Sally Mann "Immediate family"

Sally Mann "Immediate family"


( Album and different works )

Tsunami (a book by Tara Books)

Do you want to know the 313 secrets of Tarvu

Fake Religion that holds octopuses as sacred creatures.

Tarvu

Sister Corita - The Rules

Plus, Saara's Fluxus Manifesto made me think of Sister Corita's Rules...

Joy Division - Atmosphere

Watching that Yeasayer video made me think of Joy Division's video for Atmosphere. It's got that whole ritualistic thing going on! Maybe be could do a day trip to the coast and film weird processional stuff on sand dunes!!!

Atmosphere

The School of Life - Sunday Sermon On Uncertainty

David Eagleman On Uncertainty - Watch David Eagleman's 40 minute lecture on the importance of Uncertainty, it's really good! He is a neuroscientist and writer.

I love David Eagleman's take on the world and his book SUM: Tales From Afterlives is brilliant. In it he makes up various different alternative ideas of the afterlife and why we are here. For example Egalitaire:

'In the afterlife you discover that God understands the complexities of life. She had originally submitted to peer pressure what She structured Her universe like all the other gods had, with binary categorization of people into good and evil. But it didn't take long for Her to realize that humans could be good in many ways and simultaneously corrupt and mean-spirited in other ways. How was She to arbitrate who goes to Heaven and who to Hell? Might not it be possible, She considered, that a man could be an embezzler and still give to charitable causes? Might a woman be an adulteress but bring pleasure and security to two men's lives? Might not a child unwittingly divulge secrets that splinter a family?'

'In a moment of desperation the thought crossed Her mind to let everyone wait on line indefinitely, letting them work it out on their own. But then a better idea struck her generous spirit. She could afford it: She would grant everyone, every last human, a place in Heaven.'

'The Communists are baffled and irritated, because they have finally achieved their perfect society, but only be the help of a God in whom they don't want to believe. The meritocrats are abashed that they're stuck for eternity in an incentiveless system with a bunch of pinkos. The conservatives have no penniless to disparage; the liberals have no downtrodden to promote.
So God sits on the edge of Her bed and weeps at night, because the only thing everyone can agree upon is that they're all in Hell.'


Or as in Collectors:

'We are the product of large beings that camp out on asteroids and call themselves Collectors. The Collectors run billions of experiments on the time scales of universes, subtly tuning the galaxy parameters this way and that, making bangs bigger, lesser, dialing fundamental physics constants a hair's breadth at a time.'

'When you die, you are brought before a panel of Collectors. They debrief you and struggle to understand your motivations. Why did you decide to break off this relationship? What did you appreciate about that relationship? What was wrong with so-andso, who seemed to have everything you wanted? After trying and failing to understand you, they send you back to see if another round of experimentation makes it any clearer.'

ANTIUNIVERSITY OF LONDON

Sophie Howarth on Education

From the 1960s there has been a series of radical organisations aiming to revolutionise educational practice, including Joseph Beuys's Free International University. But, as Howarth asks, what is the way to live today?


“How to begin? At a chosen moment in a vacant country house (mill, abbey, church or castle) not too far from the City of London, we shall foment a kind of cultural “jam session”: out of this will evolve the prototype of our spontaneous university... We envisage an organisation whose structure and mechanisms are infinitely elastic; we see it as the gradual crystallisation of a regenerative cultural force, a perpetual brainwave, creative intelligence everywhere recognising and affirming its own involvement.”

Today, many of us vote without recollecting why we have the political systems that we do, choose our jobs by accident as much as design and get married without knowing how such an institution came into being. Our lives are our answers to Plato’s question – what is the right way to live? – but our education fails to provide us with the means to think wisely and deeply about it. Once at the university of life we have to screw up in order to learn how to do things better. But what if we could gain more wisdom through conversations and less by hard knocks? What if we could access the insights and experiences of previous generations?

The ambition for a more porous relationship between cultural activity and public space has a long history.

The School of Life

Fluxus Manifesto

Though thematically vaguely irrelevant- as this is a manifesto for artists to mix disciplines, the format is worth looking at.

Ritualistic element in music video. Also, the mountains and mirror faces reminded me of Micheal's costume. Maybe in some instances we can think of how elements of the costume/gods manifest themselves in different forms.

Ancient Bibles

BBC Four documentary on Ancient Bibles
Haven't watched this yet, having a look now.

Wildbirds & Peacedrums - Bleed Like There Is No Other Flood

Bleed

Creation Myths from Wikipedia

Ex nihilo

Creation ex nihilo (L. "from nothing") is thought to be the most common type of creation described in these stories. It is the type of creation described in the Genesis creation narrative in the Bible in Judaism and Christianity, and also in the Koran's Sura VII in Islam.^[15][16] It is also known as "creation de novo". Besides in the Bible, Ex nihilo creation is found in creation stories from ancient Egypt, the Rig Veda and many animistic cultures in Africa, Asia, Oceania and North America.^[17] In most of these stories the world is brought into being by the speech, dream, breath, or pure thought of a creator but creation ex nihilo may also take place through a creator's bodily secretions. The literal translation of the phrase ex nihilo is "from nothing" but in many creation myths the line is blurred whether the creative act would be better classified as a creation ex nihilo or creation from chaos. With ex nihilo, the potential and the substance of creation springs from within the creator. Such a creator may or may not be existing in physical surroundings such as darkness or water, but does not create the world from them. In creation from chaos the substance used for creation is pre-existing within the unformed void.^[18]

In Greek mythology the goddess Nyxstood at or near the beginning of creation.

