Without_Within

Without_Within

Eric Valosin

Sarly Interfaith Gallery

Andover Newton 

Theological School

November 2 - December 31, 2014

Reception: Wednesday, 

November 5, 6-8 pm

Without_Within features site specific installations using light, projection and interactive new media, as well as two-dimensional works. These projects reflect the artist's desire to blend old and new media to transform the viewer's perception of a space and immerse the viewer in a participatory, meditative/contemplative environment. The exhibition takes advantage of the Sarly Gallery's architecture to ruminate on themes of interiority-exteriority, and the roles of various mediators for this experience.

My Accidental Studio Day with a Sufi Master

In a couple weeks I have an exhibition opening at Andover Newton Theological School's Sarly Gallery, just outside Boston. I certainly didn't expect my impromptu weekend trip to culminate in nearly receiving a Sufi name!

I'd been preparing for this exhibition largely off site, 190 miles away. After visiting in the summer to take some meticulous and extensive measurements and photographs, I was able to make a mockup of the space in Google Sketchup, and largely plan my installation virtually.

A very eccentric space... with a lot of windows!

my Sketchup model

This allowed me to eventually test out some projection configurations and plot out my installation. I decided to capitalize on the many windows by using them to ruminate on themes of interiority/exteriority. The project would include an interactive projection that would literally bring the viewers into the cubby-hole window spaces, conflating the silhouettes of viewers in different locations in the room into one space that is both interior and exterior (faux exterior windows, frosted over so you can't see out) and also repeated inward and backward in perspective as if reflected by a series of two-way mirrors (I'm developing some other projects using those as well, but that's a story for another day). 

an example of one of the interactive window projections

...which eventually translated into studio mock ups, projecting into faux (faux) windows. (can you have doubly fake windows?)

I also plan to use theater gels to turn the square exterior windows into a sort of pixelated stained glass window. My hope is to light them in such a way that during the day the light from outside brings the color into the room, and at night the color is projected out into the courtyard beyond. The colors themselves will all relate to complementary color schemes, playing on the negation of light and coloration that happens when mixing complements.

a sketch of a possible window configuration

All of this, I hope, will amount to an immersive, interactive experience that will not only physically merge the interior and exterior, but also provide a meditative space in which one can mystically merge interiority and exteriority, with the architectural space and technology inside as mediators.

My proposed title for the show, Without_Within reflects this interplay between the interior and exterior, while referring to the mystic notion of interiority as a path to ultimately (paradoxically) lose the self entirely (being "without the within"). The underscore is an a-grammatical way to relate the two words, leaving all grammatical interpretations open, and also harkening to the contemporary tech language of file naming and hashtags.

I came to a point where I needed to test this out in the space... 

So I traveled up to Massachusetts today to test out some parts if my upcoming installation in the gallery space. When I arrived, much to my (and the gallery director's) surprise, we found the gallery had been converted into a gift shop for what turned out to be a weekend long convention of Sufi mystics!

Inconvenient as it was for my installation efforts, I ended up meeting a Sufi mandala painter, and we naturally ended up getting along very well and she invited me to a presentation that evening.

The presentation turned out to be a message and reading via skype with a renouned Sufi perfect master! I can only describe it as a Sufi version of a sermon and alter call, complete with a crowd of new devotees flocking in front of the computer and projection screen for a blessing! And what's more, the message he delivered was entirely about Mary and Jesus, and how we need to adopt the teachings of Jesus, being wary of those who claim to be his followers but don't live by his example! The Q&A to follow revolved around the second coming of Christ and the ensuing unification when Jesus and a Muslim counterpart would weed out the bad theologies of each respective sect of the 3 Abrahamic traditions (which echoes my knowledge of the motives of Meister Eckhart's teacher, Albert the Great in finding a unifying mystical theology)! It was very weird to listen as he called forward any who wanted to commit themselves to "the promise," knowing that at the end it would technically culminate in a conversion to Islam and reception of a Sufi name, yet thinking that everything they were promising was something I already believed as a Christian!

My mind is still turning this one over....

