By Sander Vloebergs
Through this and 2 subsequent blog posts I will show the first results of a project in contemplative seeing and artistic production (see Artistic Vision). This project contains visual material which is the result of a practical and theoretical exploration of the Visions of the medieval mystic Hadewijch. My reading of the texts was heavily influenced by my art process. I explored the vision and searched for images that spoke, figures that performed a story. This reading is not a rational analysis but an intuitive dialogue with the source material, a communication through images, colors, rhythm and movement rather than discourse. To perform this exchange of images, one has to open up, break down borders and pray. I call this stage of getting ready for the visual/visionary experience a silent prayer, a letting go of the self and a floating on (divine) inspiration. This contemplative state is hard to reach and rarely given. The two pieces that I will present in the subsequent posts, and which must be read in sequence, are the results of my struggle to combine the visionary experience which is given with the rational reflection which is demanded.
Blogposts:
- Art project part one: Vision 1: The Heart of the Matter
- Art project part one: Vision 9: Breaking Reason, Breaking Glass – Do you know who I am?