digitaldeities

more scissor mandalas in SolidWorks

20 - 30 foot in diameter drawings of proposed installation with thousands of scissor recycled from airport excess

bigger better SolidWorks scissor sketches

My very last presentation at Parsons will be Petcha Kucha style this Sunday afternoon 11-3 with some excellent critiques to get final feedback.  I decided to put in the extra effort and do a few more digital sketches for helping myself promote a BIG mandala made with confiscated scissors for an airport someday.  THERE IS A COMMISSION COMING MY WAY!

Scale is 20 feet across with the scissor each being 8 inches or 5 inches in size.

PARSONS SYMPOSIUM EXHIBIT PHOTOS (MAY 1,2,3 2009)

Here are the visuals from my thesis display exhibit at Parsons Design + Technology 09.

(just in case someone is seeing this work for the first time - it is all made with confiscated scissors from airport security measures.  I purchased them from ebay from someone who bought that them at an airport auction...)

I re-post statement here:

What brings people a feeling of safety and protection?  Do security measures at airports or spiritual connection?

Confiscated weapons of mass construction questions how protection manifests in our current cultural epoch.

Sculptures, wearable art, and large-scale installations (proposed for exhibition in an airport) are constructed with thousands of scissors recycled from confiscated airport security procedures.

Just like a pure resonant note shatters a glass, a visual imprint of beauty and perfection changes a viewer.

These circular sculptures hold an essence of the macrocosm and microcosm bringing harmony on an archetypal level.

more images coming soon of my classmates.. some amazing and inspiring work!

MFA DT symposium postcard

Email me your address and I will send you one .. I have extras!

the front
 

the back

the text

What brings people a feeling of safety and protection?  Do security measures at airports or spiritual connection?

Confiscated weapons of mass construction questions how protection manifests in our current cultural epoch.

Sculptures, wearable art, and large-scale installations (proposed for exhibition in an airport) are constructed with thousands of scissors recycled from confiscated airport security procedures.

Just like a pure resonant note shatters a glass, a visual imprint of beauty and perfection changes a viewer.

These circular sculptures hold an essence of the macrocosm and microcosm bringing harmony on an archetypal level.

premier of the confiscated scissor necklace

Last night I made my first confiscated weapon necklace with collapsible scissors and blue twist ties.. with some of the small scissors that I have in my growing collection of all sized scissors purchased from airport excess.  I made an D.I.Y. (do it yourself) instruction video that I will post on instructables.com and here.. when I finish piecing it together soon. My necklace model is Tzumei Hsiao. 

More necklaces to come... this is another foray into wearable art.. armor... a more intimate expression of the same theme of protection.  A wearable mandala!

 

SFO art

My airport observations of current art and large spaces at SFO. 
Very soon I will superimpose an installation of scissors (confiscated weapons of mass construction) on the empty space below!

 I liked this one one below... probably because it uses recycled materials.

A sister city projection on the floor... simple set up.

 

Installation on the way to Bart Station ... twinkling circular metallic experience.

progress ... the Van Alen Fellowship project proposal

Tying together many of my previous posts and research .. I was able to complete and send off a Fellowship Grant to Van Alen Institute on March 6, 2009.  We will see.. what opportunities my future holds!

The project area I focused on was CULTURE AND POLITICS here is what questions they ask.. that I tried my very best to explain below in my proposal!

This project area refers broadly to the ways social forms, norms, identities and institutions are constituted by and through spatial practices in the public realm. The Institute seeks a range of investigations that engage the following questions:

How is public architecture alternately constructed and occupied as a site of freedom, exclusion, resistance, control and uncertainty? How are public spaces made and unmade through social struggles over rights and access? How are they shaped by cultural conflict and political debate over representation? How does design in the public realm variously operate as a vehicle for historical, social, cultural and political meanings and values? What space do different kinds of bodies, behaviors and emotions take up in public? How do they belong or not belong in public life and how might we imagine alternative forms of belonging?

Topics in this project area may include monumentality, collective memory, propriety, property rights, everyday urbanism, identity politics, biopower, homeland security, defensible space, civil liberties, citizenship, geopolitics, multiculturalism, spectatorship and tourism.

