What's most important right now? The connectedness we have with ourselves, nature, our environment and each other. The new century and decade screams out loud for a new type of thinking- a different way of seeing things, especially how we relate to one another. In the wake of Facebook and other social media outlets, what's lost are important facets such as face time and eye contact, yet these distractions make it safe to hide behind a cloak of wit, banality and 140 characters max. With interconnectedness comes a desire to hold on to a deeper sense of self in relation to our circumstances. A desire to feel harmonious while so much chaos and disorder fill us everyday and out in the world.
There have been many different movements in history which challenged individuals to feel and look beyond what is in front of us while keeping a sense of spiritual connectedness in our lives. Mysticism in religion tells us so. In the Age of Enlightenment we now experience certain events with a careful eye, but more importantly with greater awareness of our surroundings and what is happening to ourselves in relation to each other. Transcendentalism and The New Thought Movement was born in the 19th century rooted from the philosophies and teachings of Immanuel Kant. Forward thinkers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Walt Whitman and William Walker Atkinson called for a revolution of their time. The core beliefs of this movement derive from seeking the truth without the doctrines of traditional religion, only to transcend the individual through their intuition and spiritual path. In the next century, Frigyes Karinthy wrote a short story titled, "Chains" in 1929 related to the idea of 6 degrees of separation, which was then rediscovered by Stanley Milgram at Harvard in 1967. Though Milgram was widely criticized for his failed attempt at connecting random people for his "Small World Experiment" now more than ever we have deduced the idea that six degrees of separation is part of our society and culture. Or rather, connectedness with all things is part of who we are.
Symbiotaxiplasm draws participants and viewers in closer by arranging specific interactions with 3 separate pieces by Man Bartlett (interdisciplinary artist), Bradford Reed (a composer) and an aromatic crowd-sourcing experiment to please the nose. Two-dimensional artists including Mary Ann Strandell (painter and multi-media artist), Colin Kilian (painter) and Anne Arden McDonald (photographer), co-exist to represent movement, chaos, order, change and transformation. These elements blended with the interactive pieces confronts action as interconnectedness head-on.
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Man Bartlett, Colin Kilian, Anne Arden McDonald, Bradford Reed, Mary Ann Strandell - SS Projects - January 19th 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
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