But at least for now I'll let all this mystical activity swirl around and soak into the atmosphere surrounding my impending installation! Looking forward to getting this all nailed down!

NEXT POST ON THIS PROJECT: INSTALLATION >>

Q Argh!

I feel the need to share a few very important links, lest you decide to mathematically torture yourself as I have for the past few days.

When you're working with new media it's inevitable that you'll eventually run into the brick wall of obsolescence. a bit to my horror, I recently discovered that one of the companies I used to create QR codes for some of my drawings was bought out and since dissolved. As a result, those codes' links are dead, even though the original destination link is intact. I tried contacting them to no avail, hoping there might be a way to recover the links.

So I decided to do a bit of sleuthing to see what about the QR code creation process might be the proprietary part that's causing the hangup since the acquisition. Maybe, just maybe, I can either figure out a way to manipulate the short links attached to each code, or to even create my own code generator that bypasses the need for reliance on companies that may or may not survive the next tech innovation. These codes are indeed on their last legs, but they have not yet been replaced by any better technology for an analogue interface with cyberspace.

So I looked up some tutorials and decided to create my own QR code from scratch, by hand. How hard could it be?

9 hours of head scratching later, I found myself learning binary code, alpha notation conversions, bitwise operators, polynomial long division, Galois Field Arithmetic, and a whole lot of algebra I hadn't thought about since high school (speaking of learning new things, did you know a binary series less than one Byte long is called a "Nybble?!" I don't know, to me its all a little hard to swyllow.)

If you have the masochistic urge to tackle this beast for yourself, I feel it's my duty to encourage you to use this SUPER comprehensive website I found: http://www.thonky.com/qr-code-tutorial/introduction/

And when you find yourself smashing your head against the desk during the 480th XOR bitwise computation that lands you only a third of the way done generating error correction binary codewords, use this online calculator instead: http://www.pclviewer.com/rs2/calculator.html
(all you need is the coefficients of the message polynomial and how many error correction code words you desire, which certainly beats 5 crumpled pages of graph paper and 3 dead ballpoint pens. And once you get far enough in the tutorial that it matters, what I just said will make perfect sense!)

Here's hoping for some solutions soon, because I still have a bunch of projects in mind with QR codes. Not quite ready to put them to bed just yet!

EDIT: The Solution!

Nearly 6 months after this debacle started, I found a solution that entailed building my own link shortener and random website generator! You can read about it here

A Look Back Above, Below, and at all the Nothing in Between.

Last month, I completed a commissioned new media installation for Trinity United Church in NJ entitled As Above, So Below. So, below are some installation shots! 

Installation

(I know I have some more shots and videos somewhere that I'll try to edit in at some later point when I get them organized.) [Edit: done and done!] The project integrates viewers in real time into the projected imagery and randomly recomposes itself every 50 minutes. Click the link above to dive down a rabbit hole full of more information on the project's genesis (Biblical pun intended).

I had the great honor of not only exhibiting and holding an artist talk (in which I spoke about my search for a contemporary mysticism and how I'm specifically dealing with the Art/Faith intersection in my work), but I also hosted a Forum on Contemporary Issues of Art and Faith and a Contemplative Service centered around my work. 

Presentation

I was blown away by the amazing responses and depth of thought by of those who came to the Art and Faith talk. We discussed the historical rift between the church and the art world, and strategized about how we might as a church body begin to mend that rift by reacquainting ourselves with the true power of fine art. By understanding art not only as an aesthetic experience, but as an entire worldview made thoughtfully manifest, and by relearning how to read and engage with the language of art, we might be able to tap into it's power to broach difficult subjects and become a relational tool for connecting people to a spiritual force and to each other. Moreover, by church leaders and laity learning to see the world as an artist does - experimentally, self-critically, aware of their mediums, in constant growth and adaptation, seeking after their biggest questions - together we might learn to transform the world with the sublime power of deep Beauty (Chamad), doing the societal work of salvation (Sozo) as my friend theologian Russ Wills brilliantly figures it. We had great conversations about the nuances of functioning relationally in a hyper-connected, polymorphous, post-secular world, propelled by a proper embrace of art. If you want the detailed version, you'll have to come to my seminar at Drew in November!

