Meet me at the Unisphere

Final - 3 Extra

2008-10-14T09:50:00.000-07:00

So Queens Teens did wonderful presentation talking about what each religion is and about learning from their children's drawing and conversation. In the end, they were satisfied with this performance and very tired. Great Job you all!

Thank you so much for your support to all of the staff as well as each religious organization's parents.

Thank you Laura!

Final - 2 More Photos

2008-10-14T09:48:00.001-07:00

Please check "Final" first.

Final

2008-10-14T09:12:00.000-07:00

Today is October 14th. The day before leaving for New Orleans again for installing "Social Dress New Orleans" for Prospect .1 Exhibiiton. It's been while since we had opening, "Performance Day" for this project at Queens Museum. (May 18th, 2008) I looked through images and realized last time just before the opening, I also had to visit New Orleans. Pretty busy schedule past year.

Anyhow, I wanted to upload more photos especially at the opening. I have many things I like to describe as the record, but for now, I would like to upload images as many as possible so that you could see how the final phase of this project, "Performance Day" worked out.

So, Teens, please let me know if there are any issues on these pictures!

5/15/08 - Writing with Eric

2008-05-17T09:26:00.000-07:00

Thursday was busy day, but we found time to sit down and talked about our experience with Jewish children.

I like to talk about this more, but I need to leave for Hindu Temple to meet with children.

TBC...

5/15/08 - Last Building Session

2008-05-17T08:33:00.000-07:00

Thursday afternoon, I arrived LaGuardia Airport from New Orleans for my business trip.
Today was officially final last last day of building 5 religious booths.

We focused on Jewish temple, Hindu Temple and Muslim mosque.
I was so glad so many Teens came to work. 10 students worked on three booths,
and we finished 96%.

Saturday, Tessa, one of Teens will come finish 6% left of Hindu temple.
Also, Lily will come with me to meet Hindu Temple children at 2:30pm.

Although I have been totally exhausted, kept telling this to educator
Laura (laugh), Teens energy and great creativity embraced a lot.

Oh, Eric and I sat down worked on writing of what we learned from Jewish Temple visit the other weekend. I was curious what he learned from such crazy screaming kids never ever being quiet while some of children excitingly pointing out and explaining many things session.

As he was quiet and listened to them, he learned a lot.
I like to talk about this more later by separated blog.

5/08/08 - Building Session Images

2008-05-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

Content will come later. Just images.

5/6/08 Temple Gates Meeting/ Learning Session

2008-05-04T21:15:00.000-07:00

Eric, one of Teens from the Queens Museum after School program, came to Temple Gates this evening. Unfortunately, he misunderstood when I said to meet at 7 o'clock and came at 7 AM instead of 7PM. So he went to the museum quite early this morning. Then, this evening, he went to the wrong synagogue! I was terribly sorry about that. Quite honestly, I was like him when I was young, so, I totally understand that. However, it did pose a problem as he was having to run to the temple and we were told we had only 15 minutes to do the session! Oops! But actually it went super well, and ended up being more like a 30-minute session.

The Jewish temple's youth program, made up of kids around 10-12 years old, is absolutely active. Boys and girls are all together playing dodge ball and other games in a small concrete underground space. Screaming, screaming and screaming to me. I have a bit of a hearing problem, and my ear was totally malfunctioning.

Eric was just quiet.

We started the session, and I just gave him the floor and started videotaping them.
Half of boys just played around, joking so loudly. Two girls and one or two boys were very excitingly answering all of what they knew about their religion by pointing out the drawings. It is interesting. Some of the drawings seem like pretty secret symbols to me. But, other children were able to point out and comprehended what they were even though that was by their friends.

At the Muslim center, the educator explained how much each age group of children understands their own religion. Similarly to what she told me about the Muslim children, I guess Jewish children do not know so many alters, artifacts, or parts of objects. Since Eric was not interested in such things or else did not have the chance to ask them what each of them means, they did not discuss such artifacts so much. I was almost wanted to ask why and what it means for each of them out of my own curiosity. However, this time, I had set up this system so that I am not doing the questioning or answering, but am simply observing what is happening.

These are just my thoughts, however, I remembered that when I was little, I wrote out Buddhist Sutras without understanding them. I felt "cool" about it. Japanese Kanji characters were pretty difficult, therefore I felt cool and very adult-like. Anyhow, I think in most cases, we learn one religion in that way, without doubting or thinking about what's behind it until we are much older. Then maybe we make a conscious decision about it. My grandma sometimes told me later that you did not have to understand the sutras fully, but that you should just chant them. That was all you needed to go to heaven.

Probably that would be fine, and certainly much easier. But, then, we live in contemporary society where there is always a drive to figure out why we do what we do. In that case, unquestioned belief is difficult. In a good way, I think that is the beginning of the really interesting or insightful religious thought and philosophy. The Muslim center educator said that is probably around the beginning of Junior High when kids reach that level of thought about religion, but it is still tough.

Without knowing everything about it, we probably usually belong to some group - that much is not just unique to religion.

5/3/08 - Building Session - Get Excited!

2008-05-04T21:03:00.000-07:00

We are running out of time!!!!
Laura, the education staff, and I did not want to push or rush the Teens group.

But, we have no time left!
Okay, I am pretty tired by the end of day, but I got myself energized and decided to say this to the Teens:

In the reality of Art as a Profession, most of the artists in any media do not have time. It's actually amazingly similar to what most students are dealing with at High School. For some reason, always we have less time than we ideally want. Also, if you are able to establish yourself in the art profession, you might be able to make enough money to hire assistant staff. Then you are able to focus on the production while staff looks for materials, prepares certain materials, and sometimes manages your other administrative or menial tasks.

So, Laura and I will be your assistants. You will focus on reading the drawings, understanding what you do understand and how, as well as what you did not understand and why. Then you will sketch the design of the booth. Ask for what you need as far as materials so that we can prepare them for you and you just keep making the works. Meanwhile I will let you know how much time we have left and where you are supposed to be.

Since I am a bit on the slow side pace-wise, I felt it was pretty hectic, but it turned out not to be so quick for the New York Teens. Laura later told me they enjoyed it a lot. Some students expressed that was fun in their emails. We actually took pictures each other. Some of the shots were by the Teens.

Grey fabric will be used for the Muslim mosque booth.
Reddish brown fabric is for the Hindu Temple.
But, shhhhh, the Teens have not heard which religions are which, and they won't know this until they meet the children at their organization.

4/20/08 - Meeting Session at Sikh Center

2008-04-22T06:53:00.000-07:00

This Sunday, at Noon, Susan and Daniela from the Queens Teens program came to the Sikh center for our meeting session. They were excited to learn about the religion and be able to ask questions they had from studying the kids' drawings when they did not know which religion they were encountering.

First we greeted Mr. Singh at the prayer room and talked about today's schedule. He offered us food and drink from the hall downstairs. He kept telling us about the food. In Sikhism, he said, everybody equally can receive free food and that is unique to Sikhism. I think sharing food must be a very important mission for their religion.

Then, we went to downstairs to share in the food. Daniela happened to see a classmate of hers there. They were very surprised to see each other. Well, I guess it does make sense. Unless they talked about religion to each other, they might never know what religion each believes in. Clothing between Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism and even Muslim could possibly be similar.

They liked their food a lot. I like the fried vegetable one. It's kind of like Japanese tempura.

We then went upstairs to meet with the children.

The children were very quiet. They made a large circle and mainly three or four children talked a lot as well as two of the educators. Daniela started from the Sword drawings because we received more than three sword drawings. In one sense, because kids like guns and swords, they tend to draw them. However, in this case, that was NOT correct. I should be very accurate but let me summarize a bit.

