“THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS” SALON:
“through the looking glass” is a salon series dedicated to exploring the mystical through the human condition.
BASED ON collective rituals, Investigating notions of "seen" and "being seen", themes around mirroring of “the self” and the other, and what Samina calls “the secret gaze,” THE SALON is a space to wander and ponder realms of the invisible, the what if’s, referring to the artist’s long term research “what is it that connects us? a memory? what if we stop remembering?”
The salons REFER TO THE PROCESSES OF “The Rabbit Hole Method™ - developed in 2021 - a poetical inquiry that extracts and distills from contemporary artistic practises, philosophy, Ancient Eastern mystic rituals, mathematics, geometric patterns and dance. It includes the teaching of Hazrat Inayat Khan, Farid Ud-Din Attar, Jorge Luis Borges, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Lewis Carroll, among others.
Collaborating with Parisian-based and international artists, the invite-only salon structure has three parts: 1) A participatory invitation process where individuals are invoked into preparing for a collective ritual. 2) an introduction / experimentation of a new artistic creative process 3) the unveiling and unfolding of this process, through the power of the collective.
So far salon formats have involved sound vibrations, the Buddhist Koan Technique of gazing, sensorial experiments with food and touch, and immersive performances.
“through the looking glass” is aN INVITATION to explore, unfold and create.
A space where something is shared and something else unfolds - into another space, and another ritual; where magical and subliminal codes unravel through play, and where revelation, mischief and wisdom are celebrated all at once.
Salons are held bimonthly in the artist’s home in Paris.
SALON 1: “ A WAY TO SEE; A WAY TO BE SEEN”
may 2024: a blindfolded experiment about wandering within, trying to remember.
Samina virani, ROSSELLA CECILI
SALON 2: “THE MIRROR OF THE OTHER”
october 2024: exploring the dissolution of the self, Inspired by the Buddhist Koan technique.
Samina virani, rossella CECILI
SALON 3: “ECHOES OF THE SELF”
DECember 2024: AN EXPERIMENT OF VISUAL POETRY, SOUND RESONANCE AND “COLLECTIVE DEW”
GABRIELA SALOMON, SAMINA VIRANI, ALEXANDRA cabrera, AND VANNIE GAMA.
SALON 4: “THE MADHATTER SENSORIAL BANQUET”
november 2024: exploring labyrinth spaces of the psyche through sensorial play
Samina virani, Giovanni Morassutti, Rossella cecili, Chandra Aymerich
SALON 5: “THE DERIVE EXPERIMENT”
april 2025: outdoor wandering, FIND YOUR SPEED, tapping into unconscious codes
Keri Rosebraugh, Paloma Demasi, Mayke Verhoeven, Samina Virani
SALON 6: “THE GAME OF SHIFTING MIRRORS”
march 2025 + october 2025: awakening an inner world, where, in the dark, once can see.
Samina virani, ROSSELLA CECILI, ana adams, chiara capitani