How can interactive media cause the audience to have a transformative experience?
Title: WALK
Description:
I had a chance to participate in a Buddhist ritual in a Korean temple when I was
tired and confused with the mundane troubles. I performed the Korean prostration
action following the monks' Yeombul(Korean Buddhist Mantra) for about an hour.
In the process of giving myself into the rhythm of movement and sound of the ritual,
I could forget myself for a while. It was a experience in which I could be detached
from what I was doing. Repeating the action and falling into the concentration might
have caused some change to my energy pattern. I realized it was a transformative
experience for me to have rest and get healed. After the ritual in the temple, I could
have a different insight about my situation and got more comfortable.
What I want to create through my work is an alternative experience of the
transformation that can be performed through interactive media in a gallery space.
About two centuries ago, religion was the most important theme in art world. But
today it is just a part in the diverse playgrounds of modern art. But I believe the aura
of the modern museums and galleries themselves have great religious potential,
separated from our ordinary life. We still need such a place where we can
contemplate our lives for a while in a different dimension. So I would like to use the
alternative space of galleries and museums for meditation and confession. For
people to whom religion is too heavy but with the necessity of spirituality, I think
playing with interactive art work in which religious symbols are employed can
suggest the opportunity to detach from the daily life for a while and look back it
from a different perspective.
Methodology:
Digitally generated random patterns of the projected Mandala from the ceiling is
suggested as an object of concentration. The audience is lead to step on the sensors
in a circle on the floor, and it triggers the generation of Mandala pattern. The bell
sound implies the rhythm of the movement of the audience. If the audience moves
faster than the rhythm, the Mandala pattern disappears. One circumambulating
action functions as a prostrating action in the Buddhist tradition. If a cycle of
circumambulation is accomplished, the cycle of generating Mandala is also done and
the pattern disppaers. And if new cycle of circumambulation begins, the mandala
pattern begins to be generated as well. To fall into a deep mediation , the audience is
supposed to execute the cycle at least 108 times. The ideal number of action is 1080.
digitized Mandala pattern
Historical Context:
I researched a few artists who deal with spirituality as a main theme in
contemporary context.
Ernesto Pujol
Pujol is an artist who pursues the hybird of spirituality and art in his work and
life. He was once a Catholic monk before becoming a visual artist. Later he converted
from Catholicism to Buddhism. As a part of Walk(#1 in 2006) in which a
performative walk through a historical landscape is done, Pujol performs walking in
circles for about thirty minutes in the garden of McNay Museum of Art. Pujol
explains that "the tradition of meditative and prayerful walks is common to many
ancient world faiths, such as Western and Orthodox Christianity, Hinduism, and
Buddhism". In Grass Circle(2009) Pujol and other 23 artists walked backward
forming many circles during 24 early mornings. Pujol explains the piece was
based on the tradition of walking meditation in Zen Buddhism.
Walk(#1in 2006)
Kimsooja
Kim believes sewing(or art making) can be an activity that connects herself to the
energy of the world, great whole. She suggests her performance as a meditation for
herself and the audience. In A Needle Woman(1999) , Kim lies on a rock watching
her breathing carefully. At first , she feel pain, but after keeping the stillness for
quite a long time, she finds strange peace inside and feels as if she is one with the
nature. Kim defines such a transcendent state as an experience of abandoning ego.
She descibes a similar awakening in her other work , A Laundry Woman(2000), Kim
asks questions looking at the flow of the river, " Is it the river that is moving, or
myself?" The performance becomes finally an important awakening about the
change of body and deathi.
A Laundry Woman(2000)
Theoretical Context:
1. Mandala
Mandala in tradition
Mandala is a concentric diagram with spiritual and ritual significance. Mandala is
represented in various forms , but the principle of the shape is defiend as a circle
with a center. It is a universal pattern that can be found not only in Buddhism and
Hinduism and but also in various traditions such as Christianity and Native
American. Even in nature, we can find diverse Mandala patterns such as Atom,
Flower and Galaxy.
In Tibetan tradition, sand Mandala which symbolizes cosmos is created for the
Buddhist rituals and functions as a center of concentration during the ritual. After
the ritual is finished, it is cleaned and thrown away to the nature carefully as a part
of the ritual. It is a practice of creating the sacred and detachment from
manifestation and one’s ego.
In the rituals of Navaho Indians, Mandala functions similarly. People create a
sacred diagram using dry materials such as cornmeal, pollen and pulverized flowers.
And it functions as a central element in the ritual and dismantled respectfully when
the ritual is done.
Jung and Mandala
Individuation is a self‐realization process of a human psyche, which is defined by
the Psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung. Jung argued that the final goal of the individuation
process is to reach one’s own Self that is defined as a symbol of integration of
unconscious and conscious. He thought it is possible through the journey to discover
the archetypes of Shadow, Persona, Anima/Animus, Great Mother through the active
imagination like dreaming and drawing. Jung thought that Mandala is a
representation of Self , the quintessential archetype.
Jung himself began to draw Mandala spontaneously when he was in personal
turmoil. He also watched his patients create Mandalas when they were in trouble
spontaneously without any background knowledge. Jung concluded creating
Mandala is a natural attempt to settle psychic disorientation and recover harmony.
That is, Mandala is a symbol of reintegration following a time of disequilibrium.ii
Jung thought that Mandala represent a dynamic process of the reconciliation of the
opposites such as conscious and unconscious, Yin and Yand, male and female, to the
central point. According to Jung, creating and contacting Mandala has a healing
power for the human psyche.
a Mandala drawing of Jung
Empirical effect of creating Mandala
Some of followers of Jung researched the empirical effect of creating Mandala ,
and they found that it has the actual healing power of mental disorder. For example.
The team of Henderson(2007) tested two groups of people with PTSD(Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder) and let one group practice drawing Mandala for 4
weeks.
After 4 weeks, the depression, anxiety and physical symptom of the group who
practiced Mandala drawing decreasediii.
2. Circumambulation
circumambulation in tradition
In many religious traditions such as Buddhism, Islam and Christianity,
circumambulation is an important ritual for meditation and contemplation.
Espeicially in Korean Buddhist tradition, Tabdori in which monks and devotees
cirucumambulate around stupa is a very famous ritual even for people who are not a
Buddhist. In my work, I followed the Buddhist tradition of clockwise
circumambulation. In this tradition, circumambulating a holy object means
reverence. Customarily, right side means true and righteous. So , by putting the holy
object on the right side when people circumambulates clockwise, they express the
veneration for the Buddha or Dharma.
Tabdori
Relationship with Mandala as movement and cycle
Mandala can be represented not just as a visual sign but also as a movement such
as walk and danceiv. When people circumambulate with one point of concentration
in the center, the pattern of movement can be interpreted as a Mandala. Many
Mandalas have a form of cycle such as Zodiac and Buddhist wheel of life. The cycle in
which an end meets a beginning implies the circumambulating movement.
Jung and Circumambulation
Jung thought the geometric patterns of Mandala can be interpreted as a
depiction of the movement of the ritual dance, or as a 2‐dimensional representation
of temple architecture. Also he thought circumambulating around a Mandala image
has the same function as circumambulating a stupa. It is based on the idea that stupa
can be directly interpreted as a 3‐dimensional representation of Mandala conveying
the same symbolism of wholeness and cosmic‐spiritual integration v .
Material Choice:
I am considering ceramics as the base of the projection of the digitized
Mandala pattern from the ceiling. I might construct the pilgrimage path to the
Mandala using ceramics. Also I use physical computing circuits, sensors and
laptop.