At Play
in a
House of Worshipping
An interactive kinetic sound sculpture which creates a few moments of peace with religiosity in a world whose religions are at war with each other.
An alternative avenue for actualizing a joyous experience in a sacred space.
The Gothic cathedral nave is my choice of building type for this interactive sculpture. I believe it to be the architectural style/symbol that has the most immediately familiar and unambiguous religious connotation in our culture.
In the nave a swing is set up whose arc (when in use) traverses most of the length of the sculpture/nave.
On each upright pole at the sides of the nave a tape player is attached.
A slotted box is attached to the upright pole to the right of the steps.
Each tape player is wired to a motion detector that activates all the players simultaneously when movement is detected (someone swinging). Each tape is a recording of parts of a religious service from a different religion. On the first set of poles Christian and Jewish services, on the second set Islamic and Hindu, on the third set Buddhist and so on.
For instance: The tape of the Jewish service begins with the blessings that can be described as all-purpose blessings recited anywhere (outside a synagogue) where ‘sacred rituals’ are to follow for the first time at that site. It is a kind of ‘holy formatting’ of a space to sanctify it for a religious "first." Each tape has an equivalent representation of a religion’s service and all begin and end in concert when the motion detector is tripped (swinging).
The reason for these different services played at the same time is to create a cacophony, a kind of disorientation of the senses, a modern equivalent to the Tower of Babel, cacophony/midrash, the difference here being a positive outcome rather than a negative.
Instead of confusion resulting in lack of communication and achievement from ‘differences’ as in the original story of the Tower of Babel, this is an activity designed to offer a safe, enjoyable, productive, spiritual and emotional experience from ‘differences’.
The act of swinging/flying in a sacred space is this work’s metaphor for ‘spirits flying’ (spiritually soaring). As well, this activity is meant to connect one with memories from childhood of the simple, elemental pleasure and fun of swinging/flying. (All are children of God in a house of worship.)
Hearing the multiple services simultaneously in fragments as one swings past each pole/player to and fro assists the ‘breakdown’ and ‘merging’ or ‘blending’ of the fragments into a less individually defined/important element in the total experience. A new single, seamless cacophony where ‘separateness/specialness’ is lost as an ‘all inclusiveness’ emerges.
We all naturally, as sane beings, attempt, out of our need for unity, balance and harmony, to organize our experiences/sensations into a ‘rational reality’ in order to understand our environment. This is the operative premise of the piece. The fragmentation of the different recorded services become reorganized by one’s own perceptions into a single blended auditory entity/cacophony and, thereby become just another component in the fuller/complete experience. Our own perceptions create the level playing field for the different experiences of this interactive work.
The next ‘blending occurs when this auditory entity/cacophony further merges/blends into the greater background, (peripheral conversations, traffic, car horns, barking dogs, playing or crying children, planes overhead, etc.) at the site, for the duration/moments/movement of the experience. This is the fuller assimilation into the site/day/world/activity/experience. In a way this brings about a kind of desensitization of the religious label/context which allows a more mundane, less separate/charged, effect from the religious services. They become just another component of the total experience, less controversial and more readily integrated/accepted into the everyday life experience, thereby de-escalating the topic ‘religion’.
For a few moments at a time at this site, in a period that the religions of the world continue to war with each other, these religions are coexisting in peace, equally, undiminished and pleasurably in the leveled field of our perceptions in the form of an interactive sculpture/entertainment. This work of art offers a safe haven that synthesizes art, spirituality, religiosity and entertainment into a safe, accessible and available experience/setting for anyone in the community who wishes to participate/interact/accept.
The experience of blending/losing/separateness/labels coupled with the slotted box is this work’s metaphor for religion/praying.
In this interactive work the practice of religious observances is equated to the act of mailing a letter at a postal site. The slotted box represents the metaphor praying/mailing a letter.
One goes to a house of worship to pray (send a message to God).
One goes to the post office to mail a letter (send a message to anyone.)
Any postal station one visits can get a letter to its destination.
Any house of worship one visits can get a prayer to its destination.
In the context of this work, no qualitative distinction is made between the acts of praying/house of worship and mailing a letter/post office.
I, as a Jew, prefer Judaism as my vehicle for the observance and practice of religion. I continue to do this as a Jew because Judaism is ‘mine’. I was born into it. It is familiar and convenient. By choosing to continue practicing religion as a Jew I contribute to the preservation of the richness of the world’s cultural/religious diversity, not because it is ‘better’ or superior in any way to any other religion. It is not. All are equal and contribute to the wealth of the spiritual, cultural and religious diversity of the world. All houses of worship are the same.
I prefer mailing my letters from the post office in my town. When I moved to this town and became a resident, I came to think of this post office as ‘mine’. It is familiar and convenient. I prefer ‘my’ post office, but, in truth, any post office wherever I am can get my letter to its destination. By mailing a letter from the post office, rather than say, hand delivering it or e-mailing it, I participate in a ‘world-wide honor system’ that every nation and state in the world participates in, so that any letter can get to anywhere in the world. All nations and states cooperate to mutual benefit and thus contribute to the only ongoing trust/relation in the entire world. This is a contribution/participation in the richness of the trust/honor that is possible in the world. All post offices are the same.
I buy stamps to mail my letters, thereby supporting the post office.
I pay a membership fee to pray/observe, thereby supporting my synagogue.
The slotted box on the post to the right of the stairs is for any participant who wishes to write a note, impression, observation or prayer on the paper provided, and place it in the box (mailing it).
All slips of paper that have a prayer written on them found in the slotted box at the conclusion of the installation/exhibit will be entered by the artist onto a website/business on the internet that provides the service of transcribing prayers they receive onto a printed slip of paper which is brought to the western wall in Jerusalem (site of the business/website) and place it in a crack in the wall. When appropriate prayers accompany this act, it is believed that anything written on such a slip of paper placed in the wall goes directly to God.
The actual placing of the slip of paper/prayer in a crack in the western wall with appropriate prayers recited taken from the note/prayer left in the slotted box by a participant in this interactive/kinetic/ sound sculpture unites and actualizes all concepts and metaphors into a synthesized, cohesive, fully representational final act.