Felix Module

^{From the perspective of modern science and history the presence of shamanism and other natural magic practices seem to have almost vanished from the soils of Georgia. The artists Venus Jasper & William Speakman believe that in fact much of those charming powers still remain.  Fenix Module was a research installation organized by Theo Tegelears (TAAK) for Fest I Nova, Art Festival of Art-Villa Garikula, 2015.}
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Pavilion

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Jasper's and Speakman’s project FENIX MODULE consists of a temporary structure, an altar that will act as a centre for personal talks to open the heart and mind. Local residents, visitors, artists and Grzneuli are invited to enter the pavilion and share their experiences with magic, shamanism, healing powers, and superstition. The artists will also examine how these beliefs and magical practices can be traced back to known folk rituals and traditions, objects and attributes, and how they are present in everyday life or in family histories.


The project aims to gather the issues that people want to resolve in their personal and social lives and the hopes, fears and desires that surround them. In personal sessions, Venus Jasper collects the stories, anecdotes and dreams that people want to share with him. Prior to these sessions, the artist and the guests work with clay in order to strengthen the predictive qualities of the dialogues. These clay figures will remain in the pavilion that is set on fire at the ned of the research.

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Dialogues

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‍Many young visitors claimed that something like shamanism was not present in Georgia nor was it ever. Other people confirmed our research however - stories of the goddess Medea, and Mindia, a guardian in the old days, eating a ‘knowledge supplement’ symbolized by a snake.


The projects caretaker, Wade, could tell me about a book called The Shamanic Themes in Georgian Folktales by Michael Berman- which really needs to be consulted someday.

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In  most of the conversations we asked what someone's idea of a ‘shaman’ was and where on what experiences they had based the concept of a shaman in the first place. People all related shamanism to using nature to change the course of your life or to see the future somehow, perhaps to know your purpose in life. To see nature as a mirror of the self.


Some said that a shaman has the power to change things, others said shamans have the power to love unconditionally. The somewhat older attendants knew of shamanism through myth, legend and self practice - more younger participants knew of things like shamanism from pop-culture and film.
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One of the people we spoke with was Mamuka Japharidze, an artist from Tbilisi known for representing Georgia in the 48th Venice Biennale. According to him ‘spirits does live in these areas, in the wind, the trees - in nature’.
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