FEATURE STORIES FROM S.P.A.C.E.

THE "WAVE UFO" INTERFACE: THE COSMOS - CONSCIOUSNESS CONNECTION

By Harold Egeln

June 12, 2003 -- A "UFO" has landed in New York City and hundreds of visitors have boarded it and thousands more have witnessed it.

A one million dollar interactive installation called "Wave UFO" is making daily open public "contact" at the IBM Public Atrium on Madison Avenue at East 56th Street in midtown Manhattan, dazzling Earthlings with its bluish resin fiberglass teardrop shape, an imagined extraterrestrial interloper created by a highly artistic and creative human being named Mariko Mori, internationally famous for her dream-like sculptures.

Before boarding three visitors at a time, a kindly team of white suited technicians attach electrodes to people's foreheads, a device to allow them to interface their brain waves with a wall display inside the spaceship. That creates an aesthetic psychedlic-like melange of technicolor shapes reflecting the alpha, beta and theta stages of brain, as well as low hertz facial movements, activity from computer graphics.

The result unites technology and spirituality ala Ray Kurzweil ("The Age of Spiritual Machines"), taking visitors on a voyage into inner space via an imaginative craft from outer space which seems to emerge from hidden dimensions of reality, like an apparition manifesting from invisible realms.

The biofeedback devices that allow visitors' brainwaves to be projected by video were created by talented information systems engine Masahiro Kahato, a long familiar face to me and others at UFO meetings and conferences here in the city. I saw him board the beautiful scuplture to apparently adjust something inside soon after I left the craft.

From my own encounter explorer's viewpoint, having directly interfaced with the enigmatic source of close encounters, both through stealth and interactive realtime experiences, what Mori has done is to expose part of the general public to the Close Encounter Experience in a non-threatening manner.

Projections of witnesses thoughts onto "walls" and in open spaces during encounters is a major aspect of reports. Speculations about a mental interface with unknown lifeforms, documented countless times and in countless ways, come into play inside "Wave UFO."

My own heartbeat excelerated as the experience was about to begin, as I rested, at first uncomfortably, in the Technogel chair. Perhaps, I thought, my rapid heartbeat was in response to my own experiences and the excitement they caused - or more likely, since I had electrodes attached to my forehead, a reminder of EKG and cardio-vascular tests and a heart-monitor device I wore recently.

Once relaxed for the seven minute cosmic trip, I felt that I was able to change my brainwaves from alpha to beta to theta states by my own willpower. I enjoyed doing so, and was interacting with the projections of a mother and her daughter. Unable to stand up in the craft after the "ride" I had to slide out the door and onto the acrylicic steps, like an astronaut returning from a several months' long orbital spaceflight, regaining my own leg-power.

Then ethical issues came to mind afterwards. Would a person with silent encounters, unknown to that person, have them brought to the surface through "Wave UFO?" Would a witness who had terrifying or transforamtive experiences have them re-triggered after this experience? Would the "Wave UFO" interface create dreams later with a known encounter witness or draw the interests of those at the source of their experiences? Perhaps a survey could have been done.

The interactive concept behind "Wave UFO" is what is so fascinating about Mori's visionary concept, a rare element in UFO art and UFO research. The "Interactive" concept has been a prime component of S.P.A.C.E.'s controversial proactive approach to the close encounter experience, where people have engaged themselves with the phenomenon with a high degree of success.

That has raised more questions than answers, allowing for a multi-interpretive approach, as well as being incorrectly interpreted by some fellow researchers who see it as "new agism" rather than scientific intra-personal engagement of consciousness and the cosmos -- a necessary theraputic and creatively empowering quantum psychological process of one's own encounter exploration, a form of a shamam's journey.

S.P.A.C.E. has also encouraged the use of art - the visual as well as the performance arts - as a way of exploring encounters. This has been done, by their own initiative, by artists such as David Huggins and playwrites such as retired psychologist Dr. Jean Mundy in "Believe Me" and musician/composer Alan White, among others.

It has been done also through the Collision Theory performance ensemble's 2001 production of "The Abduction Project" at the HERE Arts Center in Soho, where S.P.A.C.E. experiencers were interviewed by the ensemble as part of its theatrical creation process.

Thus, the artistically creative approach playfully portrayed so wonderfully through Mori's "Wave UFO" is an example of what can bubble up from inner space work in contemplation of outer space, and interactively making the attempt to connect consciousness and cosmos.

