digitaldeities

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.

NANOMANDALA

I found this project today by clicking on some links from an email earlier today for Victoria Vesna, a candidate for Dean of the Art, Media and Technology School, who will be giving a presentation tomorrow in Wollman Hall - here at the New School.  I will try to go hear her speak tomorrow morning.  Friday, November 7, 10:00am  Wollman Hall, 65 W 11th St., 5th fl  Her projects looked interesting and so I went to her website http://vv.arts.ucla.edu/projects/current.php  and clicking on the link for Nanomandala, Fluid Bodies, Zero@wavefunction, Quantum tunnel at the Singapore Science Museum
THE NANOMANDLA HAS ITS OWN WEBSITE and caught my eye, of course.   http://nano.arts.ucla.edu/mandala/

It basically recorded the creation of a sand painting by Tibetan Monks and then a team of scientists recorded the magnification of the sand mandalas to tremendous proportions and then the exhibit projected the images of the tibetan mandala regular size and then close up and then regular size ..back and forth.. better description here:

The Nanomandala is an installation by media artist Victoria Vesna, in collaboration with nanoscience pioneer James Gimzewski.

The installation consists of a video projected onto a disk of sand, 8 feet in diameter. Visitors can touch the sand as images are projected in evolving scale from the molecular structure of a single grain of sand - achieved my means of a scanning electron microscope (SEM)- to the recognizable image of the complete mandala, and then back again.

This coming together of art, science and technology is a modern interpretation of an ancient tradition that consecrates the planet and its inhabitants to bring about purification and healing. The sand mandala of Chakrasamvara seen in this installation was created by Tibetan Buddhist monks from the Gaden Lhopa Khangtsen Monastery in India, in conjunction with the "Circle of Bliss" exhibition on Nepalese and Tibetan Buddhist Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. This particular sand mandala had never before been made in the United States.

On a eight-foot diameter table covered with white sand, a sequence of a sand mandala created by Tibetan monks and imaged in the nanotech laboratory with an optical microscope and a scanning electron microscope (beyond the visual realm) is projected. These views vary in smoothly in scale, moving from actual size to microscopic views of the surface of a single grain of sand. An entire sequence lasts about fifteen minutes, which is looped to make a continuously changing piece. The ambient sound is made of the audio of monks creating the mandala and chanting mixed with sounds of ocean waves. A live overhead view of this mandala is sent to a monitor or projector at another location, to be decided depending on location.

NANOMANDALA:

The purposeful arrangement of individual atoms bears some resemblance to the methods monks use to laboriously create sand images particle by particle, however, Eastern and Western cultures use these bottom-up building practices with very different perceptions and purposes. This installation incorporates a mandala (a cosmic diagram and ritualistic symbol of the universe, used in Hinduism and Buddhism, which can be translated from Sanskrit as "whole", "circle" or "zero") in conjunction with LACMA East's "Circle of Bliss" exhibition on Nepalese and Tibetan Buddhist Art. Visitors watch as images of a grain of sand are projected in evolving scale from the molecular structure of a single grain to the recognizable image of a pile of sand. On the atomic scale the sand particles are like atoms, but a thousand of times smaller. From a bottom-up method of visual image building, a sand mandala slowly emerges.

After the 8ft sand mandala was completed at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, one of the monks, Geshe Jengchub Sangye, went to Gimzewski�s Pico Lab at UCLA to recreate the center of the Chakrasamvara sand mandala. When he first arrived to the lab, the researchers told the monk who was going to do the work that the microscope was upstairs, in another space. He responded that he wanted to create it right there in the lab and they assured him that they are used to working with very delicate materials, much more so than sand. But, he insisted that this be created in the space where they do their research and so they moved the microscope to the monk.

The creation of the nanomandala at the microscopic level begins with a transition from the end of magnification obtainable with the digital camera to that of the optical microscope. Samples of the sand that the monks used were saved and mounted on an electrically conductive paste and mounted in a high quality scanning electron microscope where they were imaged and digitally recorded at resolutions that overlapped with those of the optical microscope.