Project Proposal – Culture and Politics - Carrie Mae Kreyche

Confiscated Weapons of Mass Construction is an installation of large Yantra symbols, geometrical combination's of circular diagrams used in meditative practice, made with thousands of recycled scissors confiscated from airport security procedures. Constructing these Yantras out of confiscated airport items and placing them back into public spaces, blends together the layers of ancient ritual and modern culture, bringing to the public realm reflections on safety, protection and the role of security measures.  This proposal illuminates how valuable the visual environment is to either soothe or disrupt the emotional and spiritual state of a viewer.     

Public spaces such as shopping malls, airports and motorways are what author Marc Augé calls ‘non-spaces’.  They are public space where individuality is left behind and everyone, especially after passing through security procedures at airports, is on the same level of identity because these public spaces are both everywhere and nowhere.  The public spaces of airports were redefined when the FAA began searching people in airports in 1972 and since 9/11, security measures have been tightened even more thoroughly.  The need for security and the public’s fear of attack makes current airport spaces fertile ground for stringent rules and regulations.  The accessibility and process of national and international travel has become an uncomfortable inconvenience or struggle for many passengers.  The lines are often long and personal space is invaded with random body searches and the confiscation of personal items.  

Most airports are built as spacious urban palaces, with high ceilings, modern materials and cutting edge architecture.  Many cities take pride in the architecture of these high traffic centers and more and more, numerous airports have also begun to hold art exhibitions and rotating shows in glass cases around the terminals.  John F. Kennedy, San Francisco and many other smaller city airports have commissioned artists to build provocative installations in the spaces.  Design in this public arena can operate as a vehicle for social and cultural dialogue. Whether immigration law, ecology or reflection on security regulation, the topic of an installation can bring cultural values to the forefront.  Barbara Kingsolver once wrote that the artists’ role is to be the canary in the coalmine, and when art is silent it means trouble. It is my goal to design an art installation for these public ‘non-spaces’ that will engage people in a deeply moving way. 

When people travel through airports and other busy public urban environments, they are often rushed and stressed.  In a group discussion about airport security lines, my research discovered the metaphorical comparison that the ritual many current day passengers experience while preparing for traveling is similar to the spiritual and cultural rituals that some ascetics have.  As an example, Gandhi owned only 12 items when he died.  (See Image 1 below).

Image 2 – The twelve items Gandhi owned before he died and a modern day suitcase 

The mental process of getting ready for a flight can parallel the preparation for your own spiritual journey (special packing, special clothes/shoes). There are also many traditions of ancient cultures that send deceased ones to the grave with special swords, weapons and other sacred items to ward of evil spirits. Our culture would strip away everyone’s ability to hold these items sacred.  We have even taken it to the absurd extreme as to take away craft and cuticle scissors. Blending the common set of scissors into ancient symbolism offers a playful and provocative (upon closer inspection) visual cue piquing the viewer’s awareness of modern rituals and rules, while offering a moment of harmony to a busy public space.  This project engages one to see and possibly imagine a myriad of other alternative forms to help feel a sense of belonging and to reclaim the materials they once lost in a security search. 

Placing a large symbol that is an archetype of unity in the collective memory of most cultures, touches people on a subconscious level.   Just like a pure resonant note can shatter a glass, the imprint of the beauty of perfection changes the mind and thoughts of a viewer.  Buddhist monks create large sand Mandalas, sacred geometric circular patterns, believing that as a result of viewing them, an imprint will be left that may help one to find greater compassion, awareness, and a greater sense of well being.  These symbols hold the essence of the macrocosm and microcosm, taking the viewer both inside themselves and outside to the world at large.  Circles bring harmony on an intuitive primal level and this is the language and depth this project speaks and creates from. 

The Confiscated Security Symbols Project uses scissors that were confiscated from passengers and then sold at auction to sellers who re-sell them on e-bay (See Image 2 below).  Currently, seventy-five pounds of recycled scissors from airport excess were purchased for this project from e-bay sellers and it is planned to attend an airport auction for direct purchase of larger quantities of thousands more scissors.  

