MAgzAV #9 - What is Auroville - Impressions & Expressions

MAgzAV Art and Culture

Auroville

Is s u e 9 - Fe b r u a r y 2 0 1 5 magzav@auroville.org.in

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Aldo Sperber / Picturetank

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I m pre s s io n s & Expressions 28

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5 Editorial by Petra Mo 6 Manual Instruction Inside Out 22 Alien Sci-fi ChronotypesŠ Photofeature by Giorgio Molinari 34 Play Jokes 42 Movement Continuity Syn Thesis 56 Look Beyond

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Cover Painting by Dominique Jacques 3

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Edito

by Petra Mo

There is a saying: “an image is worth a thousand words” and at MAgzAV, having the arduous task of articulating the emerging culture of Auroville, we often feel that words fail to deliver. So we decided to opt for an issue made up entirely of graphics. As you may have figured by now, it is themed “What is Auroville: Impressions & Expressions.”

Since one of my greatest passions in life is writing, I was happy to be asked, at least, to write this editorial, convinced as I am that sometimes it is a word that can conjure up a thousand images. Take, for example, the word Utopia. It gallops into the mind accompanied by Dystopia, and yes, Auroville is far from perfect. But then again, that depends on the meaning you assign to the word perfect, does it not?

In March 2014, Aurovilian Dharmesh Vikramsinh Jadeja installed an art work, “Sleeping Beauty,” on the Town Hall plaza. It consisted of a bier that held a shape resembling a body which was covered by a cloth with the Auroville Charter written on it. This installation was quickly taken away, removed, censored. As if we, the residents, could not be left to make up our own minds about its meaning.

More recently Karthik Jayaraman, an open source expert and Indian P2P (peer-to-peer) Foundation ambassador, gave a talk here. Entitled “Decentralization and Humanity’s future – its impact on spirituality, society and commerce,” it had much to do with the issue of centralization vs. individual freedom. To some degree I felt it summed up the impasse that we seem to be at, as in the world so also in Auroville. But at least the removal of the sleeping (not dead) beauty sparked a debate.

Would it help us to forget about a perfected sculpture called “Utopia” and to think instead of Auroville as a living, interactive installation, a work in progress? An image comes to mind. Not of a melting pot but of a salad bowl. Golden, it contains us all, each unique and set apart and yet a part of something larger. I think that only by being allowed to be who we are, whether a lettuce leaf or even a piece of bacon, may we discover who we truly are and the divine dressing that flows inside us.

In this issue we have worked hard to let you do the work, believing that the most interesting thing about an image is not what it is meant to represent but how the viewer responds to it. And the responses may themselves say something about our culture, so please give us yours!

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Manual Instruction

Aldo Sperber / Picturetank

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Manual Instruction

Aldo Sperber / Picturetank

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Manual Instruction

V.Neeharika

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Inside Out

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Inside Out

Vij

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lak

shm

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Giorgio Molinari

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Inside In andOut out

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AIKiYAM SCHOOL

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Alien Sci-Fi

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Alien Sci-Fi

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Alien Sci-Fi

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ChronotypesŠ Whereas a common characteristic of photography (of living beings) is to fix on the film an instant of a space-time continuum, most often reproducing on the two dimensional surface an image that one thinks is close to reality and that deeply stimulates those unconscious processes of reconstruction by similitude that constitute the base itself of human visual perception, the ChronotypesŠ fix on the film a duration of sizeable importance, appreciably around a handful of seconds and a space that is trapped within the two dimensions, just because it loses

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by Giorgio Molinari that perspective reference that is usually implicit to what is intended for photography. The reduction of a three-dimensional subject on a plane that crosses it in a perceivable time, though remaining apparently still, I believe is the most adherent representation of that unknowable reality of which we are an inseparable part and, although it may seem surprising, in this case the result keeps complying with reality (as we know it), outside of any subsequent interpretative intervention.

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Play Jokes

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Play Jokes

A.Aarthi

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Play Jokes

Mark Tennant

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AIKiYAM SCHOOL

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Sivashakti

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Movement Continuity

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Movement Continuity

C.Ragani

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Syn Thesis

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Syn Thesis

A.Rajalakshmi

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Syn Thesis

Hariharan

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Look Beyond

S.Harini 57

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“Water Being” by Ireno Guerci

Ireno Guerci

Giorgio Molinari

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Look Beyond

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Additional credits Logos: Aurrimà (What is Auroville), Kenzo Lauriat (Lively Up Your Earth), Vimal Bhojraj / Auroville Collaborative (Marathon), Marco Feira (Art Service), Dominique P. & Laure (SAVI) Photos/montages: Annemarie (Sleeping Beauty), Marco Saroldi (Sign Collages), Marco Feira (Garden steps, Stacked Bowls, Solar Bowl), David Trattnig (Icon Steps), Mirjam Sevcnikar (No Entry), Srikanth Kolari (Eco Art Installation), Nina Sengupta (Alien Flower, Confused???, Holy Wall), Lalie Sorbet (Insect), Tom Mo (Kolam Error, Learning Tree, Light Ears), Char Evans (Time Machine), Unknown (Watsu), Lewine Laurence (Earth Institute Pink Room), Graziella Molinari (Giorgio Molinari) Illustrations: Gayatri Sivakumar (Auroville at a glance), Johnny (Capsule), Wazo (L’Entry), Lele (In the laboratory of human evolution, Work Play), Pierre Legrand (Directions, Economy), Gébé (L’An 01), Roger Anger (Mushroom houses), Supermrin (Talks by Nirodbaran) Paintings: Paolo Tommasi (MM Garden), Rathna (Yellow Eye), Gauri Meneghetti (Ugh!) 62

Book covers: Find them, check them out!

MAgzAV is an occasional publication and this issue was made possible with the conceptual and editorial support of Marco S. and Marco F., Dominique, Mariana, Renu, Marie, Nina, Petra, Krishna, Gordon, Andrea and Jill. We thank our regular financial contributors Aryadeep, Christoph, Krishna, Miniature, Nina and Renu and everybody who purchased an issue or contributed towards one.

COLLABORATE

We are always looking for content and contributors.

Contact us on magzav@auroville.org.in or 0413-2623187 www.magzav.wordpress.com http://aurovilleartservice.org/magzav/

DONATE

You can donate to help MAgzAV continue to run.

If you are in Auroville, please transfer to FS # 251282. You may also set up a monthly contribution!

Otherwise, please use the following donation gateway: www.auroville. com/donations/ Credit cards are accepted. PLEASE MAKE SURE TO SPECIFY “Auroville Art Service – MAgzAV” in the ‘Specific Auroville projects’ field AND TO SEND US AN E-MAIL AFTER (magzav@ auroville.org.in) so that we can claim the donation.

Thank you!

We are grateful to the following sources of images: www.theydrawandtravel.com, http://wanderbay.blogspot.in, www. aurovilleradio.org/, www.ecoartinstallation.org, www.charevansart.com, http://jessicamudditt.com, www.caleidoscope.in, https://mrinaliniaggarwal. wordpress.com/2013/04/02/initially-at-auroville, www.aurovillepermaculture. com, ZAP Magazine, Revue d’Auroville, AV Archives.

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