My
long-term collaborator Jorge and I will have a solo show at the ISE Gallery in
lower Manhattan from November 8 – December 31, 2013. This
is our most expansive project to date as well as an extraordinary opportunity
and big personal challenge. At
this point, Jorge and I have our concept, have chosen the videos and designed
the space, but there are still so many decisions to be made before we are ready
for the opening on November 8. This is a demanding process on many
emotional, creative and practical levels and I think this blog will be an
interesting space for me to sort out all of these pieces and for you to join me
in the creative process.
Ryōan-ji garden, Kyoto
At
the moment, I am working on fundraising for the show through RocketHub, which
is a crowdfunding platform. I never imagined that I would ever try
raising money this way, but the project is expensive and it is extremely difficult
to get grant money, so I figured I would give it a try. I was very anxious
about doing this, so it took ages to shoot and edit the video, write the text
and then, most frighteningly, decide what the monetary goal of the project
would be. The budget for the installation is close to $11,000, but I didn't
think I could ever raise that much money. It’s embarrassing to say, but all I
saw was an image of myself sitting alone starring at the computer screen where
it said “money raised: $0.00”. I
thought it was going to be a big public humiliation, but I decided to take the
risk and do it anyway and set the goal at $3,000 figuring that I could make some anonymous pledges of my own in case things got really desperate. So, I launched the
project and the pledges immediately starting coming in and within 2 days Jorge
and I raised $3,000.
Ryōan-ji garden, Kyoto
This was completely shocking to me and has given me a chance to shift some very old and
unhelpful ways I have imagined myself and my relationship to the world. Each time I see a new
pledge- no matter how big or small I feel deeply touched. I feel a form of support, a connection to others as well as a sense of being lifted up by their belief in me and my work. I
have always been someone who shied away from money, seeing it as something a
bit tainted and negative, but I see now that it can be good thing. There is something very positive in
receiving money and in giving money and it is certainly okay to ask! It is an
exchange of positive energy and I am thrilled to know that I no longer have to
imagine myself sitting alone looking at a big $0.00 sign, but can instead can see
myself surrounding by supporters who are cheering me on.
This
makes me think about the installation itself.
Essentially Passage is about moving through the stages of life, change, awareness and
transformation and that is what I see happening for me during this
process. Once of the main
inspirations for the project is a quote by the Buddhist scholar D.T Suzuki and
I am going to share it here as I think is beautiful description of this
creative process:
“When traveling is made too easy and
comfortable, its spiritual meaning is lost. This may be called sentimentalism,
but a certain sense of loneliness engendered by traveling leads one to reflect
upon the meaning of life, for life is after all a traveling from one unknown to
another unknown”. –D.T. Suzuki
So,
on that note, I am going to post the link to my RocketHub site and to ask
pledge to Passage in any small or big way you can and even if you can.
No comments:
Post a Comment