Artist as Shaman, Journey Through Consciousness and The Eternal Made Contemporary.

.“The artist’s task is to save the soul of mankind; and anything less is a dithering while Rome burns. Because of the artists, who are self-selected, for being able to journey into the Other, if the artists cannot find the way, then the way cannot be found.” (Lecture recording)

“This is why the shaman is the remote ancestor of the poet and artist. Our need to feel part of the world seems to demand that we express ourselves through creative activity. The ultimate wellsprings of this creativity are hidden in the mystery of language. Shamanic ecstasy is an act of surrender that authenticates both the individual self and that which is surrendered to, the mystery of being. Because our maps of reality are determined by our present circumstances, we tend to lose awareness of the larger patterns of time and space. Only by gaining access to the Transcendent Other can those patterns of time and space and our role in them be glimpsed.” (Food of the Gods)

“You are not naked when you take off your clothes. You still wear your religious assumptions, your prejudices, your fears, your illusions, your delusions. When you shed the cultural operating system, then, essentially you stand naked before the inspection of your own psyche…and it’s from that position, a position outside the cultural operating system, that we can begin to ask real questions about what does it mean to be human, what kind of circumstance are we caught in, and what kind of structures, if any, can we put in place to assuage the plan and accentuate the glory and the wonder that lurks, waiting for us, in this very narrow slice of time between the birth canal and the yawning grave. In other words we have to return to first premises.”  (Lecture recording)
― Terence McKenna (art historian, ethnobotanist and philosopher)

 

An almost infinite amount of ideas, tales and feeling can be expressed through the mode of language, language has enabled us to transcend time; bring our ancestors with us to the present through story’s and song, has been made physical with paper and pen bridging the great expanse of space. When there is no word to describe we gesture or point to, we liken too or associate. However there are things wholly outside  the cultural capability to communicate, so transcendentally alien to that experienced in normal existence that the individual becomes lost in the void of infinite space that is the unspeakable. A place where the ego floats, slowly dissolving away in the culturally incomprehensible.

However where language fails, the artist and the shaman (mainly in the East, but with history all over the world) make physical that which cant be said and instead experienced through that which we will call the “ecstasy” or “ecstatic experience” not in the modern context of the word (“very happy”) but instead meaning “visionary rapture, mental transport and altered states” (including art) and this is at the core of my project for this year.

My attempt to reintroduce the concept of the shaman to internalize the identity of the shaman with that of the artist first for myself and then for others.

 

Step 1: Research

Magic in the hermetic form is more accurately a philosophy for the world and self at large where the “magical” aspect is just the practise and performance of such school of thought. hermetic institutions have existed to more recent century’s in English scholarly and occult circles like “the hermetic order of the golden dawn” who’s members are responsible for influencing beyond the private realm of their practice like Pamela Colman Smith who illustrated the touchstone Rider-Waite tarot deck (published November 1909)  which showed a huge departure from predecessors its imagery becoming the deck from which most contemporary illustrations are based. other members include Aleister Crowley and Rider-Waite. With older roots occupying the upper echelon of the royal family and British empire like that of John Dee and Edward Kelley who’s  implements and equipment of scrying and divination the shew stone and spirit mirror can be seen in the British museum to this day.  

 The above two books in particular are of great help and interest. In Mircea Eliade’s “Shamanism, Archaic techniques of ecstasy” he outlines, among other points the motives, imagery, iconography and processes of Eastern shamanism. Using his education in religious studies to dissect the unique space the shamans occupies within there community; as both sudo-religious guide and medicinal healer the shaman is considered outside of the community’s culture and mechanics but is called apon in times of need be it physical or spiritual. He outlines initiations into the shamanic realm from collections of anthropological documents including methods of the ecstatic journey; techniques used by shamans to gain altered states of consciousness. in these altered states and initiations Eliade connects many commonality in accounts like, transformation into animals, flight over great distance, death and resurrection, dismemberment and reconstruction of the body and so on. this includes materials used by the shamans as well, like crystals, gemstones, drums, feathers, garments, masks and psychoactive substances. As an archetypal pattern they perform a kind of practice for seeking initiation or spiritual enlightenment and dissolving of boundaries.