Perhaps this is the naturalistic interface dynamic of close encounter experiences, a place to engage the best in the marvelous capacity and potential of human curiosity.

The interactive exploration of reality, probing dreamlike realms, and of the interconnectedness of individuals with their inner selves, other humans, the world and the cosmos is at the high-tech core of Mori's "Wave UFO" and other superb artworks, such as "The Dream Temple."

This concept fuels Mori's multimedia works, from what I have read about them on various websites about her artistry, reflecting an on-the-edge exploration of the immense challenges and changes that may transform humanity into a revolutionary new species in this 21st Century and which may be why (in part) the doors to other worlds has been open, as told through close encounters.

"Wave UFO" -- set in the IBM Building's Public Atrium -- is uplifting, raising consciousness to a cosmic level, fostering an interactive dialogue communicating with levels of reality rarely explored by the general public, bringing together the long past and the endless future into a new synthesis of spirit and technology.

It will be very interesting to see where Mori's work goes from here. The artist, who was born in Tokyo in 1967, lives in both Japan and New York, and attended the Chelsea College of Art in London from 1989 to 1992. Among the places where "Wave UFO" was first exhibited was at the Kunsthaus Bregenz in Austria.

Mori, a shy and humble artist, does not accept interviews -- from the media, UFO researchers, or anybody -- preferring to let her artwork speak for itself.

I also find it ironic and concidental that the site of the installation is only five blocks from a major UFO sighting spot centered around Columbus Circle and the 57th Street-Eighth Avenue area. Through the years there have been reports of circular objects over the area, which people have witnessed (and in at least one case, videotaped) them, including myself in the presence of others.

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CHECK OUT THE MORI-RELATED WEBSITES:

"WELCOME HOME: THE STORY OF S.P.A.C.E."

By Harold Egeln, Jr.

Thursday, May 1, 2003 -- A key tool in understanding the close encounter experience over the last 20 years has been support groups, with most well-known being groups formed by researchers such as Budd Hopkins, David Jacobs and Dr. John Mack.

But there have been a good number of groups, small and large, such as facilitated by Constance Clear, Richard Boylan, the late Ken Phillips and others, including, in 1989 about 20 Communion Network groups encouraged by Whitley Stirieber.

And, since 1992, there has been the S.P.A.C.E. Encounter Explorer Gatherings, a support group system operated by experiencers themselves, with S.P.A.C.E. South added four years ago in Florida by social worker Roberta Puhalski, who had a group in Connecticut over a dozen years ago.

Very few support groups have been portrayed on TV and movies accurately. In the 1992 CBS-TV movie "Intruders" and the 1989 "Communion" movie there were accurate re-recreations. The recent Sci-Fi Channel's "Taken" mini-series had a fairly good re-creation, spoiled by the injection of violence, appealing to barbaric values.

Earlier this year a freshman film student from New York University, Blake Gingerich of Ohio, searched on the Internet for a group he could film for a class project, and S.P.A.C.E. responded after Michael Carter, an experiencer shown on the Sci-Fi Channel's pre-"Taken" "Abduction Diaries" documentary, made the connnection happen.

And we are very grateful with the result, an eight minute video short titled "Welcome Home: The Story of S.P.A.C.E.," featuring a mini-support group meeting with four diverse encounter explorers, focusing on how we deal with this extraordinary mystery in our lives.

"I went to the Roswell 50th anniversary convention in 1997 with my parents. They said that if I won top prize in a science contest, they would take me there," said Gingerich, who had an interest, at age 14 then, in UFOs. "When I saw and met the people, I was struck by how normal and sensible they really were, even though they had these strange encounters."

His family happened to stay in the same hotel where Whitley Strieber was and young Gingerich briefly spoke with him. Two S.P.A.C.E. members were also at the conference and one, Ed Martin, would be in his video six years later.

When he came to NYU last year, he wanted, as one of the film and video projects for his class, to do a film on people who had the close encounter experience, highlighting not so much those experiences, but primarily letting them tell their stories of how they live with this and what they do with this.

"I wanted to explore the way in which people come together to deal with this experience," Gingerich said of his vision. He, by the way, never saw a UFO nor had a close encounter, and Roswell and S.P.A.C.E. became his close encounters!

On March 22 four of us, artist David Huggins, activist, musician and lawyer Marcy Gordon, retiree Ed Martin, and myself, a journalist and activist, were taped by Gingerich and his sound person, Rob Kirschbaum. We held an hour-long spontaneous mini-support group meeting in a midtown film studio as we were taped.

