This installation was all about mountaintops as shrouded places of mystery. The home of the gods, the earthly paradise, the staircase to the stairs, the point where like in the Sistine chapel man can touch god. I used cairns, stacked rocks, as altars and markers of the path. A series of cairns led to a locked door. Behind the door was a strong light and if the viewer got on their knees and placed their heads as low as they can go, in complete supplication, they could see a glimpse of the Shangri-La.
The piece had several issues:
- There were not enough cairns and the path was to straightforward. The piece is as much about the act of walking as it is attempting to reveal what our true destination is. The way that the cairns were laid out did not force the viewer to walk for the amount of time that creates an awareness of the act of walking an in turn an awareness of life itself. (I am not explaining this very well but I am sure you know what I mean. Walking allows your mind to do things that sitting still will never achieve). The cairns should be placed further apart and form a path that is more convoluted, backtracking, circling, and climbing. I’m thinking of acres and acres of land with huge cairns that must be climbed in order to see where the next one is, tiny cairns that are nestled in trees, a wide variety of way-finding marks. This is in a forest but this could also be in a desert where the cairns would stand out from the atmosphere as man-made monoliths.
- The representation of Shangi-La is lacking. People in class said that they felt disappointed: some because they were barred from reaching their goal, others because the pay-off wasn’t striking enough. It is a very hard dilemma to show the unattainable, the unknowable. I was doing something similar to what Tarantino did in Pulp Fiction but I didn’t do it enough. People wanted to be blinded by the light or to see a sort of shadow diorama.
The piece is not conceptually there.. yet. I am taking things that mark the way up mountains and placing them on flat or semi-flat land. I am taking the cairn out of context but maintaining its concept. I need to think more about that. I think that this is more of a space intervention then a sculptural installation. SO the experience is the most important and hopefully, the experience is one of having been on an adventure.
Here are some inspirations:
Leni Reifenstahl’s Blue Light (this part in particular)
The suitcase in pulp fiction
And of course, Cairns
Also, The writings of Rene Daumal and the film Holy Mountain by Alejandro Jodorowsky













The separate pieces





