The urge to transcend nature takes many forms. As Animal NY reminds us, 32 years ago George Willig scaled the World Trade Center and memorialized his effort by writing his name on roof of WTC 2.
The tower is gone, but his mark of immortality remains in this photo.
A familiar scene unfolds in this avant-garde production:
Zane Philstrom's set is a work of stunning beauty, matched only by the impeccably toned bodies of the core performers, who display impressive physical endurance and plenty of flesh while executing Austin McCormick vigorous, baroque choreography. The 75 minute piece is a stylized representation of the story of Adam and Eve and Lilith, who, in some accounts, preceded Eve as Adam's mate but stormed from the Garden because the first man wouldn't try anything but missionary position. From Genesis, the action melts into a dance interpretation of the seven deadly sins, as put forth by fourth century monk Evagrius Ponticus. Trapeze-swinging, gender-bending, and partial nudity abound.
Unlike other dance/theater troupes like Big Dance Theater, which typically uses dance to enliven a narrative, Company XIV's approach here is really more dance/poetry, with a buxom Ring Mistress serving as a sort of dour, whip-cracking announcer of banal aphorisms like, "Good weather is like a good woman. It doesn't always happen and when it does it doesn't always last."
Via The Wooster Collective, the designer explains:
For a few months, we've been hearing terrible news on TV, on the radio... It sounds like the end of the world - we are told about the ice cap melting, about the ozone layer disappearing in the North Pole...
I'm wondering about what I can actually do now!
Pray? No, I'm an atheist - Stop driving? I don't have a car - Sort garbage? I already do so - Turn my TV and radio off?
I come back to my first idea - is praying the only way out?
Pictured above is the logo for Buddha Bling, a UK fashion line worn by "socialites and celebrities." The secret to BB's success? Perhaps it's the "words of wisdom" on the back of each t-shirt--scroll down to the bottom of the BB home page for examples.
This mystical carved prayer wheel is apparently the second installed by the artistic collective FAILE--the first was apparently stolen.
I hedge because my own theory is that it was never stolen at all. It simply whirls through time with the right kind of spin.
For video and more pics, check out Animal NY.
I'm sure others will have pointed this out by now, but [these graffiti pictures] refer to a book by an Austrian mysticist named Guido von List, according to Wikipedia. The book, Das Geheimnis der Runen (ie, the graffiti in the first picture) continues to influence and inspire neo-Nazis, from which they derive the phrase "Sal und Sig" (the graffiti in the second photo) which I think means "Salvation and Victory."
Believe it or not, the above image is from a book published in 1914. More here, via Journalista.
What's equally fascinating about the work are the layers of disguise: the author is a woman pretending to be a man; the book consists of her own Sufi-inspired poems presented as translations of originals from India. And for my money, there really oughta be a book or band called Fragments of Sappho, which these poems were seen as evoking.
(Thanks for the suggested links, folks--they're coming up next!)
Animation writer Brandon Aumon provides a detailed account of his response to prolonged fasting:
It was as if the world was a magical picture book, and each object was a different aspect or quality of the All. This seemed perfectly clear to me, first on an intuitive level, and then later on an experiential level. Slowly I could see the world break down into their pristine, shimmering archetypes. . . .
Recently I've been writing superhero stories for Marvel Entertainment. Many of these archetypal tales are of regular humans going through tremendous trials, gaining super powers, encountering aliens and monsters, and learning from wise elders. I never planned this profession, but I suppose art really does imitate life in so many impossible ways.
Above: "Angel or Winged Alien Pendant"
