Tokyo2Dubai Collab

The concept here2here has taken another leap in meaning. I was recently asked on Instagram to participate in a collaboration project with someone from Tokyo, Japan. 

When I joined Instagram just over one and a half years ago, @takiti or Tera as we all know him, was one of the first igers whose work I greatly admired. When after some time I asked him how he achieved a specific effect, he gladly shared the name of a favorite app he was using. Tera, who has an amazing gallery, kindly leaves comments on numerous photos and despite his huge following, always thanks those who leave a comment on any of his shots. 

I believe that we connect to others on an energetic level in cyberspace and that energy is conveyed on a subtle level by online presence tied to our avatars, content produced or shared, quantity, quality and online conversation.

Needless to say, I was very excited when Tera asked if he could edit one of my pics. The process was set in motion by me sending him the four photos that he requested. He then chose one to edit. The resulting image was published in his gallery. 

Tera has various shots of the Tokyo International Forum and I requested the original of one of these to edit. I chose it because it contained a lit up pathway in the Forum. The resulting edit is now part of my Corridors of Cyberspace series

In Japanese calligraphy there is a symbol called an ensō. It means circle and is often referred to as an “expression of the moment”. Many artists, as a form of spiritual practice, practice drawing an ensō daily.  I have often wondered if it is possible to practice this in photographic form, and for some time now, have been incorporating the circle in my edits with this in mind. To be invited to collaborate with someone from Japan on an image appeared to me to be a form of answer to my question. 

In my art, the circle, for me, represents not only the moment, but all form, and that which is without form. At the same time, it is an attempt to represent the experience of whirling in cyberspace; a space which is not localized but experiential. 

The outcome of a piece I am working on is not known to me at the onset.  As I attempt to express the experience of cyberspace, the very creation of a piece is itself an experience in cyberspace, as I work hand in hand with technology.  Working with various apps which often produce surprising results, I go through countless resulting images until I find one that fully resonates with what I am attempting to express. The result is therefore a collaboration of a human and technology. 

In this particular edit, you will notice within the circle, lines and sections meeting. This represents collaboration. There is also a darker space, symbolizing the unknown when the photo is handed over for editing.  It is also the space in which creativity takes place and from it something beautiful appears to be emerging. 

The speeding circles on the left remind me of all the data exchange going on in the collaboration.  Living in Dubai, I was also reminded by them, of the Burj Khalifa standing proud and tall.  Japan is one of the first countries daily to see the rising sun and this is depicted by the small moving circle on the right of the image. The shades of grey suggest timelessness in their neutrality. 

It is my wish to exhibit the corridors of cyberspace series, perhaps at first in frames on paper, but ideally on special screens which allow the light to shine through them electronically from behind. 

This month Emirates Airlines launched daily direct flights between Dubai and Tokyo.  Both the UAE and Japan are considered to be global hubs of development and growth. It is my wish that the two have also been brought closer to each other on a more personal level in this photographic act of here2here online collaboration.

The image had one further message for me. As I contemplated it, I suddenly started recalling the music for “The Windmills of Your Mind”. As the circular melody went round and round in my head, I thought how appropriate it was for someone who attempts to practice watching her mind with all its thoughts.  Often there are so many different thoughts going round and round like a windmill and it is only by becoming mindful and observing them that we are gradually able to loosen our attachment to them. 

When I researched the song I discovered that it was the song which won the Oscar in 1969 for Best Song from a Film (in this case, the original Thomas Crown Affair). Dusty Springfield also recorded a version of the song in 1969.

Amidst its lyrics were these words which I immediately linked to my edit : 

And the world is like an apple

Whirling silently in space

Like the circles that you find

In the windmills of your mind! 

It was as I read this, that my photographic ensō became the expressed moment!

Thank you Tera-san for the invite and the collaboration.

Links and Texture

Below is an image. It is a photograph of the Burj Khalifa, currently the tallest tower in the world.

When you hover over it you will see that it suddenly reveals a number of links. Each of these links allows you to either experience the tower in its different moods, learn more about it, or watch a video related to it.

Perhaps take a few minutes to explore these links before reading further. The choice is yours.