They talked about long history of hostilities between Muslims and both Hindus and Sikhs in India, and how the Sikhs defended themselves. To defend themselves, they had to fight against the other group, and they had to insist upon their religious beliefs even in the face of violence, leading to a history of martyrdom. They showed us their religious flag. It has a mark with two swords crossing and the edge of the flag is also like a sword. Female educator showed us a very beautiful, but looks like dangerous knife-like dagger called a kirpan. My wife later wondered how she could travel by airplane with the kirpan. It was originally from the idea of self defense, but now it is part of symbol and parts of items they are supposed to wear to remind them to be pious and defend, not hurt, others.

They also explained that there are other symbolic objects the have to wear. They have to wear a comb, reminding them to keep their hair clean and combed, and they have special underwear that they make themselves. They cannot cut their hair, as it is a symbol of their spirituality, and all men as well as some women wear it tied up in a turban. Then there is the steel bracelet, the kara, that they wear on the wrist of their dominant hand to remind them not to use their hand in violence or anger. We were all amazed and appreciate the meaning of Kara.

One of educators asked about the Teens' drawings for the booth. There was an area with creature-like figures and weaving green ivy. She said we do not have such things in our religion. It was not easy for her to understand why it happened, but the Teens explained that it was based on what they thought they understood from the children's drawings but went a bit beyond the actual imagery of the drawings as they tried to express what they thought the drawings referred to.

It could be a bit cliché, and something to do with Artists' imagination, but I felt this is something we all, artists or not, often do in our minds and it might be the beginning of misunderstandings.

Toward the end of the learning session, one of girls got excited about topic of marriage. The girl said her friend had to do an arranged marriage. It was a pretty tough dispute. One of the educators and another girl had different interpretations of the religion on this point, and their views seemed based on their generations. The one teacher felt that it was disrespectful and not improper for the children to disregard their parents' choice regarding arranged marriage while the younger girl seemed to feel that arranged marriage was an old custom that was no longer appropriate, as long as the parent and child had come to an agreement. On the brochure I received from the center, it says arrange marriage is NOT religious, but rather a cultural tradition. After the session was over, another girl started talking very excitedly about this issue. Since the Teens this time were both female, it seems they were easy to talk to about this issue, and the group got excited about the topic. From American cultural aspect, this arranged marriage idea must seem outrageous. But in Japan it even still exists, though not as commonly any more, and not because of any religious connections. I just thought in Sikhism, it must be difficult to distinguish whether this is a religious or cultural tradition.

I feel as though I was overwhelmed with information at this session, however. At some point soon, I would like to listen to the videotape again to understand what they spoke of more accurately.

4/19/08 - Drawing Session at Hindu Temple

2008-04-19T23:17:00.000-07:00

Spring is the best season for everybody, including religious organizations!
So many activities are happening every weekend, and even on weekdays.

Although the Hindu Temple welcomed this idea of the project, it took a while
to find the time to do the drawing session.

This Hindu Temple is the biggest and oldest temple in North America,
according to their explanation. It is huge! They are under expansion/construction.
Mr. GP, their PR person whom I mentioned before, was delighted to explain all the details.
Every time I am also excited to see the newly completed parts of the building.

Okay, so finally we found time to do the drawing session.
They have a Sunday elementary School, and the educators were
very nice and serious about what this project is about.

This time, I got a better idea of how to explain the drawing process to the children. I asked the children to explore their temple first, and come back to another quiet place. I asked them to close their eyes and imagine what they saw, learned, experienced or thought about their religion or religions.

Many children raised their hands to get ready.
It was really fun! They were amazingly enthusiastic.
They individually went into their drawings further and further.
I guess they got used to seeing so many objects and letters. Although we were in a classroom-like place that did not have much in the way of Hindu imagery, many were drawing Ganesha (an elephant-like god) and a beautifully dressed woman or vibrant greenery.

At the Muslim center, many children chose crayons and thick, bold colors.
Here at the Hindu temple, many used pencil colors. In the beginning, educators were concerned about making a mess on the carpet, so maybe because of that the kids chose lighter materials, or perhaps it is simply their sort of "trend." The boys and girls sort of worked separately although there were only a couple boys there this time, so they did work a bit with some girls.
In the Sikh temple, boys and girls seem to have to maintain a certain distance. In this Hindu temple, it does not seem strict. However, I remembered when I visited another Hindu temple near there, the girls told me boys are not allowed in their dance classes or lessones. I am just saying that there was a subtle difference in the type of distance between boys and girls. In Sikhism, you have to sit down in the prayer room separately. In this Hindu temple, everyone seems to be roughly all together.

4/10/08 - Building Session (Kneeling or Standing?)

2008-04-11T08:29:00.000-07:00

This evening was, I guess, the first day of building after the high-school students began analyzing the children's drawings and listed out what they saw. I would like to share their commentary sheets but I am still in the process of catching up on everything day-by-day as a part-time installer and full-time artist. Please wait, or you can come check out the work-in-progress at the exhibition in the Queens Museum of Art.

6 Teens came this time - that made me so glad. They have extremely busy schedules, almost like top-notch business people, so coming to the museum three times a week is too much. Almost all of them looked ready to nap when they arrived. I felt sorry, but we went to my exhibition space to check out the booth they will be decorating.

It is very tiny.
Only one person fits inside, but that is plenty of space.

We then discussed what they want to draw.
Fairly quickly, the subject settled on one portrait each of a man and a woman, based on the children's drawings as well as the symbol of the religion and calligraphy that the children had included.

One thing I got interested in was:

Hannah asked me if the woman, who would be kneeling down and praying, should be
much larger than usual size or not because the man, who would be holding a sword, will be standing and thus much bigger than the woman. She does not want to draw the woman smaller than the man, feeling that that would make her subordinate. She wondered if she should draw the woman standing instead. I felt that her description and question accurately indicated a female's feelings about that matter.

So, I said I was unable to answer that for her, but that she herself just now answered
what she thought and that is a great and understandable reasoning, so she should consider how important that is to her in making her decision.

I cannot explain this moment as precisely as I wish I could. But, it was very curious.

In the end, she and her classmates drew a slightly larger woman kneeling while other student drew a man holding a sword.

4/7/08 - Drawing Session

2008-04-07T13:00:00.000-07:00

Today, I visited the Muslim center of NY in Flushing. The elementary school principle Mrs. Farooqi nicely discussed my project with their educators and found time for it. I went to the class room and about 20 or so students waited for me. Their smiles never made me nervous. So amazing. I am usually becoming quite nervous in front of people.

I explained the overall exhibition concept and the reasoning behind it and then, asked them to

"Please close your eyes and imagine what you feel about your religion, think about it or what experience you had before with or without friends..."

I also closed my eyes to think about it together. Then letting them remember what they saw in their minds I asked them to draw it.

Amazingly, they were quite excited. I am glad.
The girls and boys both asked if they could worktogether with friends.

"Yes!" I answered.

"Yaay!"

Most of girls went to the far back of the room on the floor. The floor was carpeted with a nice pattern. The boys stayed on the table to work together first, and then some spread out.

I asked the teacher how old they are when they generally understand the concept of their religion and apply it more to their daily life. She thinks mostly around junior high level but that before that, students will comprehend one-by-one literal knowledge. The practice of the religion, itself, will begin after 10th grade. (I did not write it down, so I might not be 1oo% accurate in terms of what she told me, though.)

Then, I felt maybe they understand more unconsciously. She said it is possible, but then
probably they cannot express it themselves well. I guess that may be so.