 To the right we have Paul Devereux’s “The Long Trip A Prehistory of psychedelia” in which he gives a broad overview of substances used by people to gain altered states in consciousness though history, culture and context. The most important take away from this reading is the context around which these substances where taken not in the modern modality of consumption for recreation in fact this was the least likely to occur instead the intention was one of exploration of consciousness, religious functions, healing and right of passage. in fact with the vast collection of cultural history our own is the anomaly in that it does not use any form of institutionalised psychoactive and outright supresses its use. Another interesting piece of knowledge is the artistic aspect of the “ecstatic experience” in fact many cave painting allude to the imagery experienced on hallucinogens even more importantly it is the shamans of these societies that are the authors of these works. Another theory is the intentions of these works are to help the shaman enter this state of altered consciousness. this has instrumental implications of the origin of artistic expression, which may have appeared from a deep need to contextualise  the “ecstatic experience” in physical form. Something that we have refined and advanced over millennia but find, at least not fully translatable. This confirms my intuition in exploring these subjects that the Shaman and the Artist are what Jungian’s would consider two aspect of the same Archetype.   

 

 

This video essay is a great introduction to the archetype that the shaman embodies as well as the concept of the Jungian ideas of the collective unconscious. touching on the importance of sacred space and the lack there of in contemporary western society and how the magician archetype can induce this space. this video also introduces other films and media that portray the themes mentioned.

Marcus Coates approach to shamanism in his practice is that of the animal, that is to become the animal to explore the human. of all the aspects that occupy the shamans world the animal is least abrasive to our current sensibility’s making a great bridge for the uninitiated to explore the concept. after all the archetype or legend of the man become beast is common in the folklore and mythology of our culture weather werewolf or shapeshifter. through this he explores the more alien aspects of the shaman like that of the ecstatic journey to the upper or lower realms all within the context of the contemporary living or workplace. This, although treated with seriousness and respect by Coates has a comedic aspect to its execution.

https://laurapirklblog.wordpress.com/category/autumn-assessment-2/

The above photos are part of Laura Pirkl’s second year project in which I participated (link above). On reflection its this project as well as my own previous work that enlightened me to the power of physically embodying complex ideas by donning the iconography of mythology. Through this practice, the body transcends time, connecting with the universe’s collective unconscious, to link the present with the past. This is a bardic performance of the human canon, transforming these ideas into rituals and spell no longer to be read about or told but to be witnessed, felt and documented in the now.   

 

Step 2: Collecting materials

Over the summer as we walking through the lake at campus we found an abundance of geese and duck feathers. Naturally we collected the salvageable ones for art materials, cleaned and counted them with a total of about 200.

well this must have been a sign because later on through my readings Paul Devereux’s “The Long Trip A Prehistory of psychedelia” and Mircea Eliade’s “Shamanism, Archaic techniques of ecstasy” that the geese and their feathers are an important part of the shamanic tradition through many parts of the world. Eliade reflected on the multiple story’s told by shamans throughout the east that the goose is the spirit animal that fly’s the shaman on there ecstatic journey both to and from the underworld to retrieve lost or stolen souls as well as to and from the higher heaven to deliver offerings and bring good seasons, geese are often ritually sacrificed in such ceremony’s.

Devereux also mentions that goose fat was used in the production of a hallucinogenic ointment in Europe that would be rubbed on the head and armpits of the women who made it to induce ecstatic flight. the women who held this herbal knowledge where know as the goose women, night riders or for a more broad term witches. this was used in shamanic ceremony for spiritual healing, initiation and seeing over great distance (astral flight).

An example of the experimenting iv done with foam mats over the summer (heating them with a heat gun and bending them to shape) going to use this material for some of my costume. 

 

 

Going with the bird embodiment I thought masks where an important part of the costume and performance. heating and dremelling the foam mats to go with something simple but striking, I may in the future move to a harder material like plastic or wood to be able so carve out more detail and see have the material effects the feel of the costume for myself and whoever is watching.

Making the costume in a cloak like fashion out of felt to make it easy to sew.

 

 

Just showing the progress of the costume and the layering technique I’m using to sew the feather on also sewed in a draw string around the neck and hood so I can attach the thing to myself.

 

 

This is another object that I already had before starting this project however have brought it into the fold. This is a hiking stick I made on my travels and comes with me on walking journeys and camping trips. Hopefully the imagery is not lost on you. I added some ornamentation with leather stapes bindings, burning stripes, an old bandana of mine and a obsidian arrow head. this can be used during or before any performance piece, if the exhibition is going to be at different locations ill walk with this piece from gallery to gallery.

 

 

 

One way see-through black plastic for the eyes and a strap for me head.

Adding the digital element to the costume sewing in the green screen (just green fabric) into the inside of the felt cloak.

 

 

 

Results from editing the green screen in premier using last years oil paint on glass animation to demonstrate.

Lewis Mckay Exhibition Proposal

(Offsite)

Type of Work (Media):

My work is performative piece, including within it the traversal of space, the dawning of a costume constructed of green screen, bird feathers, felt and a mask that will symbolically and physically transform me into the shamanic state. This has themes of the mystic, sacred space, the transcendental other and artist as the manipulator of consciousness. I will be using a mic and speaker held on my person to interact with people and the environment.

