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.
The great Roman Pantheon, built in 126 AD, was an immense 3D architectural mandala that could have been a map of the planetary orbits, read below ... old school data visualization at it's very best!!!
re-blog from: bldgblog.blogspot.com
"A testament to Roman architecture and engineering," NASA writes, "the Pantheon's dome is said to symbolize the vault of the heavens."
[Image: A "celestogramme," looking up from within at the dome of the Pantheon, by Wolfgang Wackernagel].
Seeing that, of course, makes it impossible for me to resist referring you back to BLDGBLOG's interview with Walter Murch,
posted two weeks ago, in which Murch postulates a possible connection
between the physical structure of the Pantheon itself and the
heliocentric astronomical theories of Nicolaus Copernicus.
In
other words, does the dome of the Pantheon "symbolize the vault of the
heavens," as NASA writes, but in an unexpectedly literal way?
In
the interview, Murch explains how he "superimposed Copernicus’s drawing
[of the planetary orbits] over an image of the Pantheon’s dome – and
found that the ratios of the circles in his drawing and the ratios of
the circles of the Pantheon line up almost exactly. Seeing that
alignment was one of those wonderful moments where you suddenly feel a
strong current of connection with the past."
[Image: Superimposition, by Walter Murch, of Copernicus's diagram of planetary orbits over a celestogramme of the Pantheon by Wolfgang Wackernagel].
So is it just an interesting coincidence?
Murch goes on:
The
circumstantial evidence [for a real connection between Copernicus's
drawing and the structure of the Pantheon] is compelling, but there is
no reference to the Pantheon in any of Copernicus’s correspondence or
in the various manuscript versions of de Revolutionibus – so we will probably never know for sure.
Nonetheless,
it’s a fascinating thought: that this magnificent temple, built 1400
years before Copernicus ever saw it, designed by a pagan,
Sun-worshipping Roman emperor,
and later transformed into a church, may have had secretly encoded
within it the idea that the Sun was the center of the universe; and
that this ancient, wordless wisdom helped to revolutionize our view of
the cosmos.
If you haven't seen the interview yet, be sure to check it out. It's worth the read.
[Image: Inside the Pantheon; via].
I was looking at the Jupiter to Uranus Planetary Mandala.. from the Planetary Mandalas I was just posting about last .. makes me seriously contemplate the roots of some of the chosen Vedic Yantra patterns.. the geometry is so similar.. an ah ha moment for me! For all the books I have read lately about Yantras .. none of them mention this conclusion and connection to the stars.
I did a bit more google research .. and here you go!!
THE STAR OF DAVID
The Star of David
Solomon's Seal
Astronomy and Pythagorean Mathematics
The Star of David, a six-sided star or hexagramis known among Hebrews today as Mogen David (perhaps similar is Latvian Mi(r)dzina Tauta = the (star) folk sparkles) It was also called Solomon's Seal and consisted of two interlaced triangles.
The Star of David is appropriately
called a "STAR" and - in a "very speculative" view - it represents a
double-triangulation which "maps"
the position of the major stars of the heavens with the major axis along the Milky Way from Sirius to Aquila.
AND
another website here is calling this Yantra the Shri Ganesh Yantra .. full circle back to Lord Gana .. perfect!!!
some more that I like from the this wesbite: http://www.ccrsdodona.org/m_dilemma/mandalas.html
Inspired by Neil F. Michelsen’s book which came out in the summer of 1990 (Tables of Planetary Phenomena from ACS Publications in San Diego, CA), I moved the idea of creating planetary mandalas forward from the back burner. I actually started writing a planetary mandala program the evening of November 6, 1990. I have spent (and am still spending) quite a bit of time adding options and playing with it since. Below is a sample, and more will be elsewhere in The Mutable Dilemma and in Asteroid-World.
