holding it's tail in it's mouth, the dreaming serpent which surronds the world. But the meaness, the cynicism with which this dream is to be used. The Serpent that announces "The World is a closed thing, cyclical, resonant, eternally-recurring" is to be delievered into a system whose only aim is to violate that cycle. Taking and not giving back, demanding the productivity and earnings keep on increasing with the time, the System removing from teh rest of the World those vast quanities of energy required to keep it's own tiny desperate fraction showing a profit..."

Gravity's Rainbow, p. 412

No idea if any of that will be of any use, but got luck anyhow, keep us posted.
 
  
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