I have used this concept as I feel it offers a special key.

Every experience we ever have has many elements, but unless we take the time to be mindful of them, many of these elements escape our notice.

Operating on autopilot we may miss many of the threads which when woven together give an experience its particular texture.

An event might be experienced as being bland or fascinating or any of a variety of ways, but that experience is determined by the way in which we tune into that which is at hand. We can walk without seeing details, be in a room and not hear what music is being played, eat a whole meal without noticing the different flavors, pass by flowers without noticing their fragrance, pick up an object without noticing what it feels like, arrive at destinations without being aware of how we got there or look at others without picking up on their moods.

When we pay attention, that which we touch might be smooth, rough, grainy, soft or coarse. That which we hear might be harmonious, irritating or soothing. Tastes can be crunchy, chewy or crisp. Emotions become messengers and we realize that we are not our thoughts.

Our senses and our feelings are our links to mindfulness. We need to click on them as it were in order to experience each moment with all the various elements that make up its particular texture as they interrelate.

Texture

As we move through the corridors of cyberspace, we choose which links we wish to open or close. Similarly, we need to realize that we can choose to tune into that which is around us and within us. We can choose to notice what we are sensing and feeling and thinking. Mindfulness is something we choose to do.

Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way:

on purpose,

in the present moment,

and nonjudgmentally.

Jon Kabat-Zinn

When we choose to be mindful we also give ourselves the opportunity to choose which elements of an experience need our attention and which it would be better to ignore or not engage. It provides us with the gap in which we can decide how to respond instead of simply reacting.

Between stimulus & response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. Victor Frankl #mindfulness
— Linda Hollier (@lindahollier) May 29, 2013

As mindfulness spreads into all walks of life, it is adding a flavor to life which cannot be properly described but which has to be experienced.

Its texture feels calm, compassionate and non-violent. Its threads are those of acceptance and understanding. They play a music whose chords are non-judgmental. They smell of purpose and focus. Their taste is that of the present moment.

This Moment

This morning I continue reading “Stoep Zen” by Antony Osler.  A beautiful book about Zen life in South Africa. A book filled with phrases and passages that evoke childhood memories and fill me with laughter.  A book filled with short essays, haiku-like poems and photographs that invite me to live my life as simply and as profoundly as I can. A book that invites each reader to be fully present to whoever or whatever is before them. A call to find the heart of each moment. 

When Zen master Su Bong came one year for his retreat he had his usual bag of presents for Tongo and his family. Tongo was digging out thistles near the earth dam. Su Bong gave him the gifts. Tongo thanked him, picked up his spade and started digging again. Su Bong was so impressed. ‘That’s the way to live your life,’ he said that night. ‘You don’t need monk’s robes, just say thank you and get on with your work.’

As I reach the last few pages of the book, the tumble drier sounds its song. Whereas normally I might be tempted to “just quickly finish the last few pages”, I put down the book and go to the tumble drier.  I empty it, fold his socks and place them in the drawer.

As I do so, I fully realize that this is what I am doing. 

This might sound simple. It is and it is not. It is mundane and it is profound.

After closing the drawer, I decide to tweet.  

I fold his socks, then place them in the drawer. #thismoment

— Linda Hollier (@lindahollier) May 7, 2013

Continuing the musings I have been engaging in lately on the usage of Twitter to promote mindfulness, I am struck once again by the incredible potential it has to aid one in becoming aware of what is happening right now.  Often when I watch and note to myself what I am experiencing it sounds like a tweet!  

I return to my book, finish it, and then decide to write this blog.  

In preparation, I pick up my ipad, read many of the tweets with the hashtag #thismoment and then google the concept too.  

I discover an article from two days ago, in which the CEO of Twitter, Dick Costolo, urges graduates to “Be In This Moment”.

Ironically, Costolo didn’t learn this lesson while at Twitter, a platform which in many ways embodies the very philosophy of “being in this moment.” He learned it as an improvisational comedy student in Chicago before, as Costolo puts it, “the internet happened.”

Listening to the video incorporated into the article, I am aware of synchronicity, and then realize it is always there but we do not always see it. 

