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Sticker

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Current Events
Events
Prom Party
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DJ Demeter of Art of Hot Carousel Numinous
Camp Numinous
HM 2k
Yahoo Pamphlet
Burning Man
Jenny Bird Art
Larry Laughing

Carousel Numinous Speech
Friday June 13th at the Down Low in Berkeley

For those of you who missed the Prom Party I was the "Commencement speaker" and here's the speech about our project.

Well first off I'd like to congratulate the graduating seniors. Give yourselves a hand. I know that was a rough 4 years of high school and we're all very proud of you for graduating. I'd also like to thank our DJ, Toastmaster, Jen and Kevin for putting on this fine prom for us all tonight.

Graduates, as you go out into the world, you will be expected to do your best to succeed, just say no to drugs and watch a lot of television between producing and consuming for the greater good of this great nation of ours.

With such responsibility, you may ask yourself from time to time if there is something else to this life. You may have an inkling for something different, a break from ordinary existence. Does an alternative universe, where money isn't job one, exist? Is there a place where art is valued over securing possessions? Where community and free expression are the most valuable commodities?

Where indeed.

Well this Prom here isn't just a celebration of you all finally graduating high school.

I'd like to talk about a certain city, population 30 thousand give or take a few, that rises up in a prehistoric lake bed 2 hours north of Reno Nevada each year.

Black Rock City is a temporary autonomous zone where people of all kinds go once a year for a lot of different reasons. Some go to get away from the constant commercial bombardment for another kind of branding. Some go to luxuriate in post apocalyptic bliss off the grid, knowing and showing off that they can do it in style. Some come to party and dance all night and blow their minds while others go to relax and enjoy a sense of community that is hard to replicate anywhere else.

Regardless of why people go to Burning Man, they go, and that experiment is working.

Other than the obvious Graduation festivities here, Carousel Numinous is the reason for this party. We are going this year to make some art, and with your help, Carousel Numinous will become a reality.

Just so you know what your cover charge covered, I'll tell you.

There are three 18 foot tall, 15 foot wide Carousels arranged in a triangle. We hope to have a 200 by 200 space. In the center of these Carousels is a 25 foot tall fire sculpture that turns and periodically shoots up a 15 foot flame. The Carousels are adorned with panels that Jenny is painting that are combinations of religious archetypes. There are buttons in the cars that set off religious sounds. Each person on the carousel has a different experience that is the result of the car they choose.

We are going along with the theme this year, Beyond Belief, and the concept of the Numinous was written about by Rudolf Otto. He believed that there is a feeling that all humans can get in touch with. It is a manifestation of something we all can feel, but unfortunately, it seems, in modern society, we don't encounter it as much as we did as a species in the "Golden Age" of religions.

It is feeling of "The Other". Something foreign, outside of ourselves. Something that, when encountered can trigger ecstasy or dread, complete humility or terror. It is the feeling you may have being up on a mountain, looking down over the valley thinking "What created all this", then feeling that presence is there with you saying, "I created this". It is a feeling that can give goosebumps and it is something that is hard to ignore when you encounter it.

The Numinous has been called mana, the jinn, the great spirit, the other, God, devils, what have you. Otto believed that when people encounter this phenomenon, they create rituals to stay in touch with it and to make it work for them. Forms of magic in older cultures were all developed to communicate with the Numinous and vestiges of that magic survives today in our religions even as they bend and evolve with our species.

We are trying to manifest this metaphor with the Carousel Numinous. You ride the carousel. You put your energy into making the carousel move. The panels represent archetypes from all religions. The cars represent Gods and Goddesses. The sound events triggered by the buttons swirl up with this great turning of the Carousels into a great cacophony. The central tower turns and shoots off fire.

All of our energy through different interpretations and rituals, religions, are going up to the same destination, represented here by the fire tower. The Carousel Numinous is a small scale model of humanity's attempt to hold on to that feeling of the other and to communicate with it. They are all the same vehicle underneath, just decorated differently with songs and rituals that vary from culture to culture or carousel to carousel.

Perhaps if this idea were more prevalent in the world today, all one faith, all different manifestations of the same thing, we'd be a little more tolerant and kinder to each other. Maybe vast cultural divides would be minimized. Maybe wars and bigotry and hatred with their basis in religion would lose their footing.

There's a table over there with more information on the project and how you can help. Sign the guest list so we can invite you to our parties throughout the summer. Get involved with our alternate universe and take a step outside of the predestined lives you have coming after graduation.

We thank you all for coming and being a part of our community tonight. For those of you making it out to the Playa this year, make sure you stop by and ride the carousel and hang out at our camp. And don't forget seniors, always support the arts as you go out into the world and make your way.

Your lives will be much richer for it.

mosbaugh