Event 1: Octopus Mandala
The event I attended was Professor Vesna’s performance art piece titled Octopus Mandala: The Butterfly Effect. The entire event was a collection different of performance art at the beach in Santa Monica, all relating to the beach, the sand, or the sea.
The Octopus Mandala event began with a procession toward the beach where myself and others joined to form a circle beginning with Professor Vesna in the middle. Audio then played which was a composition of meditation music, ocean sounds, and a voiceover of Professor Vesna’s thoughts and ideas relating to the octopus.
The audio described the disconnect between humans and our planet: the confusion of us destroying our lifeline. We continue to produce plastic and pollute our oceans even though we know the adverse effects it has on ourselves, the creatures around us, and the overall beauty of our planet, for our own capitalistic endeavors. This reminds me of the two distinct cultures of art and science we learned about in week one. This event also showed a dichotomy between the beauty of our planet (art) and the economics of capitalism (science).
I would definitely recommend this event to any person because it told an impactful story of the destruction of our planet through the octopus. Not only is this important in understanding the danger our planet is in, but I found it good for my spiritual health as well. The meditation helped me calm my mind and gave me a sense of peace and community as I got to share this experience with the other people at the event.
Citations
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. "Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis." Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, 2021.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. "Global Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet." NASA, 2023, climate.nasa.gov.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "Climate Change." Climate.gov, NOAA, 2023, www.climate.gov/.
World Meteorological Organization. "WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2022." WMO, 2023, public.wmo.int/en.
Union of Concerned Scientists. "Global Warming: Confronting the Realities of Climate Change." UCSUSA, Union of Concerned Scientists, 2023, www.ucsusa.org/.
Hi Natalie! After reading your post, I wish I could have made it to this event!! It looks like it was a lot of fun. And, I think the fact that we as a society continue to do things that are harmful to the planet, despite knowing the negative consequences, was an important point to bring up. It seems as though convenience or maybe even a lack of understanding regarding how detrimental one action can be worsen the situation further (for instance, thinking that you're just one person and not enough to make an impact probably enables society to continue making these harmful decisions).
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