Making my way to my laptop, my mind begins to wander and I note its wanderings. 

I recall the the piece I once wrote entitled, “The Dalai Lama and Synchronicity” after I saw him in The Hague. I think about impermanence and then recall that I noticed upon my return to Dubai last week that the old "Hard Rock Cafe" is no longer standing. That blog must be about a year old.

Not wanting to hold onto these wanderings too long, I note them, let them go, and then sit down to type.

The mind throws in one last attempt - Remember the blog “Booma Dollies and Onions”; you wrote this piece about watching the mind! Seated at my laptop by now, I look it up, but its message very quickly brings me back to this moment. 

And so I write this blog and you read it. Are we separate? Are we different? Are we one? Are we the same?

Or is there a point where we can go beyond labels and opinions? A point where we can see differences but move past them? That is the point when the wonders of life make themselves known without a need for understanding. 

Right now, this moment, the words appear on my screen as my fingers tap out the letters.  Your eyes move across the page as you read.

I turn to glance out the window

The Burj Khalifa stands tall

The sun is shining.

The City Within

Walking through the Dubai Mall my attention was captured by an exhibit in the entrance of Bloomingdale’s Home. Upon entering I immediately felt as if I had entered another realm. Soaking up the space I attempted to capture aspects of the work on my camera roll.

I discovered that Bloomingdales’s Home is hosting a Design Days Dubai offsite installation until 16 April 2013.  The entrance has been transformed into an interactive work of art entitled “City Within”, by Antonio Pio Saracino

To quote the pamphlet which accompanies the exhibition:

“Composed of multiple hanging lightweight translucent polycarbonate sheets that create the shape of a box and convey the idea of an ephemeral city versus the physical city: this is the metaphor of the contemporary digital city that is not made with tangible space.  The empty space inside the installation is originated from carving out the shape of a dimensional city landscape”.

This resonated so deeply with much of what I attempt to share on my website here2here that I have returned on more than one occasion to enter the space. 

What fascinated me about the installation was the fact that the artist had carved out the shape of a dimensional city landscape to create the “City Within". He had created a physical landscape and a mental one which therefore enabled me to enter it with my body and my senses. 

The installation also confirmed that although the digital city is experienced, it nevertheless has its own architecture. As was the case in this work of art, existing architectural forms are often reference points for the indescribable characteristics of this city within. My writings often use arches and corridors when I refer to cyberspace and my iphoneography art is created using technology and photos of architecture. 

In my last blog post I looked at cyborgs, and so I was encouraged to read how architect, designer and artist Antonio Pio Saracino is creating visually poetic forms that encourage dialogue on the role of technology in our lived environment

"Technology is like a second ‘skin’ that we wear on to extend our bodies in order to re-imagine new behaviors and to enhance our memory and senses. It is increasingly central to human civilization and in my profession technology is an advanced tool used to re-imagine design and the world we live in. In my everyday life, I believe you have to know when to turn technology on and wear it and when to turn it off." The Ecstatic Design of Antonio Pio Saracino

"My work however also highlights some aspects that will never be affected by technology, in particular the quest for the most important things: sensitivity, poetry, our feelings. This is why I do not try to glorify or stigmatise technology, but rather to create emotion-provoking objects capable of representing the values associated with the product." Interview with Antonio Pio Saracino

Dialogue on the role of technology in our lives is essential. The recent conference, Wisdom2.0, is just one example of the advances being made in this dialogue. 

"The City Within" from "Corridorsofcyberspace"

Architecture is a response to physical, emotional and spiritual needs. It also reflects the way humans see themselves at a particular point in time. 

In the Baroque age, for example, the Baroque ideal was to represent emotional states of being. In Baroque art, scenes flow into each other and seemingly into the space of the viewer, who determines the centre of the spectacle at that moment. 

In cyberspace, we are able to enter streams of words, sounds and images and we choose what to focus on. The centre is constantly shifting. In the current transformation age cyberspace is in many ways baroque like as we attempt to portray the senses through technology. 

