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| Frottages, Providence River Oysters, 2019 |
In mid-February I received
an invitation to participate in a project conceived by some friends on the west
coast, including composer/sound artist Brenda
Hutchinson (noted for, among much wonderful work, her Daily Bell
Project).
This is the original call for participation:
Equinox: Emergency of Joy
Bringing together the 10,000 Things to a moment of poise
How do we as artists recognize each other in community? What does this community do, in its union, and how? How may we rehearse our strengths so that we are ready to serve emergencies of grieving and celebration?
The challenge at hand is for individual artists or teams of artists to generate ten thousand things each, and, as possible, to bring them together in a live encounter on the occasion of the Spring Equinox, gathering, balancing, and releasing them, at a focus on joy, recognizing an urgent need, born of compassion, for creative elation and expectancy during heavy and tangled times.
MAKE TEN THOUSAND THINGS
LET THEM GO
MARCH 20th, 2:58pm
Sharing of the work throughout the day, as forms suggest
Food to follow
“Ten thousand” is rooted in the Buddhist concept of the ten thousand dharmas – an image for all observable reality. We are meant to recognize, and ultimately move through this reality, to a state of levity – a surpassing of fact, a merciful gaze on it, a move into light.
We bring everyone together, with everything we have, and set our tens of ten thousands free at a given moment. The character of that moment is joy. Any moment realized by art is compound, we match vulnerability of change with precision of purpose (vibratory, sonic). Joy includes expectancy, and joyful expectancy is hope; hope is a kind of woundedness – admission not only of uncertainty, but also of a willingness to anticipate the good despite uncertainty. We gather to affirm a manifesto of joy in all its precarity.
This is my response:
Invitation to a Week of Mass Recognition
(or: A Mass of Mass Recognition. A Mass Recognition Mass)
13th century Japanese Buddhist philosopher Dogen wrote:
That the self advances
And confirms ten thousand things
Is called delusion
That the ten thousand things
Advance and confirm the self
Is called enlightenment
A group including some
Surrealists in mid-20th century Britain organized a peoples’ ethnography
practice called Mass Observation Days; all were invited to record
ordinary (or non-ordinary) events that occurred during an agreed-upon 24-hour
period.
Poet Allen Ginsberg
advised, "Notice what you notice.”
Upon noticing a thing, a
dynamic relationship is formed. Whatever is observed becomes a known extension
of the observer. Even science now agrees that there is no such
thing as objective reality. (What we don't notice...ie:
everything else...is an extension of the observer too...but that's another
story...).
In other words: when we notice something, we recognize a part of our "self" in the "other"..but with this realization comes the awareness that there is no "self"...or "other".
A quick calculation reveals
that there are approximately 10,000 minutes in a week. All are invited to
participate in a "mass recognition” beginning on March 13, 2019 at 2:58pm,
one week prior to the Vernal Equinox, and ending at the same time on March
20. On the evening of the Equinox, those in geographical proximity are
invited to gather to share some of the things which you recognized (and in
which you recognized yourself).
A very important part of this project is the in-person (ie: non-social media) aspect. Please be in touch if you would like to gather in Providence on the evening of the Equinox. Several artists and groups who are contributing to 10000 Things in this and other ways are planning to meet at a downtown location. More info TBA.
