Talks of Treehuggin'
From September 14 - 16, 2018 the Performance-Art Event 'Echoes of Shamanism' took place in the Amstelpark in Amsterdam. The weekend long event started with the participating artists sharing about their practice and their relationship to 'shamanism'. Thanks Irina Birger (RU/NL), Kleoni Manoussakis (GR), Dimple B Shah (IN), A k u z u r u (TT) and philosopher Fons Elders (NL) for all the wisdom that you shared. Of course thanks also Performance Art Event (PAE) and all the sponsors.
ARTIST TALK
Above is a link to a talk in which I share about my early relationship to Rituals, the presence of Shamanism in my Art Practice and in my private Life. I emphasize the significant shift that took place in my work since 2016. Whereas before I was focused on Far-Away Spiritual Practices (Far-East, Latin America) I decided to turn and shift my orientation towards the region of the earth where I incarnated; Europe. Part of this shift was also the re-turn of my gaze towards the soil (and not the sky), the practical (and not the metaphysical) and generally speaking our involvement with nature (Permaculture) as a Healthy way of forwarding the very scared and disrupted Western Spirituality.
In this 15-minute talk I share about some works I did in 2012, such as Sjassa B. Lovejoy Practice, which was a Reiki Salon in a Gallery in Oslo. After that I worked with SWEAT (2014-15), which was a temazcal/Sweatlodge-inspired installation I crafted after coming back from a journey across Latin America. I talk briefly about My Wavy Sarong (2016) and Laya Papaya Public Bath (2013) before introducing the moment of stepping down from using 'the exotic' as a prime subject of my Spiritual/Artistic Research Practice. Although yes some argue correctly that European Paganism is Exoticized also 'cause lots of our view on it is simply a product of our fantasies, projections and romantic wanting. Nevertheless I'm deeply humbled by what has been happening to me since I've set my looks towards this part of the world and what-the-fuck took place here. Since the 'Switch' in 2016 I've started this blog you are now reading and furthermore created Love Space, Chapel of Wild Wisdom, Gratitude and Ecosexual Polyamory.
Halfway in the talk I introduce European Paganism as being a relationship to THE DARK. I see DARK as Shadows, Unexpressed Needs, Desires and basically all which got denied and pushed away and Taboo-ed in European History (like our relationship to the EARTH/SOIL/Agricultural Wisdom/Herbs/Astrology/Regional Autonomy). I share about how the day used to start with sunset, like the year at the onset of Winter. Samhain. Deep Ecology. DARKNESS = THE GERMINATING REBIRTH OF LIGHT/LIFE. Rest as the foundation of action.... inner-action and outer-action, as described in this interview.... and of course, I utter words like Ecosexuality and GRATITUDE too. And all of this in just 16:19 min.
CATCH MY DRIFT
Sit for a quarter of your calendrical hour and hear about the "death of the goddess", the enlightenment/patriarchy/European Homogenization. But also about the medium of WATER to bring healing, #Permaculture, Farming from the Future, Neo-Paganism, #Matriarchy, Goddess-Worship, REGENERATIVE SYSTEMS and the new relation to POWER.
Enjoy!
Your Peace Journalist
Ps. Read more on Regenerative Systems in the essay Beyond Sustainablity? - We are currently Living in the Century of Regeneration.
Official photos of the Artist Talk by Konstantin Guz.