Haibun Road : Walking into the void

Yayoi Kusama’s You Who Are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies (2005), Phoenix Art Museum, 3rd Floor

Become one with eternity. Obliterate your personality. Our Earth is only one polka dot among the million stars in the cosmos.” Yayoi Kusama

The arrow pointed right.  Pam and I strolled into nothingness.  That quickly the walls, floor and ceiling disappeared.  I felt disoriented, floating in space, unable to see anyone or anything.  Quietly, tiny little lights twinkled on revealing the shadowed shapes of other people.  The walls, floor and ceiling remained a black void now filled with stars.  This small mirrored room stretched out into a shimmering  infinity.  Did those other people, like me, look around in wonder at the starry field emerging around me? I felt myself unmoored, as if on a tiny spacecraft adrift, listening for Major Tom. I touched Pam’s shoulder to reassure myself she was real, there next to me. A young boy ran past to his sister behind us, misjudged and smacked into the wall, falling to the floor. He hurt his wrist I think but otherwise seemed ok.  Note to self: “do not run when you can’t see where you’re going” or maybe it should be “be careful of running into forever“.  Still I envy the boy.  I wish I had his careless courage so I too could dash into infinity. The room plunged into darkness again. Quietly, tiny lights twinkled on. A magical space filled with minute stars.  Pam and I reached out groping for the wall, shuffling carefully over nothingness until we found the exit and left.

black nothingness, void
endless tiny stars emerge
a world in a room

photo & haibun by M. LaFreniere, all rights reserved

I tried to photograph what I saw. To be honest, the photograph failed but it does give a sense of the blackness and the bits of shifting colors.  Dylan Novak’s video gives a better hint of the feeling.  Honestly you have to go there to really experience it though.  It is immersive art.  Scarey. Beautiful. One of the most successful art installations I have ever experienced. I highly recommend going if you are ever in Phoenix … unless you have phobias –fear of darkness, heights or wide spaces are a few that would probably get triggered in here so avoid this exhibit if you have those.

youtube video by Dylan Novak

Haibun Road : a haibun weekly challenge
inspiration is a phrase from the quote: “A lifetime adrift…”

The Tuesday Platform: Cowardice and Courage
poetry challenge

Phoenix Art Museum
1625 N. Central Avenue
Phoenix, AZ
Admission: Adults: $23, Seniors $20, Students with ID $18, Ages 6-17 $14, Ages 5 and under free. Also you can check out a free cultural pass for 2 from the Tucson Public Library.  Someone will have to tell me if the Phoenix libraries have the cultural passes too as I don’t got here.
Voluntary donation days:  Wed 3-9pm, First Fri 6pm-10pm, Second Sun noon-5pm.
Sun: noon – 5pm
Mon: closed
Tue : 10am-5pm
Wed: 10am-9pm
Thu : 10am-5pm
Fri: 10am-5pm except First Friday is 10am-10pm
Sat:  10am-5pm

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