The Broken Mirror Project

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About The Broken Mirror Project

THE PROJECT
Broken Mirror is a large interactive multimedia installation that mimics a journey through land and forest to discover a hidden temple. At the center of the temple lies a Cenote, a natural well or sacred offering pool, which is an oasis for self reflection and a communal gathering space. Participants inside Broken Mirror are encouraged to explore the connection between language and the development of culture and community by interactively reshaping sound, verbal and visual artifacts. The public will be able to create a record of community and personal history in a way that is beyond the limits of conventional language. A balance between multimedia arts and public participation serves as a catalyst for artistic and cultural exchange. The journey and process reaches across multi-cultural boundaries bringing people together through an interactive platform.

Physical Description: The Broken Mirror Project begins as a labyrinth of pathways and tunnels leading up to the Temple, and within the center of the Temple lies the Cenote. Once inside the labyrinth facilitating guides help participates begin the process of internal dialogue by introducing them to the interactive components. Technology and organic materials are fluidly combined to create the experiential environment.

Labyrinth: A set of pathways and tunnels constructed with tensile fabrics. The fabric is dyed and illuminated to create a variety of effects. Participants entering the architecture of the labyrinth are immediately transported into a different environment. They will encounter performance artists who will act as guides, and work their way through to each interactive station.

Station One: Participants walk up to an undulating area of sand surrounding a long reclining figure. A projection screen in the background will be playing a continuous loop of film --- water based events (rain, waterfalls, creeks, ocean). Superimposed on these images are the faces and bodies of indigenous speakers, singing or speaking in their native tongue. Station One is about water and the liquidity of language.

Station Two: As participants move further up the labyrinth, it becomes more like a jungle ecosystem with sculptural tree branches and vegetation breaking up the flat walls of the labyrinth, forcing the participants to move around them. The pathway becomes dirt underfoot with crushed mint releasing its scent as people step on top of it. Approaching participants will be randomly triggering theramin fields, producing sound loops and lighting effects (used for atmosphere). A small seating area nestles in an enclosure, surrounded by cards with iconic images and multilingual language phrases to be manipulated like refrigerator magnets on a metal board nearby. A projection screen in the background plays back the digitally captured narratives of past and current visitors. Station Two is about our conscious use of language and iconography to communicate.

Station Three: The tunnels start closing in, the whole environment going darker as participants are plunged into night and the subconscious. As they move around the final bend they will see a large Stellae, about 4-5 ft high engraved with pictoglyphs and graffiti, uniting ancient and modern times. Ambient field recordings and electronic music create a soundtrack for a continuous loop of surrealistic film shorts. The surrealistic film shorts were created from a basic text of dream journal cut-ups by artists Vincent Ramirez and Justine Avera. The films and pictoglyphs take inspiration from an intermingling of cultural icons throughout the ages. Station Three is about the use of visual and verbal language as it is processed and revealed by our subconscious.

Participants move from this dark enclosed space towards a lighted portal or opening to enter a meditative Temple Room. At the center of the Temple lies the Cenote, a small pool of water with a large reflective orb hanging overhead showing the movements of the people within. Cushions are arranged to create small groupings of people. The facilitator guides move amongst these groups, starting conversations between people seated next to each other. People will be asked to contribute writings and drawings to a large graffiti wall, or to record themselves leaving a message for those who follow. The Temple Room is a gathering space; the architecture and design of the space moves the eye from earthbound tones of the Cenote to the central panels of glowing fabrics. The Cenote represents our dreams, our past, our place of greatest longing, our deepest wish; the eye of the mirror reflects our actions and defines our place within our present world; the ceiling is the heavens, what we aspire to, what we believe to be possible.


Note: all images must be free of copyright infringing source materials, when in doubt, don't post! We would also appreciate the images being kid friendly.

http://www.myspace.com/thebrokenmirrorproject