I went to the Guggenheim’s The Third Mind (a term invented by William S. Borroughs, a member of the Beats, who, could we consider to be an old New Transcendentalist?) exhibition on Friday. It was a great show, focusing on East-meets-West art in the 20th century. At the exhibit, there was a generous amount of mention of the Transcendentalists, specifically Henry D. Thoreau, for the similarities between The Movement, and Zen Buddhism. Both focus on transcendence through self reflection, especially through an understanding of nature.

My favorite pieces –
The Sound of Ice Melting: two large blocks of ice are amplified by 8 surrounding microphones, discussing a common theme of ‘when you think there is nothingness, you are usually wrong.’

Tibetan Prayer Bells: They lay a track around the spiraling museum rotunda, upon which they would periodically send down a shuttle that rang Tibetan Prayer Bells as it way its way to the bottom. It sounded nice, everyone would gather around to watch, filling the atrium with heads. I’ve recently been interested in Tibetan prayer, because it is passive, rather than active – the wind blows the prayer flags, the bells sound by movement, a prayer wheel is also spun by the wind, all activities which please the gods mechanically, without direct involvement from the one praying. This Guggenheim piece was extra interesting, because it was a mechanical device, an added extra level of artifice, even more east-west, with the addition of technology to passive prayer,

Unfortunately, the exhibition closes in the next few days, so you have to take my word on it.