.hmmessage P { margin:0px; padding:0px } body.hmmessage { font-size: 10pt; font-family:Verdana }

I had this critiqued by my sister. Her suggestions and comments are in fuchsia. I have deleted my word “space” following “cubicle”.

Okay, I did my suggestions in this color and used { } for stuff I would delete. I realize I have used “cubicle” to a sickening level but I think it makes it less confusing. I figured by the last two, they should have the warren firmly established in their heads. You know, this could be one long but convoluted passage with an exit from each cubicle to the next blank wall, left wall, then cubicle. I suppose that is how you envisioned it in the first place rather than people turning around and coming out the passage they went in, huh? This might be fun for you to draw out and see where it takes you.

“Can’t See the Tree for the Forest” is my reminder that we are so inundated with sights, sounds, tastes, and life that we don’t know what is right in front of us. My exhibit is intended to pull our attention from modern life’s “noise” to the misery and the wonder, (and the wonder in the midst of wonder) that is in our own yard or just down the block or across the street or on the way to ??? Hopefully the viewer will be challenged to think, at least for a moment, about what he can do about the misery or that he will glimpse the wonder available to all of us.
The exhibition hall would be set up like one of the “rabbit warrens” used by so many large corporations for the office staff. There are dividers setting off small areas in cubicles. You move from one cubicle to another as you go through the exhibit. But you cannot enter the cubicle directly. You need time to “cool down”. So when you “enter each cubicle ” you face a blank wall, a small one, then turn left, then enter the cubicle on your right (as you enter a public restroom).
The first wall as you turn left is covered with pictures/paintings of starving people and animals. You enter the cubicle. In this barren area, a ragged homeless family sits on a curb, hollow eyes staring at you in silence. A tiny wasted girl, the youngest, holds a dead kitten. She is crying. In front of the group is a battered, empty bowl. The man has his arm around the woman’s shoulders. The boy rests against her. He holds the girl’s free hand.
Another left wall is covered with pictures/paintings of rioting, fighting, warring people. Inside the cubicle one old person sits in a rocking chair (very Norman Rockwell), cuddling a baby.
A third left wall is a riot of color with flowers everywhere. Inside the cubicle, on a simple pedestal, is one perfect flower.
Another left wall is plastered with comic-book-notation of noise (slam, bam, splat, crash, etc) over a picture depicting traffic or construction. Loudspeakers are blaring the sounds represented by the pictured scene. Inside the cubicle, the only sound is of a small musical group playing.
Yet another left wall is covered by a collage of all sorts of food and drink. Inside the cubicle, a tea-master is performing the tea ceremony for a few people.
On the next left wall are pictures/paintings of storms, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, and war and the devastation they cause. Inside the cubicle is a single representation of a sunrise.
Next is a left wall of monitors showing speakers haranguing crowds: I.e., Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, etc. Inside is a poet softly reading poetry.
And on the last left wall divider is represented a dark forest with crowded trees. Inside is one small tree just beginning to leaf out.
The visitors would leave by a different door than the one they used to enter, preferably after walking down a dimly lit hallway. (If I were building this, the last cubicle with the small tree would have an exit with your hallway.)

I’ll give my idea to you. I’ll work for free. But I will NOT wear that white uniform jacket with all the buckles in back!

In Gassho,
Seido
Gassho again,
Seido

—————————————————————————————————————–

Jake Sensei’s Wonderful Fantasy Exhibit: “Ducati Sounds Bring Tears to the Mona Lisa!”

Manoj

Thank you.  This is WONDER FULL.

Inspired and inspiring.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

?

###################################################################################

Manoj’s Fantasy Exhibit

I won’t spend the time dreaming up a clever title for my exhibit until I receive the check in the mail from the committee reading this proposal. However, the general theme will be based on the idea that exhibit viewers are co-creators of the art; that they are largely responsible for their art experiences. This is true not just in this exhibit but any exhibit, and indeed, any life situation. The notion here is that “art appreciation” (as well as “life appreciation”) is not just liking whatever you are confronting but understanding it within some context (“the big picture” if you will).