When I asked what they drew and why, most of children answered me with:

"Peace"

I was so glad that is how I received from their drawings. Very peaceful drawings.

I cannot wait to share them with Teens and viewers at the Queens Museum of Art.

------------------

This project is an on-going collaboration with multiple religious organizations, being displayed at the Queens Museum of Art as part of their new exhibition: "This Case of Conscience”: Spiritual Flushing and the Remonstrance. It will concluded with a performance by the Teens on May 18, 2008.

4/3/08 - Second Building Session

2008-04-07T12:49:00.000-07:00

A couple more high school students joined this project, so we started over the explanation from zero. Also we discussed how we would like to handle the process regarding their concerns from the last building session.

The more I work with the Teens (The name of the QMA program), the more I understand them closely. So, I think I got the point as to how quickly and slowly I should work with them to go through the process, step by step, without confusing each other.

We decided to analyze half the drawings knowing what religious groups they came from and half without knowing, but utilizing our analytical skills and imagination. Due to religious organizations' schedules, we might not be able to visit religious sites to meet and talk to the children and representatives, although we are trying to arrange this. So, as much as possible, we are listing what we get and how we think we could build their booth and get ready for a meeting while slowly start building the booths.

We went down to the exhibition space, from the education department studio. We pinned up all the drawings we received so far and discuss about what we think about these works and their meanings.

The Teens are quite observant and serious. They found common colors and certain symbol and letters that appeared in several drawings. They were not sure about the religion. I thought that was quite accurate because they addressed that it seemed Buddhist or Muslim, but they did not feel like either was quite correct. At this moment, I am going to share this blog with students. So, I would not like to mention the exact religion's name here. But, soon, they will meet the children at the temple (Sunday, 4/20).

Meanwhile, we keep building.

4/4/08 - Revised Project Detail

2008-04-04T05:46:00.000-07:00

Takashi Horisaki
"Meet Me at the Unisphere," 2008

Children’s Drawings, Presentation Booth structures, Internet-based Artist Blog, High-School students’ sketches, materials, and work-in-progress

An on-going project culminating in a performance during the opening of “This Case of Conscience: Spiritual Flushing and the Remonstrance” on Sunday, May 18, 2008

Meet Me at the Unisphere is a performance-based community-interactive investigation of the way in which we communicate about our religions. The documentation and artistic creations you see here at the Queens Museum of Art are being added to over the course of the exhibition until the final performance on May 18, 2008.

Visiting a variety of religious institutions in Flushing and co-operating with children’s groups at the institutions, the artist asked the children who attend these programs to draw pictures of what they think about when they think about their religion. Asking them not to limit themselves to symbols or even objects, he has received the colorful variety of responses showcased in this display. As they are received, these drawings are separated out by religion and passed on to a group of high-school students without specific indication of which religion they belong to.

The High-school students study the drawings, begin making plans for booths intended to represent the children’s ideas of their religions, and list questions about elements of the drawings that intrigue them. As these high-school students are completing the construction of these booths, they will meet with some of the children who drew pictures for the project, as well as representatives of the various religions to learn more about the religions and ask the questions they have been compiling while constructing. For the final presentation on May 18th, the booths constructed by the high-school students will be placed outside, facing the Unisphere. Based on the information the students have gathered from the children and other representatives of the religions, they will then present their experiences from learning about these various religions to Museum visitors.

The focus of this work is on the process of learning about each other’s religions, as well as the give-and-take inherent to a community-interactive performance work, thus the process is also documented by the artist’s blog at www.unisphereqma.blogspot.com, viewable on the computer station included in this display. Additionally, all children’s drawings collected for this project go on display as they are received, along with documentation of the booth construction as a work-in-progress.

Please compare to the original project detail to see how this project has been progressing. Through interaction with community members, children, teens, museum, this project has been evolving. Check older blogs to see how it has been changed and edited.

4/1/08 - Thought after meeting with High school students

2008-04-01T22:42:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend while I de-installed the piece from my previous show, I have been thinking about last Thursday's meeting with the High school students.

When I visited Hindu temple last Saturday for a meeting with educators about the drawing sessions, I talked about this.

I guess it would be fine one way or the other. That is my current feeling. However, I am would like to hear students give some of their own feedback before receiving instruction. If they just do whatever they are asked, although they may be more correct, that is not really showing how one learns or thinks, and that is not what I wanted to do with them.

Then, I thought it might be more interesting and constructive if students discuss and list up what they are not sure about with the drawings and meet the young artists (children) to ask them those question and then talk further about the drawings and their religions.

Due to the program's schedule, it could be just after they started building or, in a few cases, before, though. I called Laura, the education dept. coordinator at QMA. She was fine and a bit relieved since she got the feeling and feedback from the students about their confusion after the last session. Also, she said they also learn and are trained how to critique and analyze other artwork through their program, so this relates to what they generally do in this program. We thought this might be interesting opportunity, then.

I myself learn and am learning so much about how I can read kids' drawings and for some reason I found that the same eye can be applied to contemporary artwork, too.

Just before this phone conversation, I was able to get in touch with an educator at the Muslim Center in NYC and confirmed the date of the drawing session at the mosque next week.

This Thursday, the High School students and I will closely look at the drawings to try and read further information from them and list up questions, while I will finish up the frames of the pavilions.

Now this project seems to be moving forward a lot.
We'll see how the High School students (teens) work on this.
Exciting!

3/28/08 - First Building Session

2008-03-27T22:23:00.000-07:00

After visiting Materials for the Arts to get as many possible construction materials as possible for this project, I ran to the Queens museum.

Laura, the educator at the QMA, very nicely organized and called up the teens (High school students who are participating in an after-school program there), so 7 students showed up today. Normally they have sessions on Wednesday after school. I appreciate Laura's quick coordination.

Thanks a lot Laura!

Although it was very short notice, they very nicely came and had an active discussion.

One of the very interesting points in their observations of the drawings were: they did not feel that drawings were so much about the religions. Rather it was about the culture, as though we looked at some sort of traveling guide. Temple-like buildings and people wearing turbans and particular clothing... The teens asked, "Was it Hinduism or Islam that this drawing came from?" as they pointed out the temple image and person wearing a turban.

In my mind, though, I felt that it had something to do with the young children's level of religous enlightenment. Even if they have been in the religion, that does not mean that when they express themselves regarding religion, that it will be about the spirituality and other such adult concepts. Not only does their level of drawing ability limit them, but also their level of experience of their religion might also affect the drawings.

By the way, Drawings at Jewish temple, one boy drew large Jacob's star and in the center he drew Mt. Masada based on his recent experience of trip to Israel.
He kept talking about food chain stores previously and mentioned the mountain, but maybe that was something for him. He was much older around 12. I am sure it defiantly reflects on their experience, but probably subtle. Without knowing the drawing process, we never know why Mt. Masada and what the brown color in the center of the star is for High School students. This is the interesting element, though.

Also, the High School students have gained a notion of what each religion is through their schooling and experience. So, they know what they are "supposed" to do for the building. But when they look for such resources from the drawings and cannot easily see them, they are confused. I just realized I have to explain we are not exactly building their replica of the temple.
They are building image of the temple based on the drawings.

That temple (Sikhism) particularly does not have so much items that could be great icon for the religion at the pray room. That might also be affected to the drawings.

Then, one of students strongly addressed concern:

"I do not want to build a religious organization's pavilion without fully knowing the religion, because I do not want people from the religion to get offended by our pavilion mis-representing them."

That reminds me of the words from the instructor at the Jewish temple's youth program. She told the kids to draw something that represents their religion well. She meant to encourage the children, but it is a bit different from the concept of the project.