Then we were each taped for 15 minutes individually. Within two weeks the video short was edited down to eight minutes and shown to Gingerich's film class on April 4, with a good response from his classmates and professor.

"I think they were surprized at how normal these people are," Gingerich said. "They all thought you looked like interesting, intelligent and normal people, which is exactly what I wanted."

On April 29 Martin and I met with Gingerich at the Starbucks where we first met him two months ago, and he kindly gave us five copies of the tape. That evening I viewed it for the first time, both pleased and excited about the result.

Rather than give a review, because I am obviously biased here being a participant, I will give you an idea here at how extremely well Gingerich crafted and presented his video short, with great care, sensitivity and artistry, a fully professional job.

"WHAT DO YOU DO?" The video begins with the four of us talking about when this experience began, in our childhoods, at least age five or seven, our certain first recollections. "This is real," says Gordon. Then Huggins looks at the camera and says, "What do you do with something that is really part of you?" He is recalling a question asked by Dr. Gibbs Williams, a depth psychologist, at a support meeting two years ago. At that point "Welcome Home: The Story of S.P.A.C.E." title appears on the screen, and I then come on, explaining how I asked that question myself and how I answered it, with the formation of the S.P.A.C.E. group in 1992 as I emerged from an "identity crisis." "I had to do something with this." "Once you see these beings...once you have that experience, it's with you forever. It can never be forgotten," I say. "You see things in such a different way," Huggins says. "You need other people to talk with about it," Gordon says. "You can't sit down with this with every person, as occasionally I have, and all hell was raised," Martin says. "It's encouraging to know that the phenomenon is so widespread," says Gordon, who mentions that she likes to hear "the diversity of the experiences" in the group. "The biggest help of all, is knowing I could sit down and talk to someone about it, and not feel as if there's something wrong with me," Huggins says, adding that it's not a matter of belief but of knowing, something he told a CNN reporter at a gallery artshow of his paintings a few years ago. At which point Gordon mentions the marks, bruises and scars left by the experiences, afterwhich Huggins adds it can be, at times, fun, but it's always "a mystery," he and Martin say. "Once you get into a group, you start thinking about it. It opens up your memories, your dreams," says Martin. The dialogue and dynamic of the group continues among us, exactly as it does in the nearly 100 gatherings I have facilitated since March 1992 and at individual sessions in a relaxed environment, essential for naturalistic recall without hypnosis. Of the overall encounter experience, Huggins says, "I feel that my life is a lot richer for it....I don't want to be a victim. It's very lonely out there...I needed to be around people who knew exactly what I was going through." I mention that people say, "I want to do something with this, I want to figure this mystery out," as Huggins hopes that by sharing his experience, he "will help somebody." Just from these highlights of "Welcome Home," there is a definate, true and humane sense of a group process helping along those who have close encounters. And that's exactly the way Gingerich wanted it to happen in his video short. Perhaps this fine, bright young man will share his video with a wider public, and he has our encouragement to do so. It is certainly an in-depth sketch of a support group at work, with its humanity enlightening and informative, and therefore an educational piece. It's not easy "going public" but in this film we have a voice and speak-out, something that Dr. Mack encouraged encounter explorers to do. We are the ones who have that voice in all its diverse tones and variations, as this video shows. After the taping session, which was envigorating for the four of us, I asked Gingerich if he has future plans. He may re-visit this subject in the near-future and expand on the work. Perhaps, I later suggested that "Welcome Home II" be called "The Inside Story of S.P.A.C.E." highlighting our close encounters themselves. Which is a challenging task. One thing we are sure of. Blake Gingerich is a talented, excellent video/fim maker and a mighty fine person to take upon himself telling our story. It was a most excellent adventure and a pleasant close encounter! ********************************************************* NOTES: "Welcome Home: The Story of S.P.A.C.E." will be shown at the ACCET Conference on Close Encounters in New York City on Labor Day weekend during Harold Egeln's presentation. A more ambitious film documentary, expanding greatly on the themes Gingerich did, is now in the pre-production stage by Tamago Films of New York City, coordinated by Jeffrey Morehouse and Gus Scharr, actors in "The Abduction Project" play two years ago by the Collison Theory performance ensemble. Watch the S.P.A.C.E. EXPLORER Orbit-Zine for updates. *********************************************************

CONVERSATION WITH THE ALIEN IN ART

A feature article By DAVID M. TWIDLE, an artist and a shaman. SEPTEMBER 2003

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Here I am, an urban artist alone in an apartment. There are no other visible beings here besides my cat and myself.

