D∀RK: Dark ∀rts Research Kollective
Is a multidimensional ritual space existing betwixt academia and the arts. It is composed of researchers, artists, designers, performers which explore occulturalpractices, fortean geographies, paranormal resonances, psycho-physical enchantment, and general high weirdness.
Our first Publication – Field Report #1
Which was launched at O! Peste Destroyed @ad_england 4-8pm on Sunday 2nd July #worldufoday for an afternoon APPORT #1 with music, talks, installations and screenings… + the launch of our first zine ‘Field Report #1’.
An exploration of practices, fortean geographies, paranormal resonances, psycho-physical enchantment and general high weirdness.
Poster and Zine curated by @theothercraig
Performances and contributions on the day by @razullah1 @theothercraig #Cacotopos @matteo.polz @the.wyrding.module @damundio @high.peak.recordings @gene_jakett (curated cabinet of curiosities) @ianmorris_22 @jlloyd_jr @fcocchiarella @paupersolomon and Colin from Todmorden UFO meet !
D∀RK: Dark ∀rts Research Kollective Instagram & Website
Exploring the creative potential of occulture through artistic explorations of local lore, digital/analog and physical/ psychical realms.
As part of our first event at PESTE, I produced the first prototype of the Embodied Engagement project as an exploration of ‘Funerary Shaped Spaces’…
As part of ongoing social research into the design of ‘infra-ordinary’ experience that translates critical aesthetic experience into fictions that are assimilated into a world of ideas and experience-based provocations around self, object, architecture and place. The research uses estrangement to open space for critical discussion that explores the link between mental lives and lived experience through the design of experiential scenarios.
By staging a series of workshop/ engagement sessions around a sarcophagus/ funerary space (in this case a portable collapsable coffin), participants have the opportunity to engage in conversations around death and mortality. A modern form of memento mori to regain perspective and aid to mental health…
“….. we need to understand empty body-shaped funerary spaces as key media for engaging people in both past mortuary practices and their mortality today…. I see carefully interacting, and photographing interactions, with stone mortuary monuments and artefacts, as not disrespectful or damaging, but a key mechanism for societal engagement with the past and mortality.”
Contextual/ inspiration images…
Buried Alive: Is an art and lecture performance series by art-tech group Monochrom. The basic concept is to offer willing participants the opportunity of being buried alive in a real coffin underground for fifteen to twenty minutes. The performance series wants to start a conversation about death, culture, medical and scientific myths and mass media.
Sand baths of Ibusuki, Japan. Hot, warmed from the natural hot springs bubbling just below the surface of the beach.
“I shook the black pepper sand from my robe, looked back at the rather morbid imprint of my body in the ground and felt very happy to be alive. If that was the only effect of the sand bath therapy, then perhaps it was all worth it.”
Depressed women "experience death”, China. Hillside shallow graves as women attend a 'tomb classroom' to "appreciate life”. Liu Taijie founded the 'grave classroom' after her own suicide attempt in the hope that it could benefit other women. A focus around mental health in response to mortality. "Through experiencing death, I hope to dare them to face life, to appreciate life. "To have an optimistic attitude towards failures and towards life. To have a better future.”
Dying for a better life, South Korea. Fake funerals for life lessons. More than 25,000 people have participated in mass “living funeral” services at HyowonHealing Center since it opened in 2012, hoping to improve their lives by simulating their deaths. You can have a funeral photo taken… pay your respects to your self and write your final wishes to say good bye to loved ones..
Purification Grave, Netherlands. Radboud University digs a grave each year for students to reconcile with their mortality. Students can lie down for up to three hours, a modern form of memento mori to think about what is really important in life. A special place for meditation: below the earth, above you the sky.
Rock-cut graves at Heysham and in the foundations of Muchelney Abbey church, Somerset.
James Turrell – Skyspaces. Turrell’s practice is concerned with light and space, and he has been building Skyspaces since 1974. A Skyspace comprises a chamber containing only seating, lighting and an aperture in the ceiling through which to view the sky. They give space for thought and alter our perception of light.
Professor Howard Williams, Engaging with a Sarcophagus
CAD Prototype part of a proposal for European funded project Cirmap with PrintCity, MMU