Well, I like to let children and young students express what they see, feel and think. So, I tried to protect the children at religious organizations, encouraging them to do just what they wanted as a drawing. One boy even started drawing the world trade center and another girl complained to him about it since she thought that it had nothing to do with their religion. I smiled and let him do what he wanted.

I still feel that that must have something to do with his own expression, whether or not he truly got what the goal of the project is. Am I afraid such drawings lead in different directions, away from my own original idea? I do not think so. It takes time to find out what exactly it may means, but I still have faith that they all have some meaning, even beyond the level of consciousness.

Anyhow, back to teens, they were not sure if they were fine with continuing before further research. They thought they should go visit the religious leaders or at least go research it on the Internet....

After coming back to home and relaxing (now), I got some directions.

My filmmaker Rishi, actually gave me wonderful input right after the session.

He told me that in US High Schools, there are many many assignments, and each most likely has specific guidelines. Also, the teens are very smart and can see some worst case scenario before it happens so they want to address the potential issues beforehand....or something like that.

I thought that their point about the drawings perhaps addressing not so much religion as culture was very good. But, therefore they "cannot" build the pavilions because they worry that they get it wrong? I thought that, itself, is wrong.

Children at the religious organizations expressed their religion in their own way. That is not misrepresenting their religion. That is what the religious experience is for them. Then, I would just like the teens to explore via their own imagination from the childrens' drawings. It is not misrepresenting the religion, and should not offend others: it is simply based on the childrens' drawings.

Then, most importantly, they will be going back to religious sites and talking to the kids, and hopefully the religious leaders as well. That point becomes more critical. That part of the project is not just based on your own concept of the religion, but is trying to represent the religion. Teens can find out about such unclear parts of the childrens' drawings by themselves from the "real" first-hand resource.

They can even have the opportunity to talk about it in their version of the pavilion, in front of the kids' drawings.

This final step finally completes the project and process. It will never offend viewers since they will not be given the chance to experience the pavilions without an explanation that they were based off of the childrens' drawings (which will be on display), but that the teens later learned that x, y, and z were true of this religion. Thus the teens are not purposefully doing anything misleading or making fun of the religion.

Rish said, "The next few coming sessions for building together with the teens will require some patience from both you and them, but we need it."

That is true about most art-making processes as well. You never know what's going to be completed until you are finishing up. Yes, you can imagine how it might turn out, but it will never ever be the same as you had imagined.

(Well, I am not that far along in my career as an artist, though, and can't claim to have a ton of experience to draw from...In fact, I was totally focusing on the discussion with the High School
teens and forgot to take some pictures! No pictures today.)

3/26/08 - Things are constantly evolving

2008-03-25T22:06:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned the beginning of this blog in February, Art projects like this - in which the piece basically consists of establishing a system and organization, then following it through production - are constantly changing as though the project itself is a living being.

The very first proposal involved more people from many different places. I was thinking about calling for children artists from all over the five boroughs. However, after visiting so many times and so many religious organizations I am more aware of their characteristics. Religious places are highly private, although that does not mean they avoid outsiders; rather welcoming.

So, bringing a bunch of kids from everywhere might disturb their practices. I noticed that my initial plan probably came from my idea of what religious spots are like from my experiences in Japan. Japanese temples are pretty much tourist spots. So, anonymous people come in and out on a daily basis. We never felt anything odd.

But, here at least in Flushing, Queens, the religious organizations are very actively engaging with their believers, also holding many youth group activities such as dance, sports, music, etc. beyond their service.

I paid attention to their youth programs. This was also one of the good suggestions from the exhibition curator, Hitomi. While visiting and understanding each religious organization, I talked to each youth program/school director. This process required a good one month to meet due to their busy schedule and other elements.

After experiencing with the children, I was interested in the honesty of their voices and interactions with me as they worked on their drawings. That gave me a new idea.

What if the High School students who are going to build small pavilions about each religious site, will meet the children who drew about their religion instead of with religious leaders?

And, instead of learning the ABCs of each religion, why don't I let them talk to each other based on the children's drawing?

As the high school students are developing ideas through the building sessions, they will have more and more questions about and interest in each religion. Then, having them talk to much younger children might give us another idea, revealing a different facet of each religion in the end.

Today, I briefly discussed about some logistics with the curator, Hitomi Iwasaki, at Queens Museum. She questioned me about this process.

"Are you thinking about letting High School students meet the children who drew the pictures before the students finish building pavilions or after?"

This changes the effect and meaning of the project, I guess. As this project is intense schedule-wise, I might have to do it before the pavilions are done.

For instance, the Temple Gates (Jewish) have large holidays towards the end of April. We might have to meet children before then, during the time the High Schoolers are building the pavilions.

By the way, a huge issue is how I can manage to find a meeting time while many other religious organizations are also quite busy in the Spring.

Yes, High School students, too, are becoming busier towards the end of School.

Let's cross our fingers again.

3/24/08 - First and Second Drawing Sessions!

2008-03-23T21:24:00.000-07:00

Today was very nice day. I felt fully embraced by the children's artistic expression.

At noon, I visited the Sikh Center for the first kids' drawing session. I was actually not so worried about anything, but I was at least worried that perhaps everybody would draw the same things if their teacher told what to draw or any other reasons...

Not really at all!
First I gathered all kids together and talked to them about what we would do. I had sort of started by talking to the boys. Then, their teacher called the girls over, and amazingly the boys' circle around me moved back and made a half boys and half girls circle. Their school are taught
separately, and the prayer room is also separated down the center by a yellow color carpet. I remembered the Muslim center school also separates boys and girls.

The instruction part was smooth. They spread out to work immediately afterwards. Some did group projects. The girls were working all together since an older girl, who seems like their leader, led them to make one group work (kind of like a patchwork quilt idea). One girl looked
very quiet and did not join in, but did her own drawing which was also very nice. Her brother was very unique and on his own. First he drew the World Trade Center and his sister and others made fun of him since it not exactly related to their religion. I was fine with it, however, because in some way he thought it was linked to his religion, and there must be a reason why he felt it was linked. Or, perhaps he just wanted to draw it, but that's difficult to discern. Later he drew one of the important items for their religion, which was quite nice. I was very impressed. (I will not tell you the detail to let you have fun at the exhibition.)

Two boys sat down chatting and not doing anything. I asked if they do drawings. One of boys said he cannot draw, that he does not know how to do it, so he won't. I asked if he would then consider writing something instead. He pulled his right hand into his sleeve and said "I don't have a hand so I can't do anything!"

That was good try, but I was prepared.

"Well, then you cannot have lunch today, huh?" I replied.

He laughed and sort of tried to figure out what he could do or wanted to do. Either way, I encouraged him to draw or write something - whichever he was comfortable with.

Half an hour later or so, I went back to him and looked at his stuff. He was coloring red with the crayon on the paper. I was curious about what it was. He explained it was carpet downstairs (in the prayer room).

I slowly noticed that there was a place down the middle he was not coloring, and that that was how the carpet would look if we saw the prayer room from above. Hmm, I guess then he knew something about drawing but simply hesitated to do it. I am glad I pushed him to do something.

Quite interestingly everybody did a great job and their works, or the way they worked, seemed to be reflections of where they are and who their parents are.

This evening, I visited the Temple Gates of Prayer (Jewish temple) for the next drawing session. That was also an interesting one.

One girl was absent because of a family gathering, so all of the attendees that evening were young boys. They just wanted to play ball, hide and seek, and whatnot so, it was a bit difficult to get them to focus.

Their instructor, Lauren was nicely leading the boys. However, I was afraid that giving them too much instruction would lead them all to do the same drawings. She said you (boys) are sort of representing the temple and the Jewish culture, or something along those lines.