Whereas the optical images haves color, scanning electron microscopes (SEM) use image contrast based on the reflection of electrons and have no color so it was necessary  to create a transition. Creating an even transition between images of two sets of sand grains in the SEM and optical images sets was quite a challenge. On the technical front, the scientists had to solve the issues with the lack of electrical conductivity of the sand without coating it with metal. The SEM was used to create images that looked like the optical ones in terms of grain size and morphology by looking at the different areas of the sample. The images were then recorded at different levels of magnification right up to the resolution limits of the SEM and beyond. The final images where wave patterns appear are on the nanometer scale.

TECHNICAL AND CONSTRUCTION SPECIFICATIONS:

MIDTERM - PPT PRESENTATION in full glory

 
 

circles precedents

These are some images from my final slide show I did for my major studio class at Parsons in May 2008.  The entire power point slide show will be posted some time in the future, uniVerses was the working title.  My love of circles expanded into different domains documented below.

dZi foundation - letter to Jim Nowak

Today I wrote a short email to the http://www.dzifoundation.org director and founder, Jim Nowak.  I have been on their Newsletter for a few years and I felt like now is a good time to start seeing if this is really a clear direction for me to pursue this next year .. the Fulbright Grant tot Nepal in 2009/2010.

Here is dZi mission statement:

The dZi Foundation believes in empowering local visionaries —and communities—to reach their true potential through programs that are sustainable and serve within the existing social framework.                                            

We initiate programs, partner with other Non-Government Organizations with proven track records,  and fund programs where financial restrictions are the only barriers to positive change.

Our work is focused in the Himalayan region of Nepal, Ladakh and Sikkim, India.

my letter:

Hello Jim,

I am on your current dZi Newsletter mailing list and I am keeping up to date on your various projects in Nepal.

I am currently a MFA student in the Design and Technology Department at Parsons In New York City.  I am interested in applying for a Fulbright grant this September for next year 2009/2010 session for Nepal. 

I am an artist and my thesis project is asking - Where do the Sacred, fine art, ritual, nature and modern technology overlap?  I am interested in studying in Nepal because of the history and culture of Sacred arts - Mandalas, Thangka Painting and Sand Painting rituals.  I realize my topic is rather broad right now and I will be narrowing down tings the next few weeks/months.

Do you have any interesting contacts from your involvement with the Mira and Taksundu Monasteries or through one of the schools dZi has worked with in rural Nepal?  I am looking for an in country contact person who can guide me in some of my research and write a letter for the Fulbright grant. I could see either working with a monastery or perhaps creating an art project/collaboration with the girls a risk or one of the rural schools.  Perhaps creating a internet presence and art exhibit that could raise more funding and publicity.  I have researched the Rangjung Yeshe Institute and it seems numerous previous fellows have connected with them.   I have also researched the Tibet House that now has houses around the world, started by the Dali Lama and heavily promoted by Robert Thurman. 

Do you have any contact people or any suggestions or local artists or art organizations that would be available in collaborating?  I would also enjoy brainstorming and discussing with you projects that you would find appropriate, helpful and interesting for this region? 

I am curious how much of influence you see from Tibet refugees and do Nepali people practice a ritual like sand painting or mandala making like Tibetan Monks or women in rural India?  I have read through Painted Prayers: Women's Art in Village India and The Mandala: Sacred Circle in Tibetan Buddhism.

Thanks for your time.
I look forward to hearing from you.

Best,
Carrie Mae Kreyche

symmetry . evolution . Jung .QUOTE

Symmetry: A Journey into the Patterns of Nature by Marcus Du Sautoy

page 276-277

Evolution has programmed us to be oversensitive to symmetry.  Those that can spot a pattern with reflectional symmetry in the chaotic tangle of the jungle are more likely to survive.  Symmetry in the undergrowth is either someone about to eat you or something you could eat.   Our brains  seem to be hard-wired to find meaning in symmetry.  This is why, in the early twentieth century, Hermann Rorschach developed his symmetrical inkblots as a means of unlocking a patient's unconscious mind.  He believed that humans are so compelled to find a meaning or a message when shown something symmetrical that the patient's response can reveal clues to their psychological state of mind.  Carl Jung also thought that symmetry was important in understanding the unconscious.  But rather than the butterfly-like inkblots of Rorschach, Jung was drawn to the symbolism contained in the mandalas of Hinduism and Buddhism.

