camminando & vernissage | A White Equinox Night in New York

Urban snowscape: Broadway, at 71st Street

The March equinox 2015, which is also the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere, is greeted by snow in New York, as the latest of the multitude of snowstorms hitting the Northeast extends to springtime. White is color du jour, overpowering the darkness of the night with the snow-laced trees of the New York urban grid streetscapes.

White is also the dominant color of "Cyclicscape", Mariko Mori exhibition which opened at Sean Kelly, in this snow dominated evening. The opening also included a performance in collaboration with composer Ken Ikeda. Excerpts from the press release state the intent of the work:

Cyclicscape will present ten new sculptures exploring Mori’s interest in Möbius forms and the endless universe of new physics theory. Variously called “ekpyrotic” or “cyclic” cosmology, this theory posits that the universe did not begin from one singular “Big Bang” but that our cosmos is filled with continuously repeating cycles of evolution, including possible parallel universes and an ever-expanding formation of new galaxies and planets.
     In Cyclicscape, Mori’s sculptural works play with the infinite loop of the Möbius strip as a visualization of our universe’s never-ending renewal of invisible energy. Futuristic and ethereal, the large-scale aluminum and stainless steel works seem to transcend their physical matter. With no beginning, middle, or end, the forms symbolize an eternal cycle of existence — of nature and the universe in perpetual motion.
    Inspired by nature’s invisible energy, the eight computer-generated photo-paintings in the exhibition are based on drawings Mori made in front of the ocean on Okinawa Island. Focused on a microscopic cosmos we can only imagine, Mori’s swirling particles and rotating atoms seem to radiate a phenomenal light and electricity. From the primal particle to the multiverse, Cyclicscape deepens Mori’s ongoing investigation into the interconnectedness of all things and a belief in a fundamental symbiosis between art and technology.

Mariko Mori

Sculptural explorations of the Möbius strip, in aluminum and fiberglass

Computer generated photo paintings

Images from the performance, with composer Ken Ikeda at the synthesizer

Walk Length: 7.25 km

camminando | Finally, Toward Spring

As my relocation to Australia seems to follow the season metaphor, today I can finally say that I felt the arrival of spring. A sunny warm day at the Geelong Waterfront welcomed the opportunity of a short run and a few yoga asanas on the Western Beach pier. I felt my energy start returning after a long dark winter. I even enjoyed the visual encounter with a jellyfish. And I can't wait to finally test the water in the shark enclosed area of Eastern Beach. Hopefully my research will witness the arrival of spring as well!

Everything is Relative: Spring and Fall

 Tree blossoms at the Botanical Garden, Brooklyn, New York (photo by David Foell)

 Foliage turning yellow and brown in Geelong, Australia

Events NYC, March 20 | VERNAL EQUINOX

Sun Rises    @  06:58 EDT
Sun Sets      @  19:05 EDT
Solar Noon  @  13:03 EDT
 
Vernal Equinox began today at 1:14 EDT, the time when the tilt of the Earth's axis is in a plane perpendicular to the plane defined by the center of the Sun and the Earth's equator. The term "equinox" is derived from
the Latin "aequus  nox" equal (night), as during the equinoxes night and day have equal length.


Let's celebrate spring in the rebirth of nature and return of light.

Early spring blooming

Walk total length: 8km

camminando | NYC, Strolling along the Hudson

A few views from my strolls along the NYC Hudson waterfront. Spring is almost here as this evening was saying; a pale sun was setting, moving its cyclical path to the north. The setting sun was framed the ruins of the dock from the 69th Street Transfer Bridge.



A strange encounter with public art, always an important presence in the urbanscape...


And finally an almost full moon, framed by the buildings of 52nd Street, getting lost among the street lighting.

Camminando | NYC, Spring has arrived!

Finally enjoying spring in NYC, strolling at Central Park or by the American Museum of Natural History...