Approximate size: 

About the size of a 6″4 person with 6″ wingspan.

Type of Space needed (e.g. wall, floor, dark, screen etc):

Allowing for movement through the space provided both in the exhibition space and in-between these locations (public transport and street).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

viva

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                        1

                                        V

panel point plant thing

 

 What are you anymore? You are still of fabric and feather and magic, you remain the same object of labour and love to which I toiled for so long a toiling for a goal to which I can’t see anymore. Was it foolish to manifest you? To conjure such a misplaced relic in a misguided time, to act upon the initiatory download of transcendental information which was bestowed upon me by the plant medicines. You pushed me towards an ideal of communication of these ideas a dissemination of a possible reality to affect a change in the causality of consciences-connectivity which would change the modality of social being. In this your creation was akin to a muse, to a teacher gently and silently gesturing approval in your becoming, but if I was found in your making then I am lost in your completion. Your form remains your magic ever powerful, but your presence lost, your figure like a transceiver on a one-way radio. Then I was so sure but know I question the romantic idealism of my intent if it were possible to transcribe the transcendent then persons better than I would have hastily and voraciously bestowed the Niagrah of beauty from on high as we bask in its vaporial vision. yet I still cradle the promethean flame for this possibility, dwindled but un-extinguishable. So, I researched and researched saw with youthful eyes how others used the flame to heal, change the community and world around them saw this integrated power and practice lost in the violence of history a severing of the ambilocal connection to the garden of Eden and feverishly yearned for its return. Are you that return? It doesn’t feel like it, but it’s not your fault. I am grateful for the time you gave me, it is I who have failed you, iv failed all of you. I poised myself as the initiator of the reconnection to a practice long asphyxiated by the dominator style culture. I suppose it was always going to be this way, a failure for there are no more teachers or masters of the knowledge I painfully covet. Yet the flame burns, like the flower to the impossibly distant sun I reach out and ask, what are you anymore? And in my moment of existential delirium in contemplation of what I now see before me, I see the fire, the fire that in moments past was an internal force accelerating me now manifest tangible, radiant and magic. What are you? You are a monument to what I wish was, that spirit like iridescence of by being, a monolith of my hopes for a cultural regaining of higher modality and a headstone to its loss.  

 

 

 

Summer break workings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 12

 

Artist statement

 

Our work is a collective of objects, installation and people coming together for a performative happing. As for the areas that the performance will take place there is an indoor and outdoor installation. The indoor piece is a painting on the floor reminiscent of a crop circle. Outside and in the woods is the second performative space made from a spider-web like blanket of scrap fabrics that clouds the area. The objects in this work where made from found, cheap or reused materials ready to hand and reassembled as usable instruments and oddity’s like bracelets made from copper wire. The materials we used are vast, anything that was cheap or of a proletarian nature was fair game; oil cans, wood, scrap fabrics, salvaged instrument parts, shop trolleys, paint, glow paint, copper wire from telephones and of course ourselves and anyone taking part in the performance hopefully including the audience.

 The main intentions behind our piece(s) draw from many similar yet various places that work cohesively when balanced. To start with we set out to revive the spoken word myth and from that we could accomplish many more things, one of these is our theme of communicator as community creator through this we could subverting Guy Debord’s “Society of the Spectacle” creating a moment unregulated or filtered through the “spectacle” and allowing us to create genuine dialog. The performance also allows us to enact a didactic play indirectly educating or opening the minds of our audience through the work. what interests me about this work is the collaborative and experimental nature of the piece(s) having never worked in performance before it was an exciting but challenging experience where I get to expand my knowledge of the art world and the tools I use to navigate the spaces which I wish to occupy. During the creation of this work there was always a deep consideration for the materials used in its formation. We wanted the materials to communicate are intention as much as our words, have the objects leak an aura of genuine enthusiasm for the moment shared. An example of this would be the bracelets we weaved for the participants made from copper wire which we salvaged from telephone wire something used to channel communication between people is repurposed to do the same however made personal. this use of reused materials stands for all the physical objects of our work.

 We examined a vast library of works that informed our own like Marvin Gaye Chetwynd performances and use of materials to hand and Thomas Hirschhorn’s cheap monuments made in communities of the lower classes which obstructs the economics of the contemporary art world. There are more like Tino Seghal and Tai Shani that gave us ways to compare elements of audience – participant relationships, performance staging and passive consuming. Pieces of literature and theories that is relevant to this work is the already mentioned Guy Debord’s “Society of the Spectacle” and are intention to subvert this phenomenon. Researching and repurposing Gaimans Norse mythology as a basis for our stories was a great resource. Ideas of didactic plays came out of our work retroactively as we identified this element of our work after it creation but did not set out with this intention, none the less its and element I’m happy to have included. 