In Buddhist worship the mandala is a sacred diagram made from dyed sawdust or sand.  Mandala is Sanskrit for circle, and the diagram is an intricate network of intertwining circles representing a many layered universe.  The complexities of the design are meant  to reflect the  turmoil of the human condition on the way to achieving the nirvana at the centre of the mandala.  Each symbol in the mandala's design has some specific meaning.  A diamond represents the mind, the eight-pointed wheel denotes the eightfold path to Nirvana and the 16-leafed lotus is Buddha or Nirvana itself.  The network of shapes acts as a story, guiding th worshiper in a lesson on meditation.

The mandalas of Tibet are laboured over by priests for days in an act of deep and concentrated worship.  The symmetry of the shape is meant to assist the worshiper in achieving a meditative state, yet once finished they are immediately destroyed - an important part of the mandala ritual.  The hands that have painstakingly worked for perfect symmetry pass over the sand, and the symmetry is lost.  It is a lesson n the impermanence of the world and the fragile nature of human existence.  Symmetry is hard to achieve, as those in the animal world with bad genes discover to their cost.  The destruction of the mandala also reinforces the Buddhist belief in the importance of non-attachment.   

Tibetan Monks at Phoenix at Museum

I find it fascinating that Museums around the United States hire or ask Tibetan Monks to create sand paintings. When I lived in Phoenix, AZ, the Phoenix Art Museum had a grand re-opening of a new addition (2007) and one of the main features in the foyer was the creation and then destruction of a sand painting. A modern/ancient ritual blend that was enjoyed by thousands. It left quite an impression on me and I feel how much need/wanting there is in people to honor the sacred. I observed that the Museum did not ask a Catholic priest to walk through the foyer swinging incense, that would be too controversial and not culturally dynamic enough.  There is a fascination and honoring of the newness of Tibetan rituals (brought to the West only 20 years ago) and there are very few rituals of this intricacy and depth that are maintained and honored in American pop culture today.

In Ithaca, New York there is the Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies.  Their website http://www.namgyal.org/mandalas says this:

Mandala, meaning 'house' or 'palace', represents a Buddha's divine place of residence. There are hundreds of mandalas representing each of the different tantric deities, each with its own unique set of details. To the practitioner, the mandala represents the activities and teachings of the particular deity represented in the mandala, and can be described as the residences of the respective deities and their retinues.

Whether made of sand, cloth, or metal, mandalas are used to aid in visualizing these dwellings. Sand mandalas are one of the most magnificent types of mandala construction and are associated with the most profound and elaborate Buddhist ceremonies in Tibet. Every color, dot, and line in the mandala represents an essential part of the deity and Buddhist philosophy.

In 1988, His Holiness the 14th Dali Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism allowed the first construction of a mandala in the west to be open to the public. This mandala was the Kalachakra Mandala and was constructed in sand by the Namgyal Monks from Dharamsala India at the Natural History Museum in New York City. His Holiness opened up the viewing of the mandala as a cultural offering, and as a means to preserve Tibetan culture. His Holiness felt that it would be a benefit to the world, as it would enhance the lives of all living beings near the construction site.

A mandala is thought to bring peace and harmony to the area where it is being constructed. Simply viewing a mandala is believed by Buddhists to be enough to change one's mind stream by creating a strong imprint of the beauty of perfection of the Buddha's mind, as is represented in the mandala itself. As a result of this imprint, one may be able to find greater compassion, awareness, and a better sense of well-being.

** modern digital interpretation project
During 1989 and 1990 Pema Losang Chogyen from Ithaca's Namgyal Monastery, and Kavita Bala, with student Liz Popolo, created a presentation of two- and three-dimensional models and animations to visualize the grand palace depicted in a Kalachakra mandala, a traditional sand image created by Buddhist Monks. They worked with staff members and students at Cornell University's Program of Computer Graphics to create a three dimensional model of the mandala. The model contains tens of thousands of objects, and was used to create these still images. A six minute animation of this computer model, "Exploring the Mandala," is available from Snow Lion Press.
See more about this project on their website http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/online/mandala