Although it was good way of wrapping things up for the sake of time, I sort of wanted to wait till they themselves decided to draw what they wanted to, like at the Sikh center. It was nothing wrong. I even appreciate it since the boys literally wanted to get to play "ASAP!"
Yet, that inadvertently led most of the boys to draw the synagogue's alter.

To be fair, at the Sikh center, children also drew their flag and symbols, and other such marks
a lot whether or not anyone gave them a lead to do so.

The curious part was then how each drew the same part, only slightly differently. The each had a slightly different focus. We might not be able to say that is something important or that they had a different meaning, though.

Well, at least, High school students will be able to figure out what religion it is by the drawing without too much guessing.

Again, there was one boy who was wondering what he wanted to draw. He was uninterested in the drawing session. So, I asked him about his recent trip to Israel. He talked on and on about the chain store fast food shops there and here like Burger King and McDonalds, stuff not really related to his religion, which was totally fine for me. (laugh.) I rather had fun with his observations. So, I asked if he could draw all the food he remembered and experiences with them there on his paper. He slowly started working by himself, a bit away from the others.

When I came back I was quite surprised by what he was doing! First, he drew a big Jacob's star. At that moment, I was sort of feeling like, uh-uh! (honestly...) I did not say anything or even did not come over to him. Yes, as an organizer/artist for this project, sometimes I wish to be able to control the overall process more, to be honest with you. However, each time I stop
and let others do what they want to since that is the main concept of this project.

You might wonder then how one organizes everything to be in good shape and meet the deadlines. I would say that is the magic part of this type of artwork. I will not directly control it, but will very carefully organize it to be prepared for everything to fall together in time by being very observant of how things work with each of the participants.

Anyway, back to the boy drawing his big star, he then started coloring brown inside the star.
I asked what it was finally. He asked me if I remembered him talking about Mt. Masada. He said he went there and now he was drawing that mountain here.

Wow, that was an interesting jump!

I am running out of time for now, so I will draw to a conclusion here. He then drew a very nice Israeli flag and nice clouds and sky. I asked him where the people were.

"I cannot draw people," he answered. "I don't like stick figures, but that is all I can draw."

I encouraged him, and later he did two people on top of the mountain. That was terrific! I appreciated his courage.

Yes, I found out how many children hesitate to draw something they can draw. I assume that in their mind they have an idea of what good drawings are. They want to do them that way but cannot, so, they do not like to do it.

It's very sad. That's totally wrong.

If we all drew nicely in the way we see in our minds, we would all fail as artists for sure.

That reminded me of when I was little. I was like that and wanted to be good at drawing. But, sooner or later, I noticed that was actually a reflection of parents' or older people's expectations.

I hope I could help give the kids a bit of freedom from that to encourage their own artistic expression. Well, unfortunately, I am unable to provide three-dimensional artistic expression
for them at this time. I am sure, like myself, some of the kids are much better at expressing
themselves by 3D work. Ideally, all media, such as music, play and dance should be available to them, though.

These experiences have given me so many thoughts for my own ideas about Art.
Thank you for this time guys!

3/17/08 - How Much I know Little

2008-03-17T05:22:00.001-07:00

I did not know Palm Sunday.
I did not know Purim.
I did not know Hamantashen.

Not knowing is not so much of an issue, though. I am sure I am familiar with so many things related to Buddhism since my Grandma was a serious believer and I majored in Buddhist Art History at college.

But knowing certain calender events might make one better able to respect and understand others, and feel something different.

I wonder then how it is different. Maybe not on our side, but rather from the perspective of those who believe that religion. Like if you speak Japanese fluently as the foreigner, Japanese will be surprised yet feel more comfortable and close to you.

Likewise, whether or not you address how much you know something about their religion, probably you will be better able to react appropriately and therefore give them less intenseness and nervousness.

I have not had any negative experiences through this project so far. However, that is something I am beginning to feel as I try to figure out how to organize this project with them.

When Laura instructed children to make Hamantashen, she made sure children make it triangular shape as she explained why. That way, children will learn the historical tales in their
religion without relying on rote learning.

They were really enjoying making cookies (Hamantashen).
Their smile and joyful screams made me so happy either way.

Hamantashen Links -1 -2

http://kosherfood.about.com/od/glossaryofjewishfoods/g/hamantashen.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamentashen

Oh, today was St. Patrick's Day as well. I noticed when I saw Empire State building.

3/12/08 - A Bit of Progress (Temple Gates)

2008-03-12T19:33:00.000-07:00

The Temple Gates is located in the very center of Flushing downtown, on Parsons Blvd., across the street from the Sikh Center.

I called the temple two days ago and Rabbi Thaler briefly talked with me and invited me to come to his office around four.

Security was very tight. The first door was unlocked, but the second one was like some private house: it had an intercom and I had to wait for them to unlock the door. Compared to any of the other religious places I visited, it was very modernized and well maintained with almost an hotel-like atmosphere. All the detail of the design looked very decisive. I was amazed by how organized-looking it was.

Rabbi Thaler came to greet me and invited me to his office. It was exactly like a professor's office at university. So many books in shelves around him. His desk was piled, full of books, note pads, pen and more.

He started out by asking me why the Queens Museum of Art was doing the celebration of the Flushing Remonstrance this year. The 350 years celebration was last year, he noted, and the religious community had organized so many events and even many symposiums at Queens College. Hmm, I had no idea how I should answer this. But, then I assumed the museum had their own events and program booked already and scheduled the show to fit into the museum's schedule, but once they saw the events, perhaps they thought it would be a great idea to do some community-based art projects. Thus we artists are now approaching these religious institutions. After talking with the Rabbi, however, I do wish they could have organized this project in time to coincide with the religious organizations' cerebration of the 350th anniversary of the Remonstrance document.

Well, maybe celebrating this important document twice might be good:)

Rabbi Thaler giggled that it was not my fault, so let's begin discussing my project.
I explained my proposal.

He was very thoughtful. First, he said in their religion, during services, no one can write or draw.

I was really surprised. I did not know that. (!!!!)

Rabbi Thaler seemed not so concerned. He suggested that we do drawings at the youth program. He also mentioned that the youth group recently visited Jerusalem, Israel. They probably have many fresh memories and experiences that they can express by drawing.

That sounds great!

Anyhow, we talked about the Wailing Wall briefly then left for today.
I will meet the instructor next Sunday, hopefully, and we will do drawing
sessions the week after that meeting.

3/12/08 - A Bit of Progress (Hindu temple)

2008-03-12T19:15:00.000-07:00

Hindu Temple Society of North America is the one we visited as a group during the first trips. I got in touch with the public relation person, Mr. G.P. two days ago and visited there again. He said his name is long and difficult to pronounce, so I should use the abbreviation.

While waiting, I carefully walked around and observed each of the dieties and the relief sculpture. At a glance, it looked like casting of some sort, but when I looked through the connected elephants along the bottom of one of the sculptures on the wall, I noticed it was hand curved. Every single elephant is very much alike but slightly different. They must be handmade
one by one.

Later, Mr. GP told me it is a cement relief sculpture painted gray later. Personally, since I studied Buddhist Art History a long time ago, I was very curious about all the details. Since the room does not have so much light, you cannot see well, but that also makes it a good place to calm down.

He was very passionate about their current expansion project. He showed me the future entrance which has 16 columns that represent 16 gods. He said they hired sculptors to carve each god on them.

Back to my project with them, he was quite comfortably saying as long as I can avoid the busiest pray time, it should not be a problem to participate, and their school children might be able to visit other religious organizations to do drawings. Very nice.

