The Zen Guy, Ch. 12

Part I:   March Sesshin, Prairie Zen Center

Each moment birth and death.

Each moment no birth and no death.

A movie containing an infinite number of indiscrete images

like a Turin machine without the 0s and 1s.

No movie, no images.

We are not a  noun he says.

We are verbing.

But verbing is not a noun.


(and the soundtrack was the new Moe cd "What happened to the La Las")


Part II:  Marina Abramovic

"The Artist is Present"

or is she?

"The Grandmother" of performance art in a retrospective at MOMA.

and a soon to be release bio-documentary on HBO:  "The Artist is Present."

The Artist is Present is literal.   Marina sits on a chair, at a table, all day, every day, for three months.

You participate in the art by siting there with her at the table--as long as you like.

Marina wears a special dress to relieve herself while performing.

She is silent.  You can do whatever the hell you want to on the other side of the table.    Or you can just be present like she is doing.   Just like Charlotte Joko Beck's eye gazing practice.    Though that only lasts for 30 minutes at a time--at least how it is done at the Prairie Zen Center.

Marina is supposedly practices Tibetan Buddhism.  She also trained with a nutritionist and a personal trainer to get in shape for the performance.

The core of this exhibit, she explains, is to sit with her body and mind in the present.  Perhaps by focusing on the present, she encourages the audience to join her.

Supposedly, Marina doesn't like to rehearse:-).