Image 2 – Bulk confiscated scissors purchased from e-bay 

The two main goals of this fellowship are to complete a solid body of work to exhibit in the gallery during the final weeks and to complete more research about sonic theology, historical use of sound with Yantras and in sacred temples, from both the use of Mantras and older temples designed as acoustic resonators.   I would also continue researching the reoccurrence of sacred geometry and circle shapes in ancient cultures versus and today.  Advertising, pop culture and modern political times have changed the spiritual and ritual value of art.  In Walter Benjamin’s famous essay ‘The Age of Mechanical Reproduction’ he speaks of this shift where ‘mechanical reproduction emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual. Instead of being based on ritual, it begins to be based on another practice – politics.’  Today, modern art critique’s first evaluate the quality of a piece of art on its exhibition value.  My project hope to reverse this function back to Walter Benjamin’s observations and first view the role of art as an instrument of magic and second as an work of art with high exhibition value. 

A larger collection of scissors will be purchased with part of the stipend, along with other materials used to build smaller prototype sculptures.  Gallery size sculptures and installations, which will test and explore different materials, attachments and styles.  These sculptures will be exhibited in the Van Alen exhibition gallery.  Below are some of the current prototypes of construction I have worked on this year. (See image 3 below).

The long-term goal of this project is to build a large-scale installation of thirty feet or more for an airport commission, an airline terminal or another public space.  Building these installations and eventually installing them in modern public spaces, such as airports, would allow a visual dialogue with the symbols that could touch thousands of people.  The result of this fellowship would also allow me to present my iterations, ideas, and prototypes to architects and engineers for collaboration to seamlessly install these works into a final chosen space.   Included below are some digital sketches I drew in 3D with the modeling program SolidWorks and a diagrams to scale in Adobe Illustrator. (See Image 4 below). 

 

My own artistic exploration began with creating mandalas out of found objects and sculptures that reflected my own personal need for boundaries and self-protection.  This focus has shifted away from my personal needs and now looks at these issues on a much broader scale - the scale of our entire nation and even our collective world memory. The concept of how protection has infiltrated our culture now interests me. What makes people feel safe? Security measures at airports? Spiritual support? Something else? What service do physical boundaries provide? 

My research answers this question: What brings a feeling of safety or protection? My own meditation practice profoundly changed me, giving me the ability to heal and to create my own personal definition of protection and boundaries.  Bringing these symbols to the public has a healing affect and helps people feel more uplifted, safe and centered in public spaces.   

Another deliverable, besides the scissor sculptures, is a well-formatted talk or panel discussion.  This discussion covers the historical uses of Sacred Geometry in temple building, Yantras, Mandalas, visual meditation tools and how symmetrical forms in nature all touch upon the universal mystery of perfection. A concept that recently inspires me is how the architecture from the Cistercian Order achieved its visual beauty through designs that conform to the proportional system of musical harmony.  These churches were acoustical resonators that transformed a human choir into celestial music and the founder St Bernard of Clairvaux said of their design, ‘There must be no decoration, only proportion.’  As much of my artistic pursuits have been about decoration, discovering the fundamental template with which the building of temples and Yantra symbols are organized, brings me a new level of understanding of their depth of perfection.

The Yantra comes from Vedic and Hindu cosmology and signifies the cyclical forces in nature, astronomy, and the worship of deities that are given abstract forms.  These forms and their meanings center and ground my current research and life work.  I am passionately drawn to the symmetry and perfection that the circles visual offer. 

Image 5 – Picture 1, Sri Ganash Yantra from http://www.artoflegendindia.com/details/HJAAB003_Shri_Ganesh_Yantra – Picture 2, Mark Pottenger’s planetary mandalas made by tracking with computer algorithm the planetary movement of Jupiter and Uranus from http://www.ccrsdodona.org/m_dilemma/mandalas.html - Picture 3, a diagram of the true stars which are aligned within the Jewish symbol titled ‘Star of David’ from http://www.jesus-kashmir-tomb.com/YantraStarofDavid.html. 

The studio space, publicity, and support of the Van Alen Fellowship would bring the artistic advantage of focus, clarity, and freedom.  A twelve-week residency would allow the necessary space and time to experiment further with different materials and construction options.  This experimental freedom is the foundation for the further success of this project. Through giving a workshop or public talk about this project, the public would be invited to look at the work in progress and dialogue about these important topics of homeland security, monumentality, and collective memory.  The publicity through Van Alen would bring valuable attention to this project to help me reach my professional goal of future collaboration and installation.

titles?

what oh, what do I call this project?