Next Sunday, I am coming back to the temple to meet the educator and discuss the possibilities.

In Hinduism, they normally practice individually so there is no formal service. However, Saturday morning to 1 pm are quite crowded. Actually, the room is not so large, so if people walk around the dieties as well as sit down and pray, it must be quite packed.

I do not remember who said that, but I heard that the temple is very authentic, even more than the ones in India. Mr. G.P. proudly mentioned the temple is the oldest in North America.

The temple is located on the corner of Holly Avenue and Smart Street. Just a couple blocks from Kissena Blvd.

I am getting excited about meeting the children and the possibilities
of including drawings by them...

3/12/08 - a bit more Progress -1 (Synagouge)

2008-03-12T18:57:00.000-07:00

Fortunately my current job is flexible because of my boss is very generous.
I truly feel lucky that I am able to focus on this project that requires so much
coordination. Thanks Carol!

Anyway, I went to bed late and got up early to visit Flushing today.
It was not sunny and it made me so blue.

First I went through all the religious organization lists that I had
researched through the internet over the past three nights to make certain
my map was correct. For the best luck, I decided which ones I should go to first
and marked them in order. By the way, Flushing is very much an Asian town right now,
so it is pretty easy for me to find a quick rest at bakery/coffee shops which are
similar to Japanese ones. In this case, as an Asian, it is a pretty convenient town.

I went to a couple of places that I already visited to take some photos from
outside. Then, walked to Kissena Blvd. to look for a Synagogue.
I went too far at first, but then I found it. It is very large and looks like a very historical
temple. The main entrance was closed, so went into the high school (I guess)
next door. At the office, I met Mrs. Edith Siegle.

Another artist, Tattfoo it seemed, had already visited there. Mrs. Siegle began talking about
his work and seemed confused. I explained to her from the beginning, precisely what my project is. Despite the fact she seems pretty much on the older side, her posture is very straight, and she remembers well. She explained to me the service (Shabbat) schedule and
told me about Purim and what they generally do on weekly schedule. (I asked her age, although it is rude, and she smiled saying she did not count after 50. I like that!)

She invited me to the next Shabbat on Friday evening, and I will try to go to see how they do and who their members are. In the hallway, several photos, images of past Board members, and news articles lined the wlls. It looks like a very historical temple and the members seem to be quite elderly people. She mentioned they only have two children so they cannot do any
drawing sessions themselves.

3/10/08 - This is the beginning

2008-03-09T23:58:00.000-07:00

Just before I found the Sikh temple, my wife and I walked in to the park called, Margaret I. Carman Green or Weeping Beech Park.

One of artists of the Queens Museum of Art exhibition, Emmy Catedral is working on planting Beech trees, inspired by the 151-year-old weeping beech tree that was in this park until 1998 which, according the parks service, is the genetic root of every weeping beech tree in the United States. She is interested in planting the sapling on the grounds owned by each different religious organization. That reminded me of the Kaki Tree project conceived by Tatsuo Miyajima. (The project concept)
A Japanese persimmon tree that was irradiated by the nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki in 1945 managed to survive. One tree doctor decided to take cuttings from the original trees. Artist Miyajima, known for his LED light number sculptures, got interested in spreading the sapling through artistic activities involving whole communities. It's been ten years since the project began. Someday I would like to bring a sapling to this community.

I have been always interested in visiting historical sites and remains. Sometimes I visited actual, original historical buildings, and sometimes just statues of the event that happened there. It does not have to be monumental; I rather tend to feel closer to the place or event, myself, if it is unmonumental. For example, in the 60s or 70s, some group or city commemorated an historical site, yet it has not been taken care of well since then so that the new explanation plate itself is again almost rusty and feeling like it will disappear.

Whether or not the memorial objects - like statues, plaques, and the site ruins - are there
I feel the effort someone took to keep it there is something important.

I did not know about the Flushing Remonstrance until this show at the Queens Museum of Art. But, by knowing it by chance and coming to understand its importance, I now would like to share this information with more and more people through this project and the exhibition.

The Bowne House

3/09/08 - Second Visits (3)

2008-03-09T23:26:00.000-07:00

As a foreigner and spending his eighth year in the US, now I understand the meaning of community and religious organizations here.

Maybe particularly in Flushing, Queens, NY, heart of most truly ethnically diverse community, each religious organization functions as school, day care center, place to meet up, place to go for helping/supporting each other, other than just praying every weekend. This is a situation I had not realized before.

Certainly how they organize and what they do each weekend is a bit different from religion to religion, but the unification of a group of community members looks similar.

Towards the end of the day, I just saw an unusual building on Parsons Blvd. It looked to me like Las Vegas-like tropical coconut trees on top of the building with the shape of the top of the facade similar to that of the top of a castle wall. Suddenly one guy wearing a turban came out from the door. Actually there was no sign except in their own language.

I was not sure but wondered if that was a temple. The door was not locked. I opened and then saw many randomly removed shoes. many people wondered about me and asked. I explained that I was hoping to speak with someone there, and I was asked to wear yellow scarf on my head.

Each person pointed me to another person until I reached two older gentlemen
wearing nice turbans and beards at the end of the carpet. Although it was a totally foreign atmosphere to me, I was not so nervous, maybe because many kids were cheerfully running around all over the place inside. They seemed so happy.

It was a Sikh temple. They understood my project explanation and nicely said they should be able to do a drawing session with children from their associated school. Also, they think they can bring their kids to other religious organizations to do other drawings as well. That was very nice. By the way, I guess this is me, as Japanese perspective, no bias, their faces were always pretty serious face so I was a bit becoming nervous. I realized there was a subtle cultural difference. It is a matter of getting used to it, though. I remembered when I talked to Germans in Germany I had a hard time to understand if they were upset or not. (laugh)
I have been told similar stories from my American friends...

Next week, I will come back with materials to explain the drawing sessions more thoroughly.

Oh wow, this project has suddenly moved forward!
I now have to look for kids to participate in drawing sessions from outside the religious organizations, as well as one or two more participating organizations.

I hope it works out...

3/09/08 - Second Visits (2)

2008-03-09T23:04:00.000-07:00

Previously I had visited Macedonia Church with the whole QMA group, and I returned again today to see Ms. Annette Webb (picture with me, my wife, and Ms. Webb). We had visited there as a group before, and inbetween their services, Reverend Nicholas had come to listen to our projects.

Since I have never been involved in church programs, I was totally amazed how
their services are busy and tight. Today, I went there before the morning service
ended, I participated in their service just 20 minutes or so. Maybe because I like
gospel songs and participated in choirs at school in New Orleans, it came into my body smoothly. On both sides of me of older African American gentlemen held my hands
together and repeated some phrases. My English is still not good enough in this kind
of case, but heard "Use your time wisely..." It was quite a nice service and I felt embraced
even if it was just for a short time. They nicely explained their time of service and invited me
to return next time. You may say that is always the case no matter which religious organizations we visit, but it had no undertone of forcefulness as some do. That was quite nice.

After the service, one of our participating artists Tattfoo Tan, handed out his
prayers stickers. Many church members nicely and seriously wrote their prayers on them and and returned the stickers to him. When I looked at today's service program handout, they announced it as "Prayer Request As Art." Very nice organization.

Later, Ms. Annette Webb, Director of Christian Education at the church told me how busy they are and how all the Sunday programs were full for the coming one to two months. However, she does not want to uninvite anyone and would love to participate in any way that they can.
Since my project requires little bit more organizational effort, drawing inside church by people from both inside and outside of the church, it seems quite difficult to do around this Easter time.