 

 

returning to maintain our outside performance area we found it both damaged and repaired. the picture is a bit blurry but some of the materials where burnt and many of the fixed lines where moved. so naturally we fixed them.

 

A new problem occurred thanks to the wet weather but we constructed something so people could get to our area without the threat of wet feet.

I’m glad we took a lot of progression photos. its interesting to see our construction in the same environment that is radically altered and adapting to accommodate the what comes with it.

 

 

Hopefully it doesn’t get any wetter on the performance week, although, I cant imagine after what we have had recently.

Late Development – a surprising yet welcome communication

Racheal has found a letter from someone that frequented our installation, taking this further Racheal replayed and left book and pens in a plastic bag for others to communicate and turns out we have more than one person(s) visiting the space and encouraging us to keep it up.

nice to see that even without the performative element, our work still creates an open communication.

 

Week 11

Installing the performance area.

 

 

 

 

 

Heath and safety friendly fire too bad it doesn’t keep us warm.

 

 

 

 

Using the left over scrap fabric to decorate a trolly Racheal found which we are going to use to transport our instruments and lead the precession to the performance location.

 

 

 

Beer bottle blues guitar slides made by yours truly.

 

 

Week 10

Racheal making the thing she wanted for the performance area made with old scrap fabric tied together.

 

Getting to big for the room gunna have to move it to a different room.

Making a guitar the proletarian way, out of an oil can. using the lessons learned from the ukulele oil can I’m not making the neck myself this time and using a second hand one but everything else is pretty much the same.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Making a blues slide for my almost finished guitar with three easy steps.

-1 make something to score your glass beer bottle

-2 score it at a right angle as shown to get straight line

-3 put beer bottle in and out of boiling and freezing water and the neck should pop off.

 

 

 

Some health and safety notes wear gloves when scoring the glass and goggles.

Week 9

Considering the audience in terms of grading. In the case of actually presenting the performance it will be done twice minimum and who knows how many times maximum. the two most important and different occasions we will do so is firstly performing for the show at which all our fellow students will be there and participating and secondly the grading day when we need to book a slot and only the graders will be attending. as you can image this will cause a completely different environment and tone. This is something we need to address ether by inviting or collecting individuals that will be willing to come again or come for the first time to the grading performance. this comes with its own drawbacks however as all spontaneity will be lost and the magic of going along or getting lost in a moment will dissipate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Racheal for this week started work on the outside installation all her idea and design to further help connect the outside and inside space. using materials to reflect our ideas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 8

Helping With The Circle.

Self explanatory.

Finished Circle.

 

 

Week 7

Indoor Circle.

Racheal came up with the idea of linking the outside space with the inside space.

This is both for back up space if outside is just too inhospitable to bring people outside. as well as a cheeky form of self awareness.

As you can see the circle Racheal as designed is circular and reminiscing of a crop circle.

And what is a crop circle but an attempt to create a modern myth (aliens) as well as the destruction of property through graffiti. (proletarian)

Painted By The People For The People.

This is the result of other art students painting our cajon and it looks really cool however anything would have been good its more about there participation in making it.

Why Not Collaborate Some More.

Some pictures of other students work that we have talked to and would be open to putting their work outside with ours or eve playing along side our performance as Ed is making instruments as well and needs a stage for them to preform from why not make it part of ours. Look we are making our own community through making this work its all coming together and we have lots of time before the final show.

Racheal Working On El Circle.

Getting the measurements for the circle and painting it with white paint and that Lit paint that glows for the extra spooky effect.

Week 6

cyanotype printing.

Taking a short break from the project and collaborating in week 6 I signed up for some workshops that I thought looked pretty sick. and is like early photography and something I defiantly want to return to at some point in the future.

to do so you mix a two part chemical solution which you paint onto whatever object will absorb or take liquids after being dried in a dark place the light activates the solution and its the placing of objects or light that will effect the end image. to spot the chemical process just place into water which will neutralise it so It can be dried and  displayed.  

pattern on acetate paper to block the light from hitting the chemical solution. as you will see later didn’t work because of other elements.

Painting the whole paper with the solution and left it outside to interrupt the chemical process and give the spotty space effect you see.

As you can tell I didn’t leave the ones above for long enough natural exposure and has caused them to fade to the point of almost not being there which sucks but is all part of the experimentation process.