Saracino understands this. His keen insight into the need that exists in this age to experience rather than simply cognitively comprehend, has led to Saracino being involved in designs such as a recent one in midtown Manhattan where tweets were displayed on the interactive art installation in order raise awareness of HIV/AIDS

Living between Rome and New York, Saracino has experienced cross-cultural contamination. An architect, designer and artist, he cuts across disciplines. I am delighted to have discovered his work.  

Cyberspace or here2here, is definitely a city within. Every time we communicate by means of technology we enter this mental space. May we do so responsibly as we realize that we are co-creators, co-designers, co-architects and therefore co-artists of this special we-space. 

Technology and Transformation

Robb Smith, in a TEDx video entitled “The Transformational Life”, explains how throughout the ages the tools of the time have gone hand in the hand with the size of communities.

In the hunting and gathering era, the average size of a community was 40 people. When the digging stick was invented, plants could be cultivated and they provided food for a community of about 1500. The invention of the plow in the agrarian age supported a larger population of about 100 thousand people and the invention of machines such as the printing press and the steam engine in the industrial era of the 17th to 19th centuries, allowed societies to grow to about 10 million people.

This exponential growth continued with the invention of the transistor in 1947 and the computer revolution of the next decades. The early 1990s saw the coming into being of a world wide web of 100 million people. High speed data networks and the spread of smartphones mean that today almost 7 billion people have the possibility of becoming a single society.

We say the world has become smaller, but in actual fact communities have become larger.

As I walked from the metro one evening recently, white cords dangled from my ears and connected to my iphone which I carried in my right hand. The music which accompanied me paused briefly as I took an incoming call. A little while later I stopped to capture an image on my camera roll, and as I did so, I suddenly saw myself as if from afar. This was accompanied by an overwhelming thought - “I’m a cyborg now!”

The separation between being online and offline had suddenly disappeared. The boundary between these two worlds blurred and they suddenly collapsed into one.

No doubt the experience was greatly influenced by a fascinating TED talk, “We are all cyborgs now” by Amber Case, which I had recently watched, but nevertheless, I was filled with excitement and gratitude for the fact that I was living in an age where people can interconnect in real time by means of a little handheld device.

A 1960 paper on space travel defined a cyborg as an organism “to which exogenous components have been added for the purpose of adapting to new environments”.

It is interesting to note that whereas the invention of previous tools had enabled humans to extend their physical selves, current technology allows for the extension of the mental self.

“here2here” took on an added meaning as I realized that the “virtual” and the “real” world were no longer separate for me. They formed a wholeness which brought with it new dimensions I could not have imagined even five years ago.

"Avatars"

My iphoneography art is an attempt to express these dimensions. Created with apps, the outcome is not fixed at the start of the process. Patient flicking through numerous adaptations of an image I am working on allows me to intuitively choose the one I feel most appropriate. The end image is an expression of the experience of being in cyberspace, as well as an example of being a co-creator with the apps and technology at my disposal.

I look at this world as it looks back at me, and suddenly I am looking as the world.

This looking is accompanied by a deepening sense of responsibility and I am reminded of the question asked by Wisdom 2.0:

“How can we live with greater presence, meaning and mindfulness in the technology age?”

The objective of the conference, @Wisdom2conf, this year, was to address the challenge of our generation: “to not only live connected to one another through technology, but to do so in ways that are beneficial to our own well-being, effective in our work and useful to the world.” I can highly recommend the 2013 videos. (One of my favorites is Jon Kabat-Zinn being interviewed by Melissa Daimler of Twitter).

The technology of this age brings with it the temptation of distraction and addiction when we do not realize the need to be grounded. Checking in with our inner and outward experience regularly and mindfully helps us to maintain this groundedness.

“Without a connection to the earth and to the physical body, all signals become static”. Steven Vedro in “Twitter, Ambient Awareness and Spiritual Practice”.

I share Robb Smith’s opinion. We are no longer in the Information age. We have entered the Transformation age with all the opportunities it offers us to look not at the other through all the perspectives being offered us, but as the other.

Related blog posts:

Digital Archways

Corridorsofcyberspace

Cyberflanerie: Deep Listening in Cyberspace