Contemplation

I was blown even further away by the profound effect of the contemplative service later that week. I prepped the room with stations consisting of a piece of artwork, a chair, and a votive candle (and my interactive installation) and I invited congregants to follow meditation prompts - or not - and attempt to let what they experienced in the artwork open them to a new awareness of God and the space around them. Each prompt adapted traditional mystical strategies or contemporary philosophical phenomenologies. This ranged from mindfulness exercises to apophatic negation strategies, and contemplations of beings coming into Being, and more. All the prompts functioned as a response to the artwork they were focused on, but could also function devoid of artwork. In this way, the art becomes a conduit to seeing the world in a different way - a tool toward a true outlook of contemplation, but not a crutch to a mystical experience. After all, contemplation is learning to see, and should ultimately be an active, modular, versatile state of being, not just a deliberate moment of meditation. 

If you'd like to read the actual prompts themselves, you can link to the Meditation Prompts here. Good mystic that I am, I made sure to establish many rules and guidelines and then negate them all, allowing the Spirit to move as it will in the interstices. At the end we regrouped and discussed our experiences. That's like a rare delicacy to an artist - immediate, honest, discursive feedback, and the chance to help people unpack their time with your work without being prescriptive.

Setting up for the contemplative service - artwork at each station with a votive candle and a meditation prompt, and my installation at the far left end of the sanctuary.

some congregants beginning their contemplations

I was indeed pleased to watch the transformation that took place as people genuinely reconciled God and their often inhospitable phenomenological world-views. People spoke of noticing the complexity of space and having a sublime moment of awareness of their place in it, or noticing the way the work not only functioned internally but also in relationship to the space around it. They spoke of things not being as simple as they had expected, but yet being entirely interconnected and unified. They even spoke of thinking of God in ways they never had before. I was floored. I'd have gone home and called it a win right there. But it wasn't over.

What I didn't expect was for there to be such an immediate mending of the rift between them and the art itself. It was icing on the cake. At the end of the hour people with little to no exposure to fine art started reading and engaging with the work in ways I would have only expected after an MFA degree. Simply by giving people the freedom and the undistracted space to experience the work unapologetically, without fear of being wrong, and without the stigma of "you have to know what this art means," (presumably because it was psychologically replaced with the stigma "did you find God in it yet?" But that's a different can of worms...) they began to genuinely experience the work and all that it gathers (in the Heideggerian sense), and even connect that to the real world.

All in all, it was a fantastically rewarding experience, and very affirming for me. I was honored to have helped people negate their preconceptions and find God anew in the artistic, ambiguous space left in between the sacred and the secular.

Much On Which to Catch Up

Can a title end with a preposition?

...well anyway, I apologize that it's been a while since my last post, and that I've left a few loose ends hanging. This past month has been nightmarish. Just after a whirlwind of exhibitions, traveling, a move, a wedding, and many other "real life" occasions, my wife fell very ill (we're told it's very possible she was about 3 days away from death had we not gotten help when we did). She ended up needing major emergency surgery followed by 10 days in the hospital and a VERY long road to recovery. She's doing very well now, thank God, but the recovery process is a very time intensive uphill battle. Needless to say my attention has been usurped away from blogging for a bit...

I've been keeping as much of a foot in the art world as I can during this time, and I'm extremely thankful for a coincidental break in the action that has allowed me to devote my attention more fully to family right now. I will be trying to catch up on blogging soon, as there is much on which to catch up (and no preposition in sight to end on! ...wait a minute...): My recent installation and accompanying artist talk, discussion forum on Art and Faith, and special contemplative service, as well as 2 very exciting upcoming interviews about my work! Coming up in the fall are still my solo show at Andover Newton Theological School's Sarly Gallery, as well as the continuing ed. class on Art and Worship I will be teaching at Drew Theological School.

I'm looking forward to resuming some normality (not to mention studio hours that don't fall between midnight and the awakening of my bright-eyed, bushy-tailed two year old!). Thank you to those praying for my wife's health. We certainly feel it!