Much better, these where much more successful than the previous ones. left them outside for a wee bit like that first one which give you the spotty bits and got the patter by rorschach testing them together to get the symmetry.

 

 

Week 5

Racheal’s Outside Performance Circle.

Crafting the performance space.

Racheal is taking on the aspect of the performance and has planed an idea for it as you can see below.

Continuing the Oil Can Ukulele.

Cutting down the internals of the ukulele.

Bottom left is all the wood components in the instrument.

Bottom right is a sheet of metal that I’m going to cut and shape into a string holder.

Shape and location of the string holder.

attaching the internals to the oil can using our old friend glue and pins.

Bottom left you can see I have cut what I call violin fancy holes and these fancy holes act as both aesthetic flair and holes for the sound to escape from I don’t know the music term for it but whatever.

I used a dermal to work my way through the metal with a bit more precision than you would with anything else.

Top right it the attaching of the neck to the oil can and below is some shots to show everything together,

The Finished Instrument.

look at it! I dunno about you but that’s looking pretty gooooooooooood.

After attaching the strings and tuning it the best I can we have our new instrument for people to play with when it comes to our performance. I love the look and feel of this instrument its basic but a lot of love has gone into it. it doesn’t have the exact tuning ability to sound like a ukulele however it has it very own unique sound which I wouldn’t trade for anything. it has this ora of; “no way does that work” about it which I can see wherever someone approaches it when I leave it in the art block. that fact that they want to inspect it themselves and so quickly is just the vibe I was going for and will come in great when we perform.

I might make another one OR now I know what I’m doing make an oil can GUITAR instead perhaps something my friend can play when he comes down.

Our Stories, from the start.

(All of this stuff is not a word for word script rather guide or key points to the story)

 

As we tell you these myths try to picture yourself a long time ago, in the place and environment where these stories were first spoken.

Under the glow of the northern lights during the long winter nights or sitting outside around the fire awaking in the undying lights of midsummer with a community of people much like yourselves who did no yet know what Thor did, what the rainbow was or where bad poetry comes from.

It is these moments that the joy of these myths emerges. The fun comes in telling them yourself something we wish all of you will do.

Listen to our stories then make them your own. So perhaps on a dark evening when the mood is low you tell your friends, family or even strangers what happened to Loki’s wolf daughter Fenrir or how consciousness changed and created the known universe. On that note our story begins……

Before the beginning there was nothing no earth, no heavens, no stars, no sky; only the mist world, dust and particles formless, shapeless and changeless.

To the north was Niflhiem, a dark world here it was colder than cold and the dust of the mist world that blackened everything hung heavy. Light itself were hidden clouded by chilly fog.

To the south was Muspell. Muspell was fire, everything there glowed with heat. Muspell was light where Niflheim was dark. Molten mist roared with heat like a blacksmiths forge.

At the edge of Muspells borders existed one of three beings to inhabited this space Surtr, however not yet in physical form. Surtr was happy with its immaterial existence where nothing changes and everything within it has purpose.

Between Muspell and Niflheim was a great void, an empty place of nothingness, without form which edged the mist world this void was called “ginnungagap”. This ginnungagap or yawning gap was home to the consciousness of the beings Ymir and Artifa.

Like Surtr, Ymir reviled in its utilitarian existence everything was in balance. Nothing existed that wasn’t intended to be there. These consciousnesses did not know where they had come from but did not care for such questions.

However, Artifa had many questions and quarms its predicated existence did not comfort it. Change, change it needed change.

But change this Artifa could not. But to change itself was all it could do and that’s what it did Artifa split its caporal being into separate parts its consciousness experienced through different subjective wholes both individual and one simultaneously. And as it began to talk to itself through others it disagreed and debated and collaborated like never and together they agreed they wanted to make and create things, things that did not yet existed that didn’t necessarily have a purpose but was there none the less. They had the materials but not the form the ability.  

They decided they needed to dismantle the system that binds them to these rules to seize the means of their own wishes to not be constrained like they had been before.

They ended the existence of the being Ymir it had to be done and from it they made the first thing to be made; time a new dimension and new way of exciting and from this an explosion erupted.  

That filled the universe, that was the universe, there was no place in the universe free from it. Every point of this cosmos was a point of this explosion of light. All that we see around us all that now exists has always be there from that beginning. But now changed in form, purpose and relevance by time the dimension of change.  

And over such time new things would come and go, forms shaped and reshaped like Surtr and Artifa, and names would be given to such nameless. Even this story I’m telling you but now change itself was the only constant. So, create, destroy and make physical that which does not yet exist outside of your mind scape, for its all we have.