Sound-walking the Himalayas at the Rubin Museum of Art
I’m deep in that last minute flurry of Christmas goodies hunter gathering. Then I walk past the Rubin. And I pause. Every fibre of my being wants to go in but I have all of this ‘stuff’. Oh, just a quick look, I tell myself. Two hours later deeply relaxed and feeling so calm and happy, entranced by Hindu gods and goddesses, I’m paying a visit to my all-time favorite, Ganesha, the elephant boy, remover of obstacles, patron of the arts and sciences, representing wisdom and intellect, and exploring the many lives of Buddha.
C2004.20.1, HAR65341 http://rubinmuseum.org/collection/artwork/stories-of-previous-lives-of-the-buddha
After taking in the introductory gallery on Level 1, I move on to the Sacred Spaces exhibition, featuring audiovisual works from the Soundwalk Collective and Francisco Lopez. I love sound art and installations, and this one sounded interesting — the result of a pilgrimage of sorts to capture the sounds from a range of Nepalese monasteries. I entered a dimly lit space with surround-sound speakers and dropped into a bean bag. Closed my eyes and imagined being there, at the top of the mountain, looking out from on high, the monks chanting in unison, the bells ringing out, reaching for a higher being. The wind, carrying all of the sounds together, unified. Focusing on the different qualities of the wind, the slowing of my breath, the occasional chatter of thought slipping back into mind, observing it and letting it go. Hmm, I’d been ‘tricked’ into a meditative state. No complaints from me.
The group recorded kaleidoscopic images of prayer flags for an accompanying installation, again, transportive and lovely. At the end of the space were three turntables, inviting me to don a pair of headphones and experience the sounds in my own way. I thought this was an interesting setup — the curators have chosen to partner with AudioTechnica to deliver this experience, tapping into the resurgence in popularity of vinyl.
It created a physical niche in a way that it’s hard to do with a small touchscreen MP3 player, and it felt novel (old is new again). Notice the swirling paintings on the wall in the image above? I was intrigued to learn that they were created using ink and wind alone — that’s right, no human hand made that art. The technique is inspired by Suminagashi, the Japanese art of ink marbling with water to create works on paper. Isn’t it magical?
Visit: The Rubin Museum of Art, 150 W 17th St, New York, NY, 10011.