John D. Caputo writes about experience coming alive as experience at all when we reach a limit experience and confront the impossible. This, he says, is the basis for true religion. ...Let's just say things have seemed very religious of late! But that's the beauty of faith. It necessarily exists most when it seems it couldn't possibly, and carries us through to the very experiences that most motivate me as an artist and a human.

Upcoming Events at the Intersection of Art and Faith!

Sunday, Thursday, Saturday...

My recent endeavors coming to fruition

"As Above, So Below," 2014
TRINITY UNITED CHURCH
118 King George Rd, Warren, NJ

3 EVENTS NEXT WEEK:
As Artist of the Month at TUC, the church commissioned me to create an interactive, site specific, new media installation. With this I will be leading 3 exciting events this coming week. You can follow the links below to their respective Facebook Events pages, but more importantly come on out and join me for one or all of them!

1. Artist Talk and Reception
   This Sunday 7/20, Immediately following 10:30 am service (c. 11:30 am)
   I will be speaking about my installation and other work on display, as well as the evolution of my practice in light of the themes of art and faith. All are welcome to join me for the service prior to the talk as well. There will be food and drink (church folks are good about that...)


2. Discussion Forum on Contemporary Issues of Art and Faith
   Next Thursday 7/24, 7-9 pm
   I will be leading a presentation and space for open discussion about the role of art in a spiritual context, and strategies for its effective use within religious institutions.


3. Contemplative Service
   Next Saturday 7/26, 6-7 pm
   I will be facilitating a service of guided and free Contemplation/Meditation aided by my artwork. We will borrow from traditional mystical strategies as well as contemporary phenomenological thought to open ourselves to a new experience of the divine.

 

I hope you can make it out for these events (each at the church address provided above). They are all FREE and open to the public.

* I promise an intriguing set of events regardless of your spiritual leanings, but for my more theologically inquisitive friends, Trinity United Church is an Open and Affirming/More Light congregation (supportive of the LGBTQ community) that combines the Presbyterian and United Church of Christ denominations. It is known for its radical hospitality, inclusivity, and its history of supporting the arts. Every week they welcome guests by saying, "no matter who you are or where you are in life's journey, you are welcome here!"
And so you are.

Continue on to the final post on this project here

As Above So Below, Part II

Tomorrow I will be installing my commissioned projection piece for Trinity United Church, As Above So Below. (See the beginnings of it and more of the conceptual groundwork in my prior post, here).

I've been doing quite a bit of coding, translating my fantasies into Java in Processing, and it's just about all ready to go!

Basically it works like this: a Kinect sensor views the room. The code devides the room into 25 zones (by x y z location, cropped into circles [with the exception of 5 rectangular zones]), and masks those zones so that anything that falls within those given thresholds gets displayed, and anything else gets omitted. 

It then takes those 25 masked depth images (in real time), tints them a color, resizes, repositions, rotates, and then ultimately displays them in a space masked to fit to the real space of the choir loft ceiling when projected. The colors are somewhat transparent to allow for overlays and infinite other incidental color blends.

The position, size, rotation angle, and color of each overlaid image are all chosen at random, and every 50 minutes it resets, randomly reselecting a new configuration to replace the previous one. Since the piece is by nature interactive and dynamic, I wanted the composition itself to be in flux as well; something that cannot be grasped as a fixed absolute. That's absolutely a theological statement too. And should it land on a configuration that's not so aesthetically pleasing, there is grace:  a "minute of jubilee" (after the 49th minute, of course) in which all decisions are forgiven and the canvas is wiped clean to start again.

This will also create an ever changing ambiance in the choir loft chancel area. In dimmer light, the room will become engulfed in the stained-glass projection glow of the ever-changing, layered colors.

Here are some example images. The interaction is limited in these to me waving my hand at my desk, but it will become much more dynamic when the room is filled with people. Yet even with one person, the repetition and fragmentation of form gives what I think is a pleasing kaleidoscopic effect suitable for contemplation-in-motion.

Next to fit it to the space and then watch people interact with it!

Click here for the next post on this project