In fact, today, right after this service, they planned on visiting and joining another church's
service so they were loading up a bus.

Since I did not know about such programs, I was completely amazed. Then I thought about how important this entity is for many people in this community.

Continues to (3)

3/09/08 - Second Visits to religious organizations (1)

2008-03-09T22:43:00.000-07:00

I was quite busy after visiting religious organizations last time with other artists.
My friend had a beautiful wedding in New Orleans, then I, myself, had to do moving
with my wife. Life is busy, but also I was able to catch up with so many friends in New Orleans and talked about past three years after Hurricane Katrina. Fortunately, more people (though still not many) are able to move on to the next step now. My close friend's family finally started renovating their house! Yet, that is still a lucky case.
More than half of the original population of New Orleans is still outside of the city...

Speaking of which, I visited one more Buddhist temple today since their website grabbed my attention. They do relief to areas of the Gulf Coast victimized by Katrina. Tzu Chi temple is located on Northern Blvd near Union Street in Flushing. They are very modernized. Upon entering, their bookstore/cafe on the first floor looked like any ordinary modern Japanese bookstore - very typical (in Asia) nicely-kept Asian store.

Mr. Scott Huang came to greet us and soon started talking about our project. First he listened to my project very carefully but once I finished, he explained brief history of the temple and possibilities for how they could contribute to my project without stop. One person passed by and he called him and started talking about my project in Taiwanese. Soon, he told us it might be quite possible to make this happen with their school children. Then, we walked upstairs and looked through all of the facilities.

He never stopped explaining, but everything is very short and complete. He even introduced to their Northeast Regional director Mr. George Chen. I could not see any hierarchy and weirdness. Just amazing. In the end coming back to the bookstore, he introduced their precooked food and environmentally safe kitchenware such as portable chopsticks.

I do not mean to come across as cynical or rude, but I felt this is amazingly well done business style. I mean that in order to network their worldwide relief activities, they need very efficient organization. I can see how seriously they work for that. No one was rude to us or wasted their time either. Their brochure explain very concisely and precisely their mission and activities.

He was actually in the midst of a pretty busy schedule but within 40 minutes or less,
we were able to communicate and complete our meeting without missing anything.

continues to (2)

2/24/08 - Group Visit to Religous Institutions

2008-02-24T21:49:00.000-08:00

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.

2/20/08 - Next Trial to find participants

2008-02-20T15:22:00.000-08:00

Several friends from all over nation (laugh) nicely gave me input.
Thank you so much!

Late this evening, while I was Google-ing and learning where cultural institutions are in NYC,
and which ones I could possibly work with, Hitomi called me.
She is one of the curators for this exhibition and is helping me co-ordinate various aspects of my project.

She and the QMA education department staff member, Laura, discussed the
next possible steps. We might focus on already existing groups of kids through
religious organizations. Usually there are some kids education programs within
church, temples, and/or mosques. We might try to talk to them to see if they are interested in participating in our idea.

Wow, that seems to be an interesting idea!
I started checking for listings of such programs in the Flushing area, but surprisingly,
I cannot find any such info online.

Week of 2/18/08 - In Search of Possible Participants

2008-02-19T14:14:00.000-08:00

By the second week (ideally the first week) of March,
I have to be able to get in touch with possible students participants and
religious organizations in Flushing, Queens, NY.

These are the ages of students I am looking for:

Students between age 10 - 12/13 = Drawing church/temple
Students between age 12 - 14/15 = Building church/temple pavilion
Students between age 12 - 18 = Learning and disseminating the religion

After considering the various possibilities, I have begun to realize I should get in touch with private schools and community centers....
Right now, I cannot go further than this basic sketch of the plan...

2/15/08 - Meeting with Public School Educators

2008-02-19T00:08:00.000-08:00

Last Friday morning (2/15), I was invited to have a meeting and give a formal presentation of my project to a group of public school educators that have a partnership with the QMA Education program.

-------------------
Actually, I forgot one meeting that happened before this presentation, so let me start there.

Previously, on January 31, I had a third discussion with Hitomi and Lauren Schloss, the director of the Education department. When I walked through the museum with Hitomi (1/13), she had mentioned their great art education program. That had also helped inspire my project. So, Hitomi and Lauren discussed with me the possibilities for realizing my project with the help of the education department.

Lauren seemed very passionate about education for kids and teenagers. I was excited and appreciate her input. She listened carefully and asked very precise questions.

"So, I understand the intention of not directing the children while they are drawing at a temple, but then when do they actually learn the reality of that religion, and not the misinformed version they created for themselves?"

That question was honestly one that I had not really expected simply because I felt that elementary students would learn best through their eyes and then later correct what impressions they had taken by visiting the information sessions/performances held by Junior High School students at the opening (5/18).

However, as part of an education program, I guess leaving things this vague might not be good for kids. It is hard for me to tell as I am not teaching Art to kids professionally.

She said that students might be confused about the religions through the process of my project,
and left separated from the truth, might create their own concept. I think she said something like this. Then, she suggested that we might collect any questions coming from the kids during
their drawing sessions and later use such questions to teach them about each religion.

This is something I always appreciate learning from professionals. I am not an amature but do not have enough experience to be so professional. I do not want to simply use kids for my
project. I really would like students to learn something new while enjoying artistic creativity.

We had a pretty detailed discussion over a good two and half hours!
Lauren was pretty nice. I got a good feeling from her.
Then, I got email invitation to give presentation to public school educators.
Sounds Great!

-------------------

So, Lauren nicely gave me opportunity to talk to public school educators to find out about the possibility of working with them somehow.

Well, the result was unfortunately, simply, "NO..." but not because the project didn't interest them. It is simply because they cannot touch the topic of religion due to the current interpretation of the separation of church and state.

I had heard of that before. But, as an foreigner, I was totally shocked by the degree to which this affect life, and specifically education, here. I simply did not know this reality.

When I presented the project idea initially, I was encouraged by the educators' reactions. They mostly seemed to say that this project sounded like a very good way for kids to learn about religions. Also, they said learning about them as Elementary, Junior high and High school students, rather than later, was an interesting idea. I was confused. If that is a good idea, why couldn't you help us?

After the meeting, we had lunch and I had a chance to talk to a couple of educators.
Essentially, at public school, which is regulated by the city government, they cannot teach anything directly, or even really remotely related to religion.

One Principle said that her school used to decorate a Christmas tree and celebrate Hanukka, but now we won't be able to do so. Instead, they simply hold a "winter celebration" and never teach anything about the actual holidays.

My question that came up after this was how they teach historical events
or cultural beliefs that are related to religion. They told me that they have to come up with teaching materials that are purely "cultural studies" and are not specifically or obviously about religion.

I actually agree that teaching one specific religion might cause discrimination toward
other religions. But, we cannot possibly teach hundreds of different religions at the same time.
However, if we don't generally discuss at least the major world religions how and when can young students have a chance to learn or interact with such interesting and varied beliefs, or realize their effect on different cultural and historical events and artifacts.

The principle said that that is why they have to think hard to come up with ideas of what to teach that are not directly speaking of religion but still touch on its real impact on our world.

I asked if I there could be any way to explain everything in my project as a cultural study and so that I could work with public school students. They again simply said, "NO." In my project's case, students would be meeting a religious leader, even if they were simply drawing from pictures of a religious space that I took in advance. Oh wow, despite the fact that, in front of the schools, there are more than 300 real example of religious organizations, they have to use second hand material to learn! I simply never imagined this.

Personally, again, this was very new experience as Japanese person.
This is quite new to let me think about the meaning of "separation of church and state."

In short,
my project is already in tough situation....!
I will need to find students from somewhere else.

