“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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