Creation from Chaos

In creation from chaos myth, initially there is nothing but a formless, shapeless expanse. In these stories the word "chaos" means "disorder", and this formless expanse, which is also sometimes called a void or an abyss, contains the material with which the created world will be made. Chaos may be described as a having the consistency of vapor or water, dimensionless, and sometimes salty or muddy. These myths associate chaos with evil and oblivion, in contrast to "order" (cosmos) which is the good. The act of creation is the bringing of order from disorder, and in many of these cultures it is believed that at some point the forces preserving order and form will weaken and the world will once again be engulfed into the abyss.^[19]

[edit]World parent

There are two types of world parent myths, both describing a separation or splitting of a primeval entity, the world parent or parents. One form describes the primeval state as an eternal union of two parents, and the creation takes place when the two are pulled apart. The two parents are commonly identified as Sky (usually male) and Earth (usually female) who in the primeval state were so tightly bound to each other that no offspring could emerge. These myths often depict creation as the result of a sexual union, and serve as genealogical record of the deities born from it.^[20]

In the second form of world parent myth, creation itself springs from dismembered parts of the body of the primeval being. Often in these stories the limbs, hair, blood, bones or organs of the primeval being are somehow severed or sacrificed to transform into sky, earth, animal or plant life, and other worldly features. These myths tend to emphasize creative forces as animistic in nature rather than sexual, and depict the sacred as the elemental and integral component of the natural world.^[21]

[edit]Emergence

In emergence myths humanity emerges from another world into the one they currently inhabit. The previous world is often considered the womb of the earth mother, and the process of emergence is likened to the act of giving birth. The role of midwife is usually played by a female deity, like the spider woman of Native American mythology. Male characters rarely figure into these stories, and scholars often consider them in counterpoint to male oriented creation myths, like those of the ex nihilo variety.^[3]

Emergence myths commonly describe the creation of people and/or supernatural beings as a staged ascent or metamorphosis from nascent forms through a series ofsubterranean worlds to arrive at their current place and form. Often the passage from one world or stage to the next is impelled by inner forces, a process of germination or gestation from earlier, embryonic forms.^[22][23] The genre is most commonly found in Native American cultures where the myths frequently link the final emergence of people from a hole opening to the underworld to stories about their subsequent migrations and eventual settlement in their current homelands.^[24]

[edit]Earth-diver

The earth-diver is a common character in various traditional creation myths. In these stories a supreme being usually sends an animal into the primal waters to find bits of sand or mud with which to build habitable land. Some scholars interpret these myths psychologically while others interpret them cosmogonically. In both cases emphasis is placed on beginnings emanating from the depths.^[25] Earth-diver myths are common in Native American folklore but can be found among the Chukchi and Yukaghir, the Tatars and many Finno-Ugrian traditions. The pattern of distribution of these stories suggest they have a common origin in the eastern Asiatic coastal region, spreading as peoples migrated west into Siberia and east to the North American continent.^[26]

Characteristic of many Native American myths, earth-diver creation stories begin as beings and potential forms linger asleep or suspended in the primordial realm. The earth-diver is among the first of them to awaken and lay the necessary groundwork by building suitable lands where the coming creation will be able to live. In many cases, these stories will describe a series of failed attempts to make land before the solution is found.^[27]

Possible idea for presentation of Manifesto - combined imagery and text in a mystical/biblical sense

--

Also interesting- the Eygyptian book of the dead, Spells used in text instead of narrative writing. The way the text is integrated makes it part of the image as well, also, the use of symbolism is relevant to our project. If anyone has a chance to see the Book of the Dead exhibition at the British Museum I really recommend it- though it is expensive.

(Sorry I had publish this within the post, the 'comment' section will now allow for image posting.)

-Saara

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Grayson Perry's Map of Nowhere

Genesis Idea for start of Maniesto

In the beginning there was Alpha and everything that was, that is and that shall be is Alpha.

For those bequeathed with the knowledge of the mystery, they shall speak of all that it is, is Alpha and all shall always be Alpha.

On the first day, Alpha created (1^st god) and she saw her creation and it was good. (1^st god) awoke in the darkness and saw the darkness and into the darkness he/she sent forth (the land/the light/the sea?) and there was much rejoicing.

On the second day, Alpha created (2^nd god) and she saw her creation and (1^st god) saw her creation and it was good. And (2^nd god) awoke to know Alpha and to live in harmony with (1^st god). Unto the turmoil of the darkness (2^nd god) sent forth (the land/the light/the sea?). The harmony was great and there was much rejoicing in the harmony and on the eve on the second day they slept together in the knowledge of what they had created.

