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.
[Image: A "celestogramme," looking up from within at the dome of the Pantheon, by 
[Image: Superimposition, by Walter Murch, of Copernicus's diagram of planetary orbits over a celestogramme of the Pantheon by 
[Image: Inside the Pantheon; 