Planetary mandalas are a way of enjoying patterns. The technique I have used most draws straight lines between the positions on a solar system map of a pair of planets on a series of evenly spaced dates. Think of it as the diagram someone would produce by setting a timer and drawing a line between the current map placements of two planets whenever the timer goes off. The diagrams use standard (heliocentric) astronomical coordinates in the plane of the ecliptic. From this simple principle, a large variety of striking mandalas appear. The mandalas depend on the pair of planets chosen, the time between measurements, and the number of measurements. The time between the first measurement and the last can be anywhere from a few days to several millennia. (When the mandala incorporates millennia of motion, precession is a significant factor.) The basic motions being shown are circular or elliptical. The circles or ellipses or partial arcs of the two planets’ orbits can usually be seen, but sometimes they are not both obvious and sometimes other circles are more visible. Many mandalas include star patterns with varying numbers of points, and several sorts of heart shapes also show up. Some mandalas are quite simple and straightforward, but many contain enough ambiguity or complexity to allow viewers freedom to interpret them like Rorschach inkblots. Others can contain interesting features in both figure (lines) and ground (spaces).
Beyond their visual appeal, I think properly chosen sets of mandalas can also be used as teaching tools to help illustrate points about planetary motion. Concepts like sidereal period (time to orbit around the sun), synodic period (time for two planets to return to a particular phase angle), the mutuality of retrogrades, the difference between heliocentric and geocentric returns, precession (movement of the coordinate system against a fixed backdrop) and more can all be illustrated.
www.chrisjordan.com
I am flabbergasted and inspire! not much more to say here.. the images below say it all.. taken from Chris Jordan website above.
E. Pluribus Unum, 2009
This image depicts the names of one million organizations around the world that are devoted to peace, environmental stewardship, social justice, and the preservation of diverse and indigenous culture.
The actual number of such organizations is unknown, but Paul Hawken's "Blessed Unrest" project estimates the number at somewhere between one and two million, and growing. If the lines in this piece were straightened out, they would make an unbroken line of names, in a ten point font, twenty seven miles long.
Many thanks to Paul Hawken, Craig S. Kaplan, and Robert Bosch for
their collaboration on this project. The printed size is 45x45 feet.
To view this image, we’ll
start way up close, only a few inches away from the canvas. In a small
font you can see straight lines made from the names of organizations:
Standing back a bit, you see lots of these lines angling and intersecting:
...and stepping further back, you see more lines of names:
Stepping even further back, a complex geometric pattern begins to emerge:
Standing back further still, the names become much too small to read, but remember that's what all the lines are:
Now we’re standing about thirty feet back from the piece, and the panel you are looking at is the size of a movie screen:
...and back even further (we're almost there):
The title, "E. Pluribus Unum," is Latin, and translates to “The Many Become One."
Today I was searching the internet for corporate symbols that are popular, easily recognizable and people have some sort of familiarity, association or reaction to them. The corporate meme** is some how felt by viewing the symbol. I will use these to lead a discussion on how mandalas, circles and yantras create a feeling and hold a space of consciousness. This is an easier angle to share about then my previous presentation were I bumbled in trying to discuss the types of deities that are used and felt in Vedic and Tantric Yantra ritual.
examples below of popular symbols from screen shots off the internet.
**meme |mēm| noun
an element of a culture or system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, esp. imitation
row 1(left to right)
Trojan condoms, Nike, BMW,
Chanel Fashion
row 2
Louie Vuitton, BP - British Petroleum, McDonalds,
the musician Prince
row 3
Olympic games, swastika, deputy sheriff belt buckle,
deer crossing
row 4
6 pointed star, NA - Narcotics Anonymous, celtic cross,
Yin Yang Symbol
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tonight I also came across this awesome post below from this blog: http://illuminatusobservor.blogspot.com
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Corporate Logos as Occult Symbols, The Vesica Piscis
The
Vesica Piscis, two interlinked circles, is also known as "the Yoni".
The name "yoni" refers to the middle portion of the interlocking
circles, is derived from the Sanskrit meaning, "divine passage". That
the yoni is the feminine, the yoni should be viewed such that the
divine passage becomes a correlation to sex, or male/female union. It
is this correlation, and its relation to rebirth and regeneration that
remains a basic truth at the very core of Occult structural foundations.
And
seeing how "vice" is used as a means to advance and preserve the
philosophy, what better vice than that of "materialism", and what
better symbol of "materialism" than that of "the MasterCard", which
enables materialism beyond many a person's economic means?
However, this symbol is found in many a corporate logo. How about Chanel? 
The famed Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California?
And of course, KOOL Cigarettes
It
is all very cool when you begin to see that things are not as they
appear, and the reality of the Construct begins to burst open like a
bud before your eyes.
