Sun Farm: Body, Self, Universe

My explorations of the relationship between body, space, and environment have been specific to the site of Sun Farm, a meta-disciplinary project and place in the Hudson Valley designed to create an awareness of where we are in space and time.

BODY, WORLD, AND MINDFULNESS

The relationship between the body and the outside environment is one of the most primordial experiences of “being in the world.” The connection between our body and the natural or man-made landscape creates a dialectic exchange between the inner self and the outer world as awareness of our existence: earth and sky provide a reference system of our physical presence in the world. This reference system is also expressed as a figure-ground relationship experienced at different levels in both natural and man-made places. Expanding from Christian Norberg-Schulz’s concept of figure-ground relationship where “any enclosure becomes manifest as a ‘figure’ in relation to the extended ground of the landscape,” ¹ the human body — as embodiment of the self — can metaphorically be viewed as a figure against the background of the cosmos. This concept can be transferred to an artistic context: in visual representational arts, the human body is a figure in the natural or man-made landscape background, or, in performing arts, the actor can be considered a figure in the stage set.

The basic perceptual experience of the self in the world is also explored in spiritual practices. The awareness of the body-earth-sky connection is expressed in rituals or prayer, mainly in Eastern traditions. The Buddhist walking meditation establishes a connection between the breath and the earth in the mindful movement of the body: an embodiment of the awareness of the relationship between the self and the environment.² Breathing, as voluntary action, is associated with stepping into the ground, unifying our inner and outer movements, from the respiratory system inside our body to the outside world, which is experienced by walking. The awareness of being here and now — the experience of the present — becomes realized by the mindful movement of walking coordinated with breath.

Early Indian science in the Vedic texts presents another example of the connectedness between the self and the cosmos: “The universe is viewed as three regions of earth, space, and sky which in the human being are mirrored in the physical body, the breath (prāṇa), and mind.” ³ In Hindu astronomy, time is measured according to the breath, defining a correspondence between the astronomical and existential definition of time: the time taken by a prāṇa is identified with the duration of the pronunciation of ten syllables, said to account for four seconds. The other time measurements, derived from the prāṇa, are the vinadi corresponding to six prāṇa, or twenty-four seconds, the nāḍi, equal to sixty vinadis or twenty-four minutes, and finally the day, comprised by sixty nāḍis.⁴ The inclusion of the breath, one of the most primordial expressions of human life, is a remarkable statement of how the human body becomes included in a continuum system within space and time, defined by the astronomical viewing of the sun as day-night cycle.

The Islamic ritual ṣalāt is also based on the connection between the inner self with the space of the outside environment. The ṣalāt is performed by Muslims several times during the day and includes repetitions of the rak’ah unit. Each rak’ah comprises physical movements performed to achieve the body positions of standing, bowing, prostrating, and sitting — as well as recitations of excerpts from the Qur’an. The daily times of the ṣalāt ritual are determined by the sun position, and the worshipper’s body is aligned to face the Qibla — the direction pointing to the Kaaba in Mecca.

SUN FARM: REMOTE VIEWS FROM LOCAL LANDSCAPE

These reflections on the relationship between the human body and the cosmos have been the core of my art practice in Sun Farm, which has developed over the past two decades in different explorations, ranging from “art in nature” interventions to a series of movement-based actions. Sun Farm...