I am alone, except for the fact that everywhere I look I am surrounded by some strange presence, an alien presence.

The fact that over the course of time, I have deligently created this presence is my art. I have formed a collective presence on canvasand paper that looks at me with knowing eyes.

The emergence of this presence originated from within the depths of my being and n that sense is intimate. In that sense "know" this presence to be a part of my being.

On the other hand, the fact that it forms a collective presence is alien to me. Here lies a dichotomous tension in my relationship to this artifice. This relization comes from the manifestation of a foreign face or visage in the visual field.

More than a face, it is a mirror or a reflection of my own outlined persona. Of course, the very idea of an alien is metaphysical and esoteric. However, this has traditional and formal representation as well. This perception lies within the basic evolution of consciousness and its expression as art, one of the underpinnings of culture.

As an artist searches mre and more deeply for the motivation of the creative process, they in fact materilaize an enity that they can never fully know or understand.

In this sense, art is a conversation with an alien being that lives within the deepest regions of what some might call the soul or life force. This being lies just beyond the self as a reflection of our obversity in a physical universe.

Some might call it the alter ego. George Conde refers to it as the "antipode." Picasso painted it in his painting "Woman Standing in Front of a Mirror," as well as in his surrealistic, post-cubist work that defined his career after the 1930s. It is revealed in the deconstructive attempts of Derrida to resolve linguistic marginalization, centrism and binaries.

It is the Hegelian method of the resolution of thesis and antithesis. It is Moses staring into the Burning Bush. I believe that it has many analogues in the visual field, as well as the literary and musical fields or all levels of creation.

Interestingly enough, I infer that in alienation this being reflects the condition of our being, individually and collectively in this contemporary age as we populate and evolve on all levels. For many artists this has been the essence of their experience in society. Since their separation from the establishment embodied in church and state go up untll the present time, many artists have struggled with their relation to the exterior world and how to incorporate it with their individual, dream world of ideas and poetry. To be an artist means to be isolated in one's own dream world, since art is a language so personal, intellectual and spiritually subjectve to the artist, regardless of crticism and objective analysis. This is the result from a concentrated spirit and intellection that characterizes the individual aspect of art and its relaion to the objective world, which is also a reflection of this alienation. That is to say, the whole time there is this balance sought between creative intimacy and the degree of objectivity where one an coexist with in reality. In fact, it is intertwined through integration and analogy. Ironically, this separation and isolation has become very public, associety develops more and more technology orientated towards an individualized, solipsistic world. In that sense, everybody is increasingly experiencing alienation in their daily lives as a result of these desires to be individual and unique as apparent collective level of objectivity through technological unity. This is projected through television, Inernet, radio, magazines and scores of other media, which form the panorama of collective analogues that our selves are creating through this relationship. However, it isolates the individual from that collective=ity by individualizig their needs and interactions with society and the objective world. This is ultimately ironic and contradictory. As it is a definite part of us, technology is creating a normality of isolation, catered to our whms and desires, or dreams. As we create a place in the world that is an immediate reflection of our desires, we ironically create an alien being which both the collective society, totally inscrutible and our individual selves exemplify. Even after we have consumed it in both a commercial and cultural sense, it remains as such. This is the artistic evolution of our being in a physical universe.

Art is a conversation with an alien.

After abstraction and its recodification in the formal realm, now the alien poses the next level of abstraction, that aspect revealing itself in the artistic process. It is the next plateau to our formal understanding of art in any field.

The alien is abstract like the individual in relation to contemporary society. This abstraction is the point or place where we relate ourselves to the world.

In the height of the cult of celebrity, where individuals become individualized abstractions of themselves and a template ideal, this could never be truer.

My art as alien is as much a part of me as it is alien from me. It is a startling mirror to myself, like Maha Kali dancing on Shiva and mirroring him in his power to create and destroy.

As I look out into the world from my room and wonder at that collective alien presence of my art and the objective world, I see that it characterizes this present moment.

Then I wonder what my alien is really trying to show me. In any case, I realize that is where lies the secret and mystery of art and its infinite potential to become.

Who and what is the alien? Why do we need to confront it?

For now, we need it to progress on all levels of society and culture in oredr to achieve our next stage in evolution. As we confront this abstraction in our artistic lives, we are initiated into another level of existence and, of course, the development of our integral culture in a limitless space.

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Copyright 2003 @ David M. Twiddle. All rights reserved.

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