What is This Project Then?

2008-02-19T00:02:00.001-08:00

So, I got this idea after the first meeting.

This is formal proposal detail so a bit long...

"Meet Me at the Unisphere"

In the spirit of the Flushing Remonstrance, religious and cultural diversity has flourished in Queens, giving us the unique opportunity to access a variety of different religious viewpoints in one community. However, in our fast-tempo sound-byte contemporary culture, deep consideration of other religious views is often skipped in favor of brief facts, superficial impressions, and hearsay. Thus information is transmitted and repeated from source to source, and like a photocopy, slightly changed and obscured with each generation.

The work I propose will replicate this process, but with a twist. The purveyors of this information will be children, with their uniquely innocent way of grasping, or misunderstanding information. I will have an open call for elementary school children’s drawing, asking them to visit, with their parents’ permission a church, a temple, a synagogue, and/or a mosque, and draw what they see or understand from their visits. These drawings can be of anything they notice on their trips. The drawings collected from this open call will then be passed on to middle school students who will be asked to create booths (one per religion) based on these drawings. The booths will be constructed beneath the Unisphere and each one will represent one of the four major religions included in this project.

Next, I will have leaders from these various religions come and explain their beliefs and practices to the group of middle school students over a series of discussion sessions. I will then ask the middle school students to man the booths and explain a bit about the religion they are representing, based on what they grasped from the sessions with the religious leaders, to visitors on a specified "performance" day. Like a game of telephone, it is likely that certain information will get distorted in the process, but which information, and how it is distorted should be quite revealing.

The entire process would be open to public unless specifically notified.

1/18/08 - My New Proposal

2008-02-18T14:03:00.000-08:00

I came back to home very much preoccupied with the "Unisphere," originally created for the World's Fair in 1964.

You can probably find many resource on the web about it, or if you are old enough,
you yourself might have experienced the exciting expo at that time.

The "Unisphere" was built under the theme, "Understanding others."
Hmm, it sounds a bit ironic to us now, perhaps. More than 40 years after it was erected,
how well do we really understand others?

Needless to say, we are unable to make a Disney World-like peaceful and beautiful
global community on earth, however.

But, by being next to the "Unisphere" on this pretty cold winter day, I again feel that what is more important is to pursue it. This coming QMA exhibition is a very interesting theme.
Religious freedom, as first derived from the Flushing Remonstrance.

Religion is our own personal belief, not something we can force others to believe.
But, such institutions indirectly, and sometimes directly affect others' lives.

1/16/08 - First Proposals did not Work

2008-02-18T13:52:00.000-08:00

Today was my first meeting with Chief curator Valerie Smith, Hitomi Iwasaki and Prerana Reddy....

We discussed the possibility of two different projects based off of my previous performance pieces. Unfortunately, due to the constraints of the project, it does not look like either one will work.

Hitomi and I walked through the museum together for a bit of a brain-storming session afterwards. I had visited this very unique museum before, but alway only for brief moments.
Since they house a large scale model of all of New York City in the center of the museum, the floor plan for the exhibition space is around a rounded wall forming the outside of an oval. I looked through exhibition and then looked outside from the east-side windows. There is huge sculpture of the earth outside. I knew of it, having passed it on the highway before, but had never had the chance to look at it carefully.

After leaving museum, I walked to the sculpture, entitled "Unisphere."
It is like a skeleton of the earth, placed on top of a fountain. Probably because it is winter, the fountain was turned off. Instead, a couple of teenagers were enjoying skateboarding. Yeah,
it must be a great place for that. So, I went inside of fountain.

"Oh wow this sculpture is really really huge!"
That is my first impression. Interestingly, you can see through each continent.
So, I looked at Austrailia near the base, but beyond that land, you can see the backside of the North American continent.

The Himalayan mountains in the North edge of India are, in fact, a bit higher than
the rest of the land.

This fascination I felt of the Unisphere led to my new idea.

(To be continued, or check out my profile for this project summary)

1/10/08 - Receving commission

2008-02-18T13:48:00.000-08:00

After the start of 2008, I got an email from Queens Museum of Art curator, Hitomi Iwasaki. She wanted to visit my studio. My studio has been in transition with everything packed away in boxes, so I had no way of showing anything. Instead, we discussed over the phone and she looked through my website.

She explained that she was working on an up-coming group exhibition plan related to religion. I thought through possible project proposals, based on my past work, and visited the museum.

This exhibition title is:
"'This Case of Conscience:' Spiritual Flushing and the remonstrance."
It does not make sense if you do not know what the Flushing Remonstrance is.
Yes, I did not know anything about that document at the time.

What is it?

As the QMA states in their summary of the exhibition:

"The Flushing Remonstrance is widely regarded as a precursor to the provision on religious freedom in the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights. Signed on December 27, 1657, this document of protest was conceived by New Netherlands colonists who resided in Flushing and strenuously opposed the persecution of religions outside the established Reformed Dutch Church. Peter Stuyvesant, governor of New Netherlands, had issued an edict prohibiting any colonist from entertaining Quakers or hosting Quaker meetings in his or her home. When eminent settler Henry Townsend held such a meeting and was subsequently punished with a fine and banishment, a group of thirty-odd Flushing citizens responded with the Flushing Remonstrance, which eloquently championed the cause of religious tolerance.

"David William Voorhees, Director of the Papers of Jacob Leisler Project at New York University, observes that the cause of freedom of conscience was well-entrenched in the Dutch Republic and in the sixteenth-century Dutch constitution “as a cornerstone in the foundation of their state.” Invoking the “freedom from molestation” clause of their 1645 town charter, the Remonstrance petitioners asserted that the “law of love, peace and liberty in the states extend[s] to Jews, Turks [Muslims] and Egyptians [Romany],” and that “our desire is not to offend one of his little ones, in whatsoever form, name or title hee [sic] appears in, whether Presbyterian, Independent, Baptist or Quaker.” In terms that seem to presage modern-day concepts of pluralism and religious liberty, the signers of the Remonstrance argued unequivocally for the right of the individual to worship as he or she saw fit: “Wee [sic] desire therefore in this case not to judge least [sic] we be judged, neither to condemn least we be condemned, but rather let every man stand or fall to his own Master. Wee are bounde [sic] by the law to do good unto all men, especially to those of the household of faith. And though for the present we seem to be unsensible [sic] for the law and the Law giver, yet when death and the Law assault us, if wee have our advocate to seeke [sic], who shall plead for us in this case of conscience betwixt God and our own souls….”

"Stuyvesant ordered the arrest of four of the signers, including Remonstrance author and town clerk Edward Hart and sheriff Tobias Feake. Hart was later banished from the colony and Feake pardoned only after a formal apology. Additionally, the Flushing town government was dismantled and supplanted with Dutch appointments hand-picked by Stuyvesant. However, Quakerism continued to flourish throughout Long Island and the Hudson Valley, as did resistance to the persecution of its practitioners, culminating in the 1663 removal of the ban by the burghers back in Holland and simultaneous launch of religious freedom in the colony. With its galvanizing language and pivotal role in sparking such important reforms, the Flushing Remonstrance remains a powerful touchstone for current considerations of religious liberty and mutual respect."

Currently, Flushing, Queens has more than 300 religious organizations!
It's hard to believe, but I received a list of all of them, compiled by the NY City Hall. It's really amazing!

1/08/08 - Beginning of New Project

2008-02-11T21:10:00.000-08:00

January 8th, 2007, I received one email from a curator, Hiromi Iwasaki at Queens Museum of Art.
It does not explain the detail, but just mentioned she liked to visit my studio.
This was the beginning of this project.