WIND PHONE: Celebrate the flowers you planted on May Day
How arts and art installations can help with wellbeing in times of grief.
During my time in Detroit, I was invited to participate as a panelist for 2023 Knight New Work Detroit.
“Amid rapid digital transformation, artists and arts organizations are harnessing technology to expand horizons, foster connections and redefine boundaries. In support of this novel approach, Knight Foundation launched Knight New Work — first in Miami, then moving to Knight cities across the country.
The 2023 Knight New Work recipients in Detroit will use new technologies to explore a wide range of cultural and societal themes in their selected projects, from consumerism to climate change, urban mobility, personal and shared history, and grief.”
That grief one… Politics of The Grid by Jessica Rajko
Politics of the Grid is a new dance-theatre work by Jessica Rajko, a Knight New Work Detroit grant recipient. The immersive performance fuses dance, devised theatre, and digital sound/touch technologies, to immerse audiences in a surrealist depiction of today's AI-driven world.
The production follows five people contained within a room. The only way to communicate with those outside the room is through a red phone connected to a nonfunctional automated self-help line. As the dancers struggle with their contained coexistence, they uncover the truth about who or what controls their small world. They uncover The Grid.
Politics of the Grid explores AI [artificial intelligence] as the unseen interlocutor between the people we do and do not know—a new form of human relationship in which distance not only represents physical proximity, but the chasms of understanding built upon algorithms, user agreements, and data permissions.”
An Instagram Collaboration
From the creator’s Instagram : “A wind phone is a disconnected telephone where people can speak to loved ones who have passed away.
Wind phones help people process their grief by giving them an outlet to talk about their loss, retell old memories, and connect to a person who is gone.
The concept originated in Japan. Itaru Sasaki placed a disconnected phone in his garden to help him grieve his cousin who died from terminal cancer. After his cousin's death, Sasaki connected to his cousin by talking to him on the phone.
In my initial research for Politics of the Grid, I studied the different ways phones serve as props and metaphors for our connections to each other. I am fascinated by how phones bring people together, represent physical and emotional distance, amplify longing, and serve as an outlet for grief.
In an early conversation with Knight New Work Detroit panelist, Matthew Principe, I shared my phone research, and he introduced me to the wind phone. I was struck by the raw impact of speaking into a phone, even if no one speaking back.
We use the idea of the wind phone within the piece. Grief looms over one character in particular--Ray, played by Coco Vaughn. Memories of a close friend haunt Ray throughout the work. Her quiet anguish reflects how grief becomes tethered to loss, whether it be the loss of a loved one, loss of community, or the loss of humanity haunting the automated systems we create for ourselves.”
Thank you NPR
As part of the year-long cohort, the artists meet with the panelists one-on-one; a conversation answering questions the panelists may have had to help facilitate their projects, or requests for advice the artists may have to nuture their process. I remember this conversation with Jessica and loved learning about what she planned for this. My boyfriend, Jeff, shared the concept of the wind phone to me, when he heard about it on the amazing show “All Things Considered” on National Public Radio.
Listen to the audio here:
Jeff was processing his grief of the passing of his younger sister, which occurred only a few months prior. Listening to this story inspired him to use the My Wind Phone wesbite. He expressed the adventure to embark on this pilgrimage, Southern Rhode Island. It was in between someone’s property and an open field, tucked back off the road. I’m glad to have done this with him. Grief is singular. He didn’t share with me how he felt, but he was satisfied and productive.
I was able to meet Jessica in person September 2024 for the in-person summit of panelists and artists, for one final presentation to everyone before the exhibition of their work. Little did I know that only five days after this meeting in Detroit, Jeff would cross over himself, leaving me and so many processing our own loss.
Beltane
Today is May 1st! Or May Day. Or to the wiccans, Beltane - the midpoint between spring and summer in the Northern Hemisphere.
According to Moonfall Metaphysical: Beltane is “time to celebrate the abundance of life. It's a time to honor the fertility of the earth, the growth of new life, and the renewal of the natural world. At Beltane, we honor the union of the god and goddess, which brings new life to the earth.”
Jeff’s impact continues to affect myself and countless others through his sharing of the wind phone - to me, then to Jessica, and now to the audience of her project at the end of the month. Event information can be found here.
How kismet I received the invitation to the performances - Beltane - and celebrate of the proverbial May flowers from the seeds Jeff planted.
Resources
For more resources on grief, take a look at the My Wind Phone website
The arts can help us confront the all-encompassing spectrum of emotion, connected to the human condition. But without the access to communal experience, society is prone to its decline of wellbeing.
Social Prescribing is a means of connecting patients to a range of non-clinical services in the community to improve their health and well-being. It builds on the evidence that addressing social determinants of health such as socioeconomic status, social inclusion, housing, and education is key to improving health outcomes.
For information on Social Prescribing in the arts, take a look at Art Pharmacy, whose social prescribing solution is built around the understanding that traditional mental health services often leave gaps in care, particularly for populations experiencing barriers to access, cultural stigma, or a preference for non-clinical interventions.
Based in Atlanta, GA, Art Pharmacy is currently working with partners in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Massachusetts, and New York.
Visit the World Health Organization for a free toolkit on Social Prescribing installation
This is beautiful and inspiring. ❤️