“Convento” at SXSW
Anyone going to South by Southwest this year? Check out Convento, a documentary by Jarred Alterman: Dutch kinetic artist Christiaan Zwanikken resurrects the deceased local wildlife by reanimating the skeletal remains with servomotors and robotic engineering. He breeds these new species in a 400 yr. old monastery in a village in Portugal that has been […]
The Monastic University
Is there room for monasteries on university campuses these days? More and more, I envision joining the work we’ve been doing at the Art Monastery Project to existing academic institutions. Imagine artmonks & postgrads, exploring the wide world of (secular/interfaith) monastic living together. Especially if you convinced them that being a monk didn’t have to […]
Rilke was an artmonk
In his 20’s, German poet Ranier Maria Rilke visited a Russian monastery. The private prayerbook that resulted is now published as his Book of Hours. From the Book of Monastic Life, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy, Wenn es nur einmal so ganz stille wäre: If only for once it were still. If the not quite […]
1/4/11 San Francisco Artmonks meetup
This Tuesday the San Francisco Artmonks will convene at the Berkeley home of two artmonks, composers Tom Bickley and Nancy Beckman. Tom & Nancy came to the Art Monastery in Labro, Italy last spring as artmonks-in-residence, and are now connecting with other Bay Area artmonks to develop a local community of contemplative creatives. They have generously offered […]
Monasticism: “putting one’s central energy into a life that revolves around awakening.”
From Benedict’s Dharma: What are sometimes called “lay monasticism” and “householder practice” are certainly not new, but as vehicles of awakening they are “really a big experiment,” as Joseph Goldstein said. “At a conference some months ago I met a psychiatrist, a very busy guy, who told me that in the last twenty years not […]
A “single-monk monastery” by Suriya Umpansiriratana
At last, a fresh take on monastic space. Writing for Fast Company‘s Co.Design, John Pavlus turns us on to Thai architect Suriya Umpansiriratana’s “Monk Cell Project,” a “single-monk monastery (called a ‘cell’) whose circular structure assists walking meditation while symbolizing the cyclic routines of the monk’s daily life.” Suriya Umpansiriratana’s “Monk Cell Project” turns the monastery […]
Rohan Gunatillake on the Social Life of Meditation
I just came across this video on the “Social life of Meditation” from Rohan Gunatillake of 21awake.com and the Here & Now Project. After wrapping up a series of posts on monastic separateness and engagement a few days ago, it’s great to see these issues confronted from a different perspective. Rohan identifies “four major ways in which meditation is […]
Announcing 10 Artmonk chapters. Are you an artmonk?
Apropos of my recent posts on activism and monasticism, and the fact that I’ll be working on developing the San Francisco chapter, I repost this, written by the Labro artmonks: The Art Monastery Project has launched Artmonk chapters in the following 10 cities: Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Reno, Bloomington, Indiana, Chicago, Buffalo, New York City. If you are an Artmonk […]
Monastic Separateness & Engagement (part 4): a Challenge
[This series of posts, “The Elements of Monasticism” asks the question, what exactly is monasticism? “Separateness & Engagement” will unfold in a series of 4 posts (links: 1, 2, 3, 4).] Looking back at some of the questions I asked in part 1, the assumptions I unpacked in part 2, and the different perspectives I explored in part 3, here’s a 10-part […]
