NUMINOUS SPACE is traveling as a
solo exhibition throughout 2008.
Rubin Center for the Visual Arts,
University of Texas at El Paso
January 24 - March 22, 2008
Opening Reception: Project Space
Thursday, January 24, 5-7pm
Artist Lecture: Rubin Center Auditorium
Thursday, March 20, 6pm
Las Cruces, New Mexico
June 6 - August 16, 2008
Opening Reception:
Friday, June 6, 5-7pm
Artist Lecture: Branigan Cultural Center Saturday, July 19, 11am
NUMINOUS SPACE: towards an architecture of spirit
<< See images and details from the Rubin Center Exhibit.
Please contact me for further information.
Thanks to ASA Architects Studio for their continued support of this work and exhibition.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Numinous Space is a theoretical project that rethinks the typology of contemplative space in a proposal for an introspective environment that endeavors to connect the spirit of its inhabitant with the Genius Loci, or ‘Spirit of Place.’ The project focuses on a ten acre Chihuahuan Desert site located halfway between El Paso, Texas and Las Cruces, New Mexico where the Jeffersonian grid—a rational yet arbitrary mark of man—is placed over a radically irrational landscape.
The term “Numinous” was originally conceived in 1917 by philosopher of religion, Rudolf Otto who used the term to signify the concept of a “holy” or “sacred” moment, minus its rationality and the implication of “the morally good.” Otto would further analogize the two notions of the numinous and the romantic sublime saying that if they were not the same then certainly the numinous could excite or be excited by the sublime.
“the sublime exhibits the same peculiar dual character as the numinous; it is at once daunting, and yet again singularly attracting, in its impress upon the mind. It humbles and at the same time exalts us, circumscribes and extends us beyond ourselves, on the one hand releasing in us a feeling analogous to fear, and on the other rejoicing us.”
This trajectory of aesthetic philosophy provides a foundation for the employment of the sublime as a unitarian device to enable a metaphysic connection between the human spirit and designed space. Recent neuropsychologic research into the mystical practices of Buddhism and Christianity, has additionally provided an understanding of how the numinous/sublime experience is hard wired within the human brain. This knowledge affords insight into the manner in which the built environment participates in affecting a spiritual milieu. Numinous Space is an exploration into the conceptualization of space that engages the subconscious transcendent human condition, suffusing contemporary architecture with a renewed dimension of spirituality.
Specifically, Numinous Space proposes four independent volumes which act as metaphoric view cameras. Each volume engages an optical phenomena particular to the desert site—enveloping the occupant in contemplative repose. These insertions, spread across the site: speak to each other, to the landscape, and humankind’s mark upon it. Each offers an individual experience, drawing the person intentionally to a specific time and place. Like the monks cell, they offer a compact, ritualistic space of singular program—an engagement with the irrational sublime.