Imagine a clever code for G-d hidden here, in the corporate symbol for Gucci? And some would only see the Vesica Piscis!
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Other names for it include the mandorla and the marriage symbol, and
other advertising examples include double tree hotels, the band "double
o," yoga booty ballet, DC shoes, dolce and gabbanna,
candlewood sweets,and too many more to list.
.............in order, I looked them up below
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and of course.... VANDANA JAIN mandalas ... mandalas made entirely from corporate logos
from artcodex.org
this is the diagram of out class mapping out the questions we will ask during out thesis process for these LAST 5 WEEKS of the semester
concept, look & feel, implementation, user experience
press it to make it BIGGER so you can really read it.
Photo by Rabia Malik
CONCEPT (verbal + idea behind idea)
**why is my project useful/ important/ valuable?
how will my project change users/audiences life?
who will this project matter to?
where is the project most effective? where does it live?
what is the problem I am trying to solve/question I am asking?
how does it relate to existing work?
what is new about my project ? (addition to body of knowledge)
what facts legitimize my project
what form best communicates my thesis?
what metaphors or analogies describe my project .. what story?
LOOK + FEEL (manifest in physical form)
__how does the material contribute to the projects meaning?
__how does the material effect function + presentation
does it look approachable?
color
__size/scale
shape
voice
what/ how much research do I need to do?
how much do I need?
what materials am I using?
__how much is it going to cost?
__where do I get material?
USER EXPERIENCE (manifest in physical form)
what reactions ?
how will audience access project?
what is the sequence of the audiences experiences?
how do they navigate/ think through the project
what is the feedback or reward?
how does it keep you in flow? or engaged
where is the balance between challenge + reward?
how does/should audience respond?
what are all the ways audience could interact/ respond/ interpret?
does it do what it is says it is going to do? //suppose to do?
...if not .. why + what is interesting about it?
IMPLEMENTATION (manifest in physical form)
__what techniques necessary works best?
timeline?
__what materials am I using.. what technique works best?
is it private or public?
__who if and anyone is working with me + how?
__**who will fund or support or sponsor my project?
what are other options?
__lifespan of project?
__prototyping .. what do you want to test with specific prototypes?
environmental impact of work?
this app I found from erik's blog overunder.blogspot.com
a cool newer application created by kastner (Erik Kastner) with PHP and javascript
Please send me comments, suggestions or questions, kastner@gmail.com
Since I am most familiar and interested in Desert Landscapes and flora + fauna ... I will begin my brainstorming and iteration ideas there. Then I can see expanding to other locations and environments where bats pollinate fruits in Florida and New Guinea and then research which bees and beetles and plants are native to NYC. I love the west and I can see this project returning me to the desert. The environment is so dramatic and all the animals and plants have adapted to the extremities - a whole new level of adaptation is about to take place. Chad at the DBG can be one of my interviews. How brilliant to be able to see all my connections and explorations from a new angle and have a starting place to do research.
Today I was going to make another quick Venn diagram about my thoughts .. instead I had fun making a more detailed chart/image of how the different parts of the project ideas interact and how some of the pieces fit together. I am sure it will grow and morph and change again as I consider new pieces.
so all the synopsis writing is in one place - I copied and pasted them here.
Nectar corridors offer local plant pollinators a designed route to follow in an urban environment. This corridor allows for a maintenance of healthy balance of flora and fauna in rapidly expanding urban areas. Many species of insects, bats, butterflies and birds feed off of nectar and pollinate myriads of food producing plants. As US cities reach unprecedented high population and more people now live in urban areas than rural areas, it is up to urban planners and informed city dwellers to keep plant and pollinator diversity alive and thriving.
The development of urban nectar corridors to re-establish endangered plant species, help reduce rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and enhance the production of food in urban areas. To achieve this goal, residents of New York City can adopt a pollinating animal/insect species to be housed in their apartment or on their rooftop to facilitate pollination of the new corridors. If a resident is not interested in housing an animal or insect (fauna) they can become a grower of desired endangered or food-producing plant (flora), which fit the designed corridor they reside in. The establishment of the nectar corridors would introduce much needed natural environmental systems into our city to help maintain plant diversity, reduce pollution and enhance food selection and lower costs of shipping.
*click for larger image*