Scissor Circle Project

Organized Confiscation

Secure Yantras (in the age of technological reproduction)

Confiscated Security Symbols

CWoMC confiscated weapons of mass construction

confiscated security symbols

My most recent experiment with confiscated airport scissors arranged in cement circles.

how it started...

user diagrams ..beginning of proposal ideas/charts

 

golden ratio (up and coming fibonacci scissor series)

My goal this next few weeks is to draw a diagram in 3D (in solidWorks) of a sculpture I will build out of scissors ...  purposefully, this next concept needs to be at a level of complexity that is beyond the scope, time and measurement of my pen and paper skills.  Drawing a logarithmic spiral that has 55 clockwise spirals overlaed on top of either 34 or 89 counterclockwise spirals will give me a GOLDEN SPIRAL OF SCISSORS.  This I will build out of my confiscated recycled airport scissors.  I will use computer aided design and technology to envision and enable me to build quickly what would have previously taken months and months to calculate and create.

example of fibonacci numbers: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 601

1 + 1 =2,  2 + 1 =3, 2 + 3 =5, 3 + 5 = 8, 5 + 8 =13, 8 + 13 =21, 13 + 21 =34, 21 + 34 =55, 34 + 55 =89

Here are some of the many patterns of the golden spiral that are all around us... macrocosm to microcosm.

inside of the ear 

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/gen/page954.html

The Fibonacci numbers are Nature's numbering system. They appear everywhere in Nature, from the leaf arrangement in plants, to the pattern of the florets of a flower, the bracts of a pinecone, or the scales of a pineapple. The Fibonacci numbers are therefore applicable to the growth of every living thing, including a single cell, a grain of wheat, a hive of bees, and even all of mankind.

Stan Grist
 http://www.stangrist.com/fibonacci.htm (E)

The sequence, in which each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers is known as the Fibonacci series: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987, 1597, 2584, 4181, ...  (each number is the sum of the previous two).

The ratio of successive pairs tends to the so-called golden section  (GS) - 1.618033989 . . . . . whose reciprocal is 0.618033989 . . . . . so that we have 1/GS = 1 + GS.

The Fibonacci sequence, generated by the rule f1 = f2 = 1 , fn+1 = fn + fn-1, is well known in many different areas of mathematics and science.   However, it is quite amazing that the Fibonacci number patterns occur so frequently in nature ( flowers, shells, plants, leaves, to name a few) that this phenomenon appears to be one of the principal "laws of nature".

text above from: http://www.world-mysteries.com/sci_17.htm

Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

Yury Gitman recommended I read this article and consider naming my thesis project along these lines -

Secure Yantra's in the 'Age of Mechanical Reproduction'

I went and read the entire article online and here below are the snippets that most resonated with me ... it is a lot of words to post, but worth the read.  He speaks about the transition from art being made as ritual and magic to art being made as politics and for monetary function.  It is my personal goal to bring the Sacred back into the making of fine art.

Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

Walter Benjamin (1936)

An analysis of art in the age of mechanical reproduction must do justice to these relationships, for they lead us to an all-important insight: for the first time in world history, mechanical reproduction emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual. To an ever greater degree the work of art reproduced becomes the work of art designed for reproducibility. From a photographic negative, for example, one can make any number of prints; to ask for the “authentic” print makes no sense. But the instant the criterion of authenticity ceases to be applicable to artistic production, the total function of art is reversed. Instead of being based on ritual, it begins to be based on another practice – politics.

...........................................

Works of art are received and valued on different planes. Two polar types stand out; with one, the accent is on the cult value; with the other, on the exhibition value of the work. Artistic production begins with ceremonial objects destined to serve in a cult. One may assume that what mattered was their existence, not their being on view. The elk portrayed by the man of the Stone Age on the walls of his cave was an instrument of magic. He did expose it to his fellow men, but in the main it was meant for the spirits. Today the cult value would seem to demand that the work of art remain hidden. Certain statues of gods are accessible only to the priest in the cellar ; certain Madonnas remain covered nearly all year round; certain sculptures on medieval cathedrals are invisible to the spectator on ground level. With the emancipation of the various art practices from ritual go increasing opportunities for the exhibition of their products. It is easier to exhibit a portrait bust that can be sent here and there than to exhibit the statue of a divinity that has its fixed place in the interior of a temple.

...........................................

