31 January 2010
RAINBOW HOBO MANIFESTO
To begin with no thing* but the radiant intention of beautifully becoming the journey........ as if in the chrysalis of the caterpillar. I propose nonstop performance/reflection and creation through the lottery of colors(white, blue, green, yellow, pink, red, black,purple) and their vibrations in the said 8 locations along the Art Karavan. The memory experience of each place and its members contained within the sacred works and actions of one color, the remnants and memoirs of such carried along in bundles as does the "HOBO" - perhaps even mailed ahead from each place before departing to the final destination in Delhi. To always travel light like the "HOBO". Moving humbly in the wake of the sun, the moon and whatever needs of each community entered - to becoming "HOBO" superhero(es). To rise with ecstatic might through each color into form, sound, word, movement and act, generously. To create in space without borders, a time without separation, to fuel the community of man and the friendship of the cosmos - a bold approach at those borders of the spirit of other like minded individuals to arrive at the new "US" - reinventing the mundane & the static by massaging minds softly. Using historic symbolism and the archetypes of the "On The Road" culture to open to a new language / conversation.
*mechanisms which if borrowed or rented at any of the locations could become important to the performance typewriters sewing machines record players mirrors bicycle rickshaw computers
Refer to the HOBO ETHICAL CODE(see below)
Such an ethical code was created by Tourist Union #63 during its 1889 National Hobo Convention in St. Louis Missouri., USA[7] This code was voted upon as a concrete set of laws to govern the Nation-wide Hobo Body; it reads this way: (parenthesis upgraded 2009)
Decide your own life, don't let another person run or rule you.
When in town, always respect the local law and officials, and try to be a gentleman(woman) at all times.
Don't take advantage of someone who is in a vulnerable situation, locals or other hobos. Always try to find work, even if temporary, and always seek out jobs nobody wants. By doing so you not only help a business along, but ensure employment should you return to that town again.
When no employment is available, make your own work by using your added talents at crafts. Do not allow yourself to become a stupid drunk (or artist) and set a bad example for locals' treatment of other hobos.
When jungling in town, respect handouts, do not wear them out, another hobo will be coming along who will need them as bad, if not worse than you.
Always respect nature, do not leave garbage where you are jungling. If in a community jungle, always pitch in and help.
Try to stay clean, and boil up wherever possible. When traveling, ride your train respectfully, take no personal chances, cause no problems with the operating crew or host railroad, act like an extra crew member.
Do not cause problems in a train yard, another hobo will be coming along who will need passage through that yard.
Do not allow other hobos(or anyone for that matter) to harm children, expose all abusers to authorities, they are the worst garbage to infest any society.
Help all runaway children, and try to induce them to return home(or to an NGO).
Help your fellow hobos whenever and wherever needed, you may need their help someday. If present at a hobo court and you have testimony, give it, whether for or against the accused, your voice counts!
About OM:
A maskmaster costumedesigner tentmaker chef dancer poetess painter photographer gymnast chessplaying friend of the people of all nations and animals of the world.
A tried and true collaborator and can without difficulty carry my own weight.
A tireless romantic who believes in the dawn. Carpe Diem!
I have lived in India before for 2 years (1995-1997) thus I am an experienced gypsy. Ole!
I have had and run galleries in NYC so understand the balance of energy among many artists the public and circumstances, at once.
I am a mercurial...am fluid and unafraid of wild frontiers, am invisible when I must be and present when need be.
I am rarely in a bad mood unless a performance demands such.
I have a strong desire to be in proximity to other creative folk on a rainbowed journey across the land that I know with my heart. Eureka!
I have some wisdom to impart.
Art-Karavan-Artists will do what ideally fits into the activities of this art-camp-travel event. So, a PERFORMANCE ART based event.
The proposed journey from station to station will be full of expressions, mainly songs and interactions with the locals. We imagine a decorated Indian Railway coach full of Art Karavan participants. A day’s Break Journey while travelling between two destinations can provide an additional opportunity to the Art Karavan troupe in a small town or city to perform with their displayable projections, masks, and other creative motifs in their hands alongwith musicals of different origins.
This Art, journeying few thousands miles, will eventually reinvigorate hundreds of artists living in this Himalayan Belt of Northern India. A large audience, both rural and urban, we beleive will appreciate the efforts of Karavan performers.
At the Camps ( in six states ) , the Art Karavan will be holding work-shops , and interactive programmes with the local artists, and possible artists from non-artists category. Art Karavan will engage themselves into those aesthetic endeavours which are in tune with the conceptual thought of ‘ peripherals’
For instance, Karavan Participants are likely to undertake the repairing/redesigning of some dilapidated wells, public toilets, women’s toilets ( which are non-existent in India ) and broken stair cases leading to rivulets. Planting of trees, and interactive discussion will be held on to improve living standards with some simpler approaches to life, which can be artistic at the same time.
The Karavan would be a drifting space where ideas can be tested/experimented and attitudes re-questioned, with eclectic mix of works, yet each occupying its own self defining space.
This would be a truly Global meeting point, new ways of seeing, new meaning and ways of being would perhaps emerge and take us into to multi-perspective realm
So, uninhibitedly the Karavan is posited to bring in all the available devices (genres ) to generate a meaning, say radicalize the very meaning that consumes, and liberates to ‘distribute the sensible’ at the same time. The genre of PERFORMANCE ART would perhaps get something to add…
The seemingly emphasized word PERFORMANCES in this event is not intended to impose some sort of heirarchy over other known genres, since we aim for an open-ended bold participation from Artist/non-Artists who think differently about Art and Life
So, the event would be a crucible for melting all the conventionally known way of doing art to produce what is unknown, beautiful and true to the needs of our times.
in that sense, it will be a performance art event
09 January 2010
4th - 16th January 2010
Under a sunflower’s tree,
we wept with clouds.
Under the shelter of soil and root,
we kissed your firmament.
This terrazzo
laid by the mason of heaven,
each color side by side
in a random mosaic of splendor.
Cloaked by this river, this shore,
This deafening roar of unborn tides
conjures magnificent beasts in its wake.
The symbol of all symbols herein resides.
It's keeper, a friend arranging driftwood idols.
While the heavens unleashed their gentle fury,
I hang between knarled tethered vines.
Between the fork in the world,
I sit with hummingbird eyes,
perched against the sky as deep blue as the ancient sea.
Children dive into stones that become mirrors of heaven.
They plunge. They glisten.
This unlimited fantasy called Time
with dimensions of creative sublime,
opens mind
to wander along
a path
near crystal streams of consciousness.
Here in the land of sound
music is born.
From fluttering butterfly wings.
From waterfalls in a storm.
From a songbird.
From screaming crickets.
From the washing women beating clothes clean
on sun bleached flats of stone.
This samba sway of any day...
Here on top of this diamante world,
our ascent transpires in stages from the gross to the subtle.
With closed eyes,
I adjust my latitude.
I smile from my belly to my heart
because in nature the news is everywhere!
That happy hope,
that the planet heals its inhabitants through Love.
Chapada Diamantina, Brazil 11/07