I would divide up the exhibit space so that paintings and sculptures that I felt go together would be put in the same rooms. An important part of the exhibit experience will be for the viewers to get some sense of why they are grouped the way they are and how they speak to the idea of “art appreciation”, as described above.

Rather than having titles and information about each piece on the wall, visitors will be given the option of using “Digital Docents”; my recorded comments about each piece heard through earphones. By pressing a number associated with each piece, the visitors can listen to information, suggestions, and questions that will hopefully provide some context for its viewing. Here are some examples of the kinds of recorded information that will be offered by the Digital Docents:

1. Suggestions to increase the viewer’s awareness of their physical and mental reactions to various pieces. Before they even see any art they will be asked to observe the surroundings and their attitudes as they enter the first exhibit. This will all be done with a lightness and sense of humor which hopefully will keep the visitors engaged.

2. Suggestions to watch the breath and allow initial judgments to drop away, giving oneself the chance to “just be” with a piece regardless of first impressions. I will provide some examples of how I will often “force” myself to spend 2 minutes with paintings in museums or galleries that would otherwise provide scant attention to because they don’t initially “speak to me”.

3. Asking viewers to alter their normal go-to-a-gallery-and-look-at- pictures attitudes and assumptions by having them assume unusual physical postures while looking a piece (for example “try looking at this piece while standing on one foot).

4. Asking questions that will help the viewer relate one piece of art to another and/or become aware of how they, the viewers, are largely responsible for the nature of their viewing experience. In some cases, it will be suggested that the viewer return to a painting seen earlier and compare their reactions to the present painting.

5. For some pieces, visitors will only hear music which I’ve created on the computer or a short, simple poem associated with a piece.

6. Some pieces will be next to a computer and monitor where visitors can write their reactions and see what others have said.

7. On the gallery PA system, an official sounding voice will periodically say “May I have your attention please……………” Other sounds not usually associated with galleries will also be played at random times (e.g. bird calls, dogs barking, a Ducati starting up etc.)

8. Those rooms of art at the end of the tour will not have any recordings linked to the art pieces, allowing viewers to encounter the art without any prompting and for the art to “speak for itself”.

Afterward

I proposed this fantasy exercise mainly as sort of an “ice-breaker” so people in the group could learn more about one another. Having done the exercise myself, I found that there are some other ways it can be useful. For one, I found it useful to have to think about specifics that I would not have thought about otherwise because, after all, who wants to waste time thinking about something that will never happen. More relevant to the group however, is that the exercise can get us thinking about ways to make our project, whatever that turns out to be, full of wonder. By hearing what each of your fantasy exhibit would look like, I think we can get some ideas about how to proceed in collectively showcasing our talents. As you can tell from my response above, I’m interested in how mental set and the setting of such events can be enhanced to “wonderfulize” them. Several of the accounts of wonder experiences described in the last go around involved “peak experiences”. I’d like to hear from those who have had such experiences at art exhibits/performances, how they would try to increase the likelihood that others would have similar experiences at their fantasy exhibits. Jake talks about his emotional experience at seeing the Mona Lisa. I saw the painting under seemingly similar circumstances and only experienced annoyance. However, I did have a peak-like experience at the Getty, upon seeing a Jackson Pollack and a Monet side by side from the across the room (seeing them close up one after another had no impact at all). From that vantage point I was able to notice that both painting seemed to radiate a golden glow from within. What would Jake do to encourage such experiences while gazing at his art work? What would Jon do to recapture those good old poetry readings that he recalls in his poem “Whatever Happened to that Poetry Reading?”? I would ask the same question of all those who responded to the first exercise.

Even if you didn’t respond to the first wonder question sent out or if you don’t really relate to the “fantasy exhibit” exercise, join in on the conversation in whatever way you want to. What does wonder mean to you? Sigal told me that in Hebrew there are two separate words for what she sees as the two meanings of wonder. I’d like to hear what she sees as the two meanings of wonder. I’ve also hear Jake talk about different degrees or levels of wonder. I wonder what they are.

Wonderingly Yours,

Manoj