This is comparable to the situation of the work of art in prehistoric times when, by the absolute emphasis on its cult value, it was, first and foremost, an instrument of magic. Only later did it come to be recognized as a work of art. In the same way today, by the absolute emphasis on its exhibition value the work of art becomes a creation with entirely new functions, among which the one we are conscious of, the artistic function, later may be recognized as incidental. This much is certain: today photography and the film are the most serviceable exemplifications of this new function.

...........................................

Magician and surgeon compare to painter and cameraman. The painter maintains in his work a natural distance from reality, the cameraman penetrates deeply into its web. There is a tremendous difference between the pictures they obtain. That of the painter is a total one, that of the cameraman consists of multiple fragments which are assembled under a new law. Thus, for contemporary man the representation of reality by the film is incomparably more significant than that of the painter, since it offers, precisely because of the thoroughgoing permeation of reality with mechanical equipment, an aspect of reality which is free of all equipment. And that is what one is entitled to ask from a work of art.

...........................................

from this website: http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm

scissors pointed center

swing swing swing SPACE

words for my Swing Space application that is going out tomorrow via FED EX after final revisions from my helpful teacher, chris prentice.  definitely getting easier to talk about my stuff...
This is one of the the questions below that I am answering and then attaching my 10 images along side for a 3 month work space grant... it will be their first intro to my work. 249 words

Swing Space is a space grant program that connects artists and arts organizations with vacant commercial space downtown. Studio, rehearsal, office, installation, and exhibition space awards are typically for two to four months and are accompanied by a project stipend of $300-$3,000.

WORK SAMPLE DESCRIPTION
Please provide a brief description of the images, introducing the works and providing context for the panel.
........................................................................................................................................................

My work is made with found objects, transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. My recurrent themes and explorations ask the question - What brings a feeling of safety or protection?  I first began exploring the physical side of boundaries with a miniature suit of armor inspired by the agave plant.  This desert plant survives under extreme circumstances and protects itself with radial pointed leaves.  The shape of the agave inspired me to begin making mandalas, circular forms, with the dried leaves.  The circle signifies perfection and the cyclical forces in nature and many Yantras, geometrical diagrams used in meditation, are made with a combination of circles.  My meditation practice has profoundly changed me, giving me the ability to heal and to focus on the notion of protection on a much larger than personal scale.  I now am working with recycled, confiscated scissors from airport excess and building ancient meditation symbols of them to place into modern airports.  My vision is to place these large-scale installations behind security checkpoints to give a moment of reflection to traveling passengers.  This offers the audience an opportunity to contemplate upon what makes them feel safe, the security measures at airports or spiritual support.  The blending together of scissors and symbols offers a playful and provoking visual cue that brings awareness to modern rituals and rules, while offering a centering solution and harmony to a busy public space.  These images show my past work and a few beginning explorations of my work with scissors. 

notes from colleen

I just found the email from colleen about our reviews.. she took good notes. Here they are...

Carrie Mae 

Colleen: Very clear and interesting concept! Focus on the site. Instead or before going phys/comp, really go for and investigate the site, how to make a proposal for an airport or respond to an RFP, and make many many mandalas to really work with the material and mounting. (studio time, yay!) 

Eric: Art making background -- is user surveys/design process all new to you? How has it influenced your work? (a project that could relate to more people, larger scale). Large-scale public installations are on the border between design and art. Need to think about a commission of people who are not artists, look at how to make a big commission to work. Not one to undermine the security apparatus. Need to think about the viewers and the people with the $. Christo, ephemera, to be in galleries. Maquettes, prototypes, sketches. Better when the scissors carry the aesthetic weight of the piece. Choose your battles. 

Bobby: on board with the physical manifestation of protection in the yantra with the confiscated objects, think it is smart and very clear. Use of technology feels like a veneer. Like there's expectation of this here. How does tech relate to your idea? Number of scissors in a work could relate to the amount of scissors confiscated in a year, etc... use statistics. Terrorism is the anomaly. Don't do it in a gallery. Do it in the hyper-protected airport space. To put sacredness in a non-place is a really nice move. Christopher Janney.  

Zach: Agree with reviewers about technology. Not to think about tech in the final output, but in the in-between point. Coding, interaction, etc. to produce the visual output. Interested in the context. the interaction is asking the question of the person in the airport. What are you asking the person in the airport to do? Meditate? Specific meaning to the interaction and installation. What is it that you ask of people?