Notes

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OUR WORLD is pivoting between technological complexity and a yearning for a simpler life. We have created societies that face daily paradoxes, and each individual finds her or himself somewhere on  

 the spectrum between:

• Internal equilibrium andconstant external sensory input

• Ecological sensitivity and rapacious economic exploitation

• The need to conserve and built in obsolescence

• Individual self expression and collective homogeneity

• Libertarianism and increasing state control

• Increasingly outdated and inappropriate work culture and a fulfilling life

 

 

Clearly, there is no simple answer or quick solution. Every sphere of human activity has reached a threshold or is undergoing a process of transition. But a lack of obvious direction and definition of approach can cause people to panic and rush the process towards a potentially far riskier situation. Instead, could we find a way to accommodate this growing complexity in our lives?

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“Things which appeared to be simple on/off or black/white choices in the past have been revealed to be gradients, or points on a broad spectrum. We are having to juggle the granularities of difference more and more in areas we nostalgically think were previously less complicated.
Yet this is in conflict with the systems and infrastructures that pervade the industrialised world which have been constructed (especially anything to do with computers) with binary as the default logic. Humans are in conflict with their own systems.” (Giles Lane).

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We tend to deal in absolutes, driven by our craving for certainty. From relationships (personal, local, national, international), life-style choices, work culture, politics, exo-politics and social inequities, to our impact on the environment, everything appears to have reached an ambiguous state, offering extreme opposites of direction. A seemingly endless flux or liminality now prevails which many find disconcerting.

Humanity faces a worldwide epidemic of stress and anxiety — a global mental health crisis has emerged, its causes deeply woven into our social operations, expectations and behaviours. Most people feel locked into something they never really agreed to, but were conditioned to accept from birth.

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Modern practice is often about precipitative action and short term expediency. The emphasis is on making ‘value for money’ and ‘financial common sense’. Yet it is clear that what makes financial sense rarely makes ecological or social sense. If monetary value was measured against ecological and social values, it doubtless would not make ‘financial sense’.

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If, as many do, we stop to ask ourselves the simple question: “This thing called LIFE; what are we actually in it for?” our initial response could be an uncomfortable one. If we were willing to look deeper, the ramifications could spell irrevocable change in our social matrices. We might develop nurturing and supportive conditions for all of humanity, and by extension other life forms we share this planet with, even if it didn’t make financial sense.

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So, we find ourselves in a global Limbo. Much is in flux, unformed and formless, ambiguous, undetermined, rupturing, dissipating, confusing. Normatives are foundering, radical displacement is affecting millions

Is there an alternative perception; a positive, hopeful place where we can step off into our rich and diverse world and fully embrace it? Live within it’s complexities and divergences without trying to fix them all the time? It is my belief that Liminal states offer powerful opportunities to review, reflect and be. Learning to be willing to stay within them and allow a play of ideas and feelings without being obsessed with outcomes, goals and objectives.

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For many artists, liminal states are a daily reality. It is a threshold often faced and crossed in order to reach a state conducive to creativity. I am currently devising a project to invite anyone who is interested, to explore the personal, social and political scope of liminal states, and how to use them to form and inform processes for creating communities that wish to live, love and work in harmony with themselves and nature.

 

It is my belief that liminal states offer powerful opportunities to review, reflect and be. Learning to be willing to stay within them and allow a play of ideas and feelings without being obsessed with outcomes, goals and objectives. For many artists, liminal states are a daily reality. It is a threshold often faced and crossed in order to reach a state conducive to creativity. I am currently devising a project to invite anyone who is interested, to explore the personal, social and political scope of liminal states, and how to use them to form and inform processes for creating communities that wish to live, love and work in harmony with themselves and nature.

 

LIMINAL is both a sound work, a song work, a project for exploring the potential of creating mindful and liminal spaces within dense urban  environments.