As Above, So Below

by azimvth, posted in Art Residency, Photography

As Above, So Below: Spiritual, Experimental, and Performance Arts Upon Ganges / Himalayas

“Traveller or pilgrim of the inner world,
Fortunate art thou to reach our brilliant air
Flaming with thought’s supreme finality.
O aspirant to the perfect way of life,
Here find it; rest from search and live at peace.”

At 365 Haridwar / AZIMVTH Ashram, a unique combination of time, space and consciousness has been used to create residency programmes. Three sets of time based events (observations and celebrations) have been merged. These are – Traditional Indian calender, Common calendar used world-wide, and, United Nations calendar. From this merged calendar, ideas that are unique and the most relevant to the space that 365 Haridwar occupies are used as cues to creativity.

The residency programme ‘As Above, So Below’ is unique as it combines the best elements of the three kinds of AZIMVTH residencies – physical, virtual, and special.

AZIMVTH - As Above So Below - creative analog photography - collage

(Image to the left: As a bird is flying above the Sun, another one is sitting down below. Clicked on 01 January 2019 at Haridwar, part of the album “First Sun of 2019”. Image to the right:  Birds scatter from the inverted-lotus shaped dome as an aeroplane flies high up, analog black & white photography, (c) Madlaina Fontana.)

AZIMVTH - As Above So Below - creative analog photography - 4This open-ended residency welcomes all kinds of artists, writers, creatives, and spiritualists, as individuals or in groups, to come together, study, introspect, and create something that they have been thinking to do for quite some time.

This AZIMVTH residency is a very liberal, flexible, and inclusive in all ways.

Each artist is supported and mentored individually.

Spiritual
Adding Do’s and Don’ts (Yama and Niyama) to revealed-rituals make them spiritual. For example, the Yoga of Sun Salutationes (Surya Namaskar) could be done in mornings facing East. If Sun Salutationes is practiced at any time of the day, or indeed night, facing any direction, it could be AZIMVTH - As Above So Below - creative analog photography - 2treated as a spiritual path. Much debate has been going on since millenia till about 500 B.C. on the topic what should be preferred – ritual or spiritual.

At AZIMVTH, this residency encourages an artist to make her own explorations & interpretations on art vs spiritual-art.

Experimental
This AZIMVTH residency lays a stronger emphasis on experimental aspects of the practice of an accepted artist.

Performance
Performance-art, as clearly distinct from performing-art, is an evolved discipline in the West. In the East, the art forms are more integrated in some ways. For example, ‘Natyashasra’ by Bharat Muni, is the oldest treatise on dramaturgy – it treats music and dance form as inter-related. For example, Using the holy Ganga-water for making a water-colour, while a ritual prayer is in progress, makes the visual-art of water colour as also performance-art.

There is no application deadline. Interested can be expressed at any time of the year by emailing to AZIMVTH at gmail dot com.