STARSTRUCK: THE MEANING OF LIFE IS NOW
Starstruck was a community engagement project in the mountains of Campania, Italy. It encouraged people to play music together on a set of chimes I built from found objects. If you want to play it, go to Castelvenere and ask for the keys to the round tower. ;) I had invaluable assistance in building the instrument from Gino Conte and I found most of the materials in his shed, so I named the instrument "Gino's Shed."
The project and artist residency were supported by Terra Vivente Art Studio, Ru.De.Ri., the town of Castelvenere, the village of Pietraroja, and the efforts of Helena Wadsley and Gino Conte.
Here's what I was thinking.
Visiting Herculaneum (a community that suffered the same fate as Pompeii) I couldn't help rebuilding in my mind the lives of the people who once lived there. Something about the act of reconstructing and witnessing seems to impart meaning to the lives, culture, imaginings, strivings, accomplishments, anguish, and ecstasy of ancient civilisations.
Will future beings look back at our artifacts, similarly carrying on the meaning of our lives? Will they ask themselves, "Who were they? What mattered to them?" Chances are there will be nobody left on Earth to witness the remnants of our present-day civilisation. So who will our witnesses be? Aliens watching from afar? What do we look like from out there beyond the stars?
The spacecraft, Voyager I, took a photo of Earth from the edge of the solar system before drifting off forever to roam the universe. Our beloved planet is barely visible. The late visionary, Carl Sagan, described it as "a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark" and "a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam." So, even if anyone could see us, chances are they wouldn't care.
How does it feel to contemplate our insignificance? What does this mean for us right now? What does it do to our sense of purpose? And with this knowledge, how do we choose to live our lives? When it comes time to cash in our chips, most of us profess that the most meaningful things in our lives have been our relationships.
With this project, I propose that we have a good look at humanity in the mirror and be our own witnesses. I believe we have a chance of transcending the fall of our own civilisation - by facing our fears and embracing one another more fully. Playing music with other people has been shown to be a powerfully bonding experience. Play music. Even if all you can do is clap your hands or stamp your feet, play music.
The project and artist residency were supported by Terra Vivente Art Studio, Ru.De.Ri., the town of Castelvenere, the village of Pietraroja, and the efforts of Helena Wadsley and Gino Conte.
Here's what I was thinking.
Visiting Herculaneum (a community that suffered the same fate as Pompeii) I couldn't help rebuilding in my mind the lives of the people who once lived there. Something about the act of reconstructing and witnessing seems to impart meaning to the lives, culture, imaginings, strivings, accomplishments, anguish, and ecstasy of ancient civilisations.
Will future beings look back at our artifacts, similarly carrying on the meaning of our lives? Will they ask themselves, "Who were they? What mattered to them?" Chances are there will be nobody left on Earth to witness the remnants of our present-day civilisation. So who will our witnesses be? Aliens watching from afar? What do we look like from out there beyond the stars?
The spacecraft, Voyager I, took a photo of Earth from the edge of the solar system before drifting off forever to roam the universe. Our beloved planet is barely visible. The late visionary, Carl Sagan, described it as "a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark" and "a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam." So, even if anyone could see us, chances are they wouldn't care.
How does it feel to contemplate our insignificance? What does this mean for us right now? What does it do to our sense of purpose? And with this knowledge, how do we choose to live our lives? When it comes time to cash in our chips, most of us profess that the most meaningful things in our lives have been our relationships.
With this project, I propose that we have a good look at humanity in the mirror and be our own witnesses. I believe we have a chance of transcending the fall of our own civilisation - by facing our fears and embracing one another more fully. Playing music with other people has been shown to be a powerfully bonding experience. Play music. Even if all you can do is clap your hands or stamp your feet, play music.
MUSIC FOR THE MONASTICS OF SANTA ROSA
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Once, long ago, in the village of Nurri on the island of Sardinia, there stood, and still stands today, a Monastery called Monastero di Santa Rosa. The inhabitants of the maze-like building were cloistered; divided from the rest of the world of the 17th century.
In 2018, the Monastery was opened and 14 artists went inside. In a few days, the artists made curious, beautiful and intriguing works of art which the people of the village came to see. Light and laughter filled the halls and courtyards for one beautiful evening in the summer of 2018. I don't believe in ghosts, but I, one of the 14 artists, created a musical instrument for the non-existent once-cloistered ghosts of the Monastero di Santa Rosa. It was made of stone, a material I chose because humans have been finding union with each other through music since the Stone Age. To make the "lithophone" even more joyful I made it so 3 people could play at the same time. The symbols on the stones come from many lands and many ages. I created the work to bring the outside in, so I called it, "Union." |
UNION - lithophone (musical instrument made of stone)
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Sanya Hurem and Andrea Traldi of BecomeBecome and Ivana Pinna of IVYnode, native of Nurri, organised the event and the week leading up to it, with help from Thomas Keis and kind permission from the Mayor of Nurri, Antonello Atzeni.
The other artists were
Anna Mielniczuk
Helena Wadsley
Dan Schreiner
Orlando Saverino
Ivana Pinna
Sanya Hurem
Jeff Morris
Thomas Keis
Aishath Huda
duskin drum
Marta Delgado Lombardo
Reenie Charriere
Javier Carmona
The other artists were
Anna Mielniczuk
Helena Wadsley
Dan Schreiner
Orlando Saverino
Ivana Pinna
Sanya Hurem
Jeff Morris
Thomas Keis
Aishath Huda
duskin drum
Marta Delgado Lombardo
Reenie Charriere
Javier Carmona