Curator Hitomi and her assistant Marie made a map of several religious organizations' in a small area near the heart of Flushing so that, as a group, all of us artists participating in this forthcoming exhibition can visit and talk about/share our ideas and the projects with each religious leader.
It was very nice to meet up with the other artists and explain our individual ideas to churches and temples. We were able to comprehend what directions we can take and share input with each other while walking around central Flushing.
Due to our limited time, we randomly chose, and managed to visit 7 different religious institutions. (10am to 4pm)
Again, there are more than 300 religious organizations in the town of Flushing in Queens.
If you walk around the area, you can see large and small churches and temples almost every
15 seconds...
Since Sunday is the day most of the organizations have some sort of service, we visited each of the places several times to find the moment to meet and talk about our exhibition and projects.
All of the organizations were welcoming to us, and expressed interest in participating in this exhibition and despite the fact that they were quite busy, leaders listened to each of our projects carefully and asked questions.
There were many interesting experiences, but I would like to share one here.
We visited Dung Temple at the end of the religious visits today. When Jose Ruiz asked if the leader could come to QMA to give a service, he answered quietly but soon more passionately. Essentially, he is unable to do so. He said that they brought a Buddhist statue from Korea and put the soul into the statue. There is a specific ceremony and extended ritual for that. Therefore, they would not be able to come to museum and suddenly give a service. They cannot bring them all. If the monk talked about that story, it would be a lecture, not a service. I felt this was more sincere and true in their case. Some of religions are capable of giving services at any place and any time, but others require certain situations or locations.
Also, he explained that this is not just one time service. In their Buddhism, believers are doing so as everyday practice for themselves, by themselves. Monks are not able to give anything. Each practices to control him or herself from brain to soul (pointing around our stomach). It takes times. I guess the easiest explanation for us could be that it's like practicing YOGA. It takes awhile to do so. (Sorry for this slightly incorrect example.) Therefore, videotaping the monk's service and projects on screen at QMA also does not work.
When I was in High school, I had already seen such high-tech services in Tokyo. This could come down to philosophical questions rather than absolute right and wrong. My grandma was glad to listen to services and talk through a cassette tape since she was unable to walk to her temple and she did not want her monk to come to her home since she did not want to show herself in her elderly condition at home.
By the way, this temple's members are mostly elderly Koreans living around the NYC area. Every year it is becoming harder for the community members to visit.
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