As part of my annual Memoria activity during late October and early November, I enjoy attending the Día de Muertos exhibition, staged each year by the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen. Here’s a gallery of some of the 2022 displays:
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Megan Baffoe writes for The Order of the Good Death on the themes of mortality and disobedience in director Guillermo del Toro’s recent movie: The spirit explains her philosophy of death – that, all in all, ‘the one thing that makes human life precious and meaningful … is how brief it is.’ I’ve of course … Read more“Death and Disobedience in Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”
My new art project, the Omar’s Rubaiyat Contemplation Cards deck, is now available. Oh, come with old Khayyám, and leave the Wise To talk; one thing is certain, that Life flies; One thing is certain, and the Rest is Lies; The Flower that once has blown for ever dies. ― Attributed to Omar Khayyam (1048-1131) … Read moreOmar’s Rubaiyat Contemplation Cards
Mywindpone.com offers resources for creating and locating wind telephones inspired by Itaru Sasaki’s original concept: I read about Itaru Sasaki and his Phone Booth of the Wind. I imagined sitting in his white phone booth surrounded by Itaru’s beautiful garden, holding the phone to my ear, dialing Emily’s number, and listening as the rotary dial … Read moreMy Wind Phone: Let the Wind Take Your Words
Spring is sprung, the grass is riz, and I just spotted what may be the first Great Blue Heron of the season. The time has come again to crown the Duende with flowers … … and to begin a project I’ve been looking forward to. I’ve started participating in the new Atlas Obscura online course … Read moreFloralia 2023
Click here to learn all about Seven Stones, a Denver cemetery/botanical garden that will – hopefully – provide the aesthetic and conceptual model for future institutions. Here’s a presentation by Seven Stones co-founder Doug Flin –
In this new exhibit by artist Shaun Gladwell, participants can experience a simulation of death via VR and medical technologies: Passing Electrical Storms is a participatory XR experience with a deeply affecting, ‘out-of-body’ nature. Gladwell simulates the experience of dying through XR and medical technologies. At once meditative and unsettling, this interactive work guides participants through … Read more“Passing Electrical Storms”: New Extended Reality Art Experience Simulates the End of Life
I’m reading Carole Cusack’s excellent Invented Religions: Imagination, Fiction and Faith and am delighted to have discovered the Hot Tub Mystery Religion, intriguingly described in this 2003 Reason.com article by Jesse Walker: Atheists have long regarded religion as, at best, a collective work of art, but in the last century that view has grown popular … Read more“Inside the Spiritual Jacuzzi”
The notably arts-friendly Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York City has hosted a number of artistic installations including works of sculpture, dance, poetry, photography and ritual.