i: spinning wheel of illumination

THE SPINNING WHEEL OF ILLUMINATION:
2018: BARCELONA, SPAIN AND NEW YORK CITY, NY

In collaboration with Set Designer / Art Director Carmine Palmienteri.

“The Spinning Wheel of Illumination” – an interpretation of journeying that alludes to the geometric spatial configurations of the Sufi Sema; where a center rotational axis directs the flow of discovery; hexagon in principle with a secret inner chamber.

The work has been inspired by the performative research “The Crystal Express” the story of 7 pilgrims in search of wonderland: a curiosity to wander, delving into the infinite possibilities of the journey; a vast desert calling.

The 8ft installation of mirrored plexi-glass, designed with 7 chambers, reflects 7 stages of transformation of a pilgrimage.

As the dervish sweeps through his/her own auric field to dissolve into the abyss, indeed through ritual of journey, the dissolution of the self becomes apparent. blindfolded, while awakened. The realms of beauty expand beyond time and space, as both an imaginative inquiry, as well as an object of contemplation.

Each passenger is invited to step into the playful labyrinth, seduced into a game of self-discovery and inner connectivity. Etched with writings from the poem in Farsi, self-discovery culminates at the 7th chamber, where the passenger finds him/herself at the center point of the crystal, where illumination occurs and the whirling begins.

Inspired by Mounir Farfarmanian’s use of mirrors and geometric configurations, the work applies itself to an algorithmic art.

The installation can be considered a kaleidoscope of the soul through its many transformations, where the viewer is a passenger, a participant, in his/her own experience of the infinite.

The proposal dives into the notions of infinity to reveal undiscovered realms of the self. it depicts a contemporary interpretation of inner and outer journeys. The pilgrim’s journey as a mystical prophecy depicted in such poems as Attar’s “the conference of the birds” is coupled with real migration patterns occurring today across lands, and seas.