The India Residency 2010 www.indiaresidency.com wrapped up with an exhibition and performance evening on Besant Nagar Beach, Chennai, South-East India, on February 21st 2010.
My opening performance for this event was a culmination of three weeks of absorption and reflection of the vibrant Tamil Nadu culture.




'RITUAL OF SOMETHING' (Ritual to Empty Space/Ritual to Nothingness)
Inspired by certain ubiquitous Indian ritual elements-

KOLAM (as an invitation to auspicion at doorways and entrances.)
-Shore as gateway to the Nothingness of Horizon-
(Kolam as mandala, a porthole to the Divine, containing yantra: image of sacred archetype composed of simple lines forming a geometric pattern within a circle.)

ABISHE GHAM (the sacred drenching of idols with water, then oil; aroma powder; milk; yoghurt; honey; coconut water; fruit salad; rose water and sandal powder.)
-The ebbing tides transferring the substances out to sea diluting them to Nothingness-

OFFERING (with the right hand at the feet and on heads of idols.)
-An offering to the Nothing at the Altar of Horizon-

MANTRA (to invoke the auspicious energies of the mandala/yantra.)
-Emphasizing the Stillness between the sounds-

Further thoughts: on Nothingness and Ritual
Ex nihilo nihil fit: nothing comes from nothing. Yet the 'something came from nothing' paradox.
Nothing cannot be defined, but by naming it it becomes something. Nothing then defined only in relation to something, so the nothingness emphasized by the elaborate 'Ritual of Something'.

Rituals are rites of passage which serve to mark the passing of one stage to the next. Without ritual life becomes a soup of moments, like a landscape lacking hills and valleys.
The 'Ritual of Something' as a regurgitation of observations leaving an Empty cleansed stomach.
The 'Ritual of Something' as a parting of the here to the there (returning home to Europe) creating its own Space in the Now. An Invisible bridge over the Gap between my West and my East, filling it with Something.
A filling/parting something/nothing paradox.



The India Residency 2010 www.indiaresidency.com wrapped up with an exhibition and performance evening on Besant Nagar Beach, Chennai, South-East India, on February 21st 2010.
My opening performance for this event was a culmination of three weeks of absorption and reflection of the vibrant Tamil Nadu culture.




'RITUAL OF SOMETHING' (Ritual to Empty Space/Ritual to Nothingness)
Inspired by certain ubiquitous Indian ritual elements-

KOLAM (as an invitation to auspicion at doorways and entrances.)
-Shore as gateway to the Nothingness of Horizon-
(Kolam as mandala, a porthole to the Divine, containing yantra: image of sacred archetype composed of simple lines forming a geometric pattern within a circle.)

ABISHE GHAM (the sacred drenching of idols with water, then oil; aroma powder; milk; yoghurt; honey; coconut water; fruit salad; rose water and sandal powder.)
-The ebbing tides transferring the substances out to sea diluting them to Nothingness-

OFFERING (with the right hand at the feet and on heads of idols.)
-An offering to the Nothing at the Altar of Horizon-

MANTRA (to invoke the auspicious energies of the mandala/yantra.)
-Emphasizing the Stillness between the sounds-

Further thoughts: on Nothingness and Ritual
Ex nihilo nihil fit: nothing comes from nothing. Yet the 'something came from nothing' paradox.
Nothing cannot be defined, but by naming it it becomes something. Nothing then defined only in relation to something, so the nothingness emphasized by the elaborate 'Ritual of Something'.

Rituals are rites of passage which serve to mark the passing of one stage to the next. Without ritual life becomes a soup of moments, like a landscape lacking hills and valleys.
The 'Ritual of Something' as a regurgitation of observations leaving an Empty cleansed stomach.
The 'Ritual of Something' as a parting of the here to the there (returning home to Europe) creating its own Space in the Now. An Invisible bridge over the Gap between my West and my East, filling it with Something.
A filling/parting something/nothing paradox.