On the third day Alpha awoke to survey the world that she had created. She understood that her creation was incomplete. And so she forged (3^rd god) from the clay of all things and breathed life unto (3^rd god) from her great mouth.  And (3^rd god) awoke to see the world and (3^rd god) knew that it was great. From out of (3^rd god) eye (3^rd god) wept a great tear that rolled onto the land and from that tear sprang (the rivers) and (the birds) and (Sundays) and Alpha wept to see the beauty of what her creature had created.

On the forth day Alpha called all of her creatures together to look upon what it was that they had made. They looked and they were held in wonder by the depth of Alpha’s infinite wisdom and at that at which they, and in turn what she, had created. Yet on this day Alpha felt the fire of a consuming desire, one that could not be quenched by those that she had created and thus from Alpha sprang (4^th god) of his/her own volition. And there was much rejoicing and yet there was also fear for (4^th god) echoed both destruction and creation, echoed the loins from which he/she issued but did not have the same wisdom of ages and they were entranced although they were sorely afraid (might this one be death?).

And so it was that the harmony was shattered for whatever Alpha placed in the world she had created, (4^th god) began to take away. The other gods pleaded with Alpha to destroy (4^th god) but in her infinite wisdom Alpha knew that (4^th god) had his/her own place in all things and he/she was the necessary evil for the future of the world. And yet Alpha created (5^th god possibly sex cotume – ie: the balance of fertility and sex / and death) who worked in direct opposition with (4^th god) and for everything (4^th god) took away, (5^th god) created a knew and placed back in the world again.

This is the word and the word is good. Everything that is, that was and that shall be is Alpha, for every and ever.

The teachings according to Alpha.

Thou shalt not XXXX

Thou must XXXXX

thou must xxxxxx

Thou shalt not xxxxxxx or xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx

Thou must xxxxxxxxxx

Thou shalt not xxxxxxxx another woman’s xxxxxxxx

Thou shalt not xxxxxxxxx but instead walk in the light of alpha forever and ever.

This is the word and the word is good. Everything that is, that was and that shall be is Alpha, for every and ever.

Cult Information Centre

Here's an organisation dedicated to helping those who have experienced difficulty with cults -

http://www.cultinformation.org.uk/question_what-is-mind-control.html

Interesting what it has to say on the different 'techniques' used by cults. Also bizarre how black & white it seems.

Outsider architecture is an interesting example of people needing to create a fantasy environment as a form of expression. Such as this chap -

http://atlasobscura.com/place/valley-of-the-moon

Does fascism ever veer towards a 'religious' approach? Religions tend to have clearly set out rules and codes of conduct, yet they are hardly based on any sort of rationalism. Toby Clark says that

"fascists openly rejected rationalism as the arid and soulless outlook of bourgeois modernity, and described their movement as a cult of action and passion free of doctrinal rules. Thus the French fascist Robert Brasillach spoke of fascism not as a theory but a "poetry" of faith and emotion, and Mussolini declared: "I am not a statesman, I am more like a mad poet".

Maybe we should ensure our doctrine is not easily understandable - maybe even comically vague - so as to mislead and confuse simpletons into BELIEVING.

The House of Fairy Tales

I think this is worth visiting The House of Fairy Tales. Went for the viewing there tonight and got absolutely inspired. In general there is a really nice stuff - installations/artworks. I know that Darryl said never use word "nice" when talking about artworks (or something like that), but this exhibition was lovely and nice, I really can't find a better description. In one corner there is a something like retrospective about their projects and one of them really links with our manifesto. They have produced passports for their republic, and made some badges (both of them visually well done), so go and check it out. The exhibition is on only this weekend.

Chris Ofili - the idea of sacred space

 

So this is an image of the wooden room that Chris Ofili had built at Tate Britain to house a series of paintings that depicted this monkey god character in different colours and differing positions. I like the idea of subverting the traditional Catholic notion of how iconography should be arranged in a sacred space with icons that are far from what one would expect. You end up with a sense of calm reverence with the tension of the fact that this is not a sacred space, it's art and what does that mean?

Chris Ofili

You can never have too many crosses!

The Neck Chand Rock Garden

Nek Chand Saini (1924-) is an Indian outsider artist

'In his spare time, Chand began collecting materials from demolition sites around the city. He recycled these materials into his own vision of the divine kingdom of Sukrani, choosing a gorge in a nearby forest for his work.' 

I've included these as examples of the ways in which people have created their own worlds. I love the strangeness as well of the unexplained narrative. I don't know what these figures are doing or what they are meant to represent but I know that their presence is collective and that it is meant to mean something. I really like the idea of our work being slightly unexplained. That it is perhaps not about the minutae of an exact manifesto but perhaps the physical act of showing or getting a lot of people together behind one unifying theme or symbol or in the same space is powerful and expressive in it's own right.
Might be heading off brief a little though...let me know. 

EXPO family city

Director Martin de Thurah
Edit Adam Nielsen
Dop Kasper Tuxen
styling Jane whittaker
Prod Malene Dyhring
Music Jonsi & Alex, Jonas Bjerre, Andreas Utnem