Vernissages NYC | Identity, Perception, Illusion: Michelangelo Pistoletto "Work"

 

Michelangelo Pistoletto, one of the major exponents of Arte Povera, has been working with mirrors since 1961 --- in many media and expressions, from paintings to performances.
Mirrors have a complex semantics, spanning from psychoanalytical readings to explorations of visual perceptions. The exhibition  Lavoro (Italian word for work) includes new work of Pistoletto, where mirrored surfaces become backgrounds for trompe-l'œil imagery of people and tools from the construction work environment. The viewer's identity becomes lost in perceptions of illusionary environments, where the gallery becomes transformed in several construction sites. A double illusion, not only for the 2d representation of trompe-l'œil becoming allusive of three-dimensionality, but also for the places recreated.

Walk total length: 13.5km

camminando | Places: Framing Nature and Inner States at Hawk Rock

I learned of Hawk Rock from an article in the NY Times. The rock grouping stands in an hemlock forest in the town of Kent, Putnam County, New York State, about 75 miles north of New York City. Hawk Rock was presented in the article as one of those magical places of the planet, where some people can have mystical experiences; it reminded me of the magical charisma of Monte Soratte, near Rome, a destination of several weekend trips during my youth. Hawk Rock requires only a short detour from my usual route to Sun Farm, and yesterday I finally decided to take some time off from the usual weekend “work in the land”, right on May 21, the day of the so much talked “rapture”, a quite proper time to have the mystical experiences, as claimed by the folk stories on Hawk Rock.
The map tells me that the rock is located 1.6 miles from the parking area. It was warm and humid as the bugs reminded me when I entered the forest; the rain accumulation of the past week made the otherwise comfortable trail filled with mud and engorged the streams running through the forest.
Forests are always dense of meaning, symbols and metaphors. I started finding my own symbols in the forest trails leading to the rock, trying to achieve what in the article was defined as “a portal to another dimension”. The path were interrupted by countless tree trunks; some of the fallen trees were actually framing not well identified views; I associated these otherwise unnoticed trail interruptions to “symbolic gates”. My perceptions were particularly alert and started noticing many nature scenes: spiral coiling of worms, a vivid color salamander, concerts of chirping birds, complex fractal shapes of the widespread ferns, the loud sound of streams. We stopped briefly at Balanced Rock, which is, similarly to Hawk Rock, what geologists define as “erratic” a rock transported from a different location by a glacier during the last Ice Age. A few hundreds feet later, we finally reached Hawk Rock, a thirty-foot high monolith, whose majestic presence is accentuated by its location in the center of an evergreen grove, emerging from a soft carpet of evergreen needles.
Do not expect spectacular views or hawks flying around you; Hawk Rock is only at an elevation of 600 feet. I did not have a mystical experience. But the hike brought me calm and a serene meditative state of mind, in a perception of nature framing an inner spiritual landscape…and this can perhaps be considered entering another dimension, beyond the tumultuous overload of perceptions of urban life.

"Gates" on the way to Hawk Rock

Encounter with a salamander

Balanced Rock

Views of Hawk Rock

A stone chamber

Excerpts from the conceptual multimedia project

“Axes Mundi: Perceptions and Understanding of Places as Intersections of Space, Time and Culture"

places | Summit Reservoir in Philmont

The Summit Reservoir in Philmont, is a quite special place: a lot of history and potential for community gathering, public art, recreation, wildlife, and cultural activities.

Places: the "Ashram"

Yesterday I spent my annual day at Kripalu, a former ashram which has recently become a crossover between an ashram and a spa. The atmosphere has changed: from a gathering of spiritual minded people practicing meditation and yoga to a more mainstream yet progressive and liberal crowd, focused on fitness, healthy lifestyle and often, life changes. Prices have doubled and the food from strictly vegetarian now includes some meat. Yet the wonderful atmosphere of compassion, tolerance and open-mindness still remains.
The first time I went there, in 2002, I was mainly looking to spend a day practicing yoga and meditation, escaping from my stressful daily routine. And I left energized, with a sense of peacefulness and hope.
On the stairwell there are photographs of Rosa Parks, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and even Einstein. The building is ugly (a former high school), lacking proportions and a relationship with the beautiful natural surroundings ---a lake in the rolling hills of the Berkshires. The dining room is quite unattractive too, but the food extremely tasty and healthy, based on organic ingredients and flavored by many different spices. Kindness, simplicity and quiet are omnipresent. People smile at each other, talking softly; when they don't participate to the many different activities ---yoga, dance, workshops, snowshoeing, hiking --- they read or meditate. A positive energy and calm take place and remains for a few days even after I return to the non-sense and madness of NYC
Every time I go there I think: can we make the world a better place? Yes, we can!