Cascoland Journal
Tuesday 8 March
A fortnight ago a group of elderly people from New Crossroads came together
on a sports ground for a gathering called ´Silent Sky Project#´.
For half an hour they lay down in a circle and stared at the sky in complete
silence. It was an exceptional experience that was introduced by Dutch
artist Rob Sweere.
Imagine nineteen, mostly elderly, people from New Crossroads who lie in
a circle together. Their bodies are touching each other while their eyes
stare vertically up having a conversation with the sky. Nobody is moving
an inch, in total concentration, in touch with their ancestors and all
the natural powers that surround them. One may wonder; what powers will
be aroused in this tiny fraction of stillness while the surrounding world
keeps moving in an accelerated speed?
Dutch artist Rob Sweere sees himself as the intermediary to this experience.
He just makes it happen through his art. As to why he started the Silent
Sky Project he says: ´As a child I was often, like so many children
in this world, lying on my back in the grass and spending time looking
into the sky. I looked at the clouds, gazed into space and gave room to
my fantasies and my dreams. With Silent Sky I want to remind others and
myself that the focus of us humans is more often than not horizontal.
But what about the world when we face it vertically, and see that wide
open space that we call sky?´
New Crossroads is not the first place where Rob has introduced the Silent
Sky experience. He travelled to Mexico, India and the United Kingdom and
of course his home country The Netherlands to put the world at a standstill.
For himself Silent Sky is a logical step in his own personal development.
He says: ´I have been an artist for seventeen years now. For a long
time I used to make artistic installations that were focused on the individual
experience. With Silent Sky I am looking for a more social approach to
my artwork. I want to involve groups of people to become an active part
of it all.´
Although Africa is a new experience for Rob, he is delighted to see that
his project fits into the African reality. He says: ´Africa is a
very spiritual and social place. You can already see that in the way people
behave. They don´t focus on the individual, they rather go for the
collective in their daily lives. Besides doing things together - much
more than in Europe - you notice that in the way they behave physically
towards one another. In Silent Sky projects in The Netherlands people
would never touch one another while lying together. Here that is normal
to do. While I was introducing Silent Sky to the people of New Crossroads
they started calling it a spiritual healing session.´
Also in their reactions afterwards there is a big difference between people
from South Africa or The Netherlands. He says: ´In my country people
are very quiet after Silent Sky. As if they have found a trace of their
inner peace. But in New Crossroads the people immediately started communicating
with each other. As if nothing special had happened.´
Rob realized soon afterwards that such is not the case. People in Africa
don´t spend too many words on what they exactly experience. But
that doesn´t mean that the experience is not just as intense. He
says: ´Directly after the session was finished I interviewed them
with my camera to record their reactions. At first they made gestures
and said: ``What for?`` For them it was obvious that what they had experienced
was something very powerful.´
When they finally realized that it was important for Rob to know what
they had felt, they gladly revealed it to him. He says: ´One woman
told me that she had suffered pains in her upper body. The morning after
Silent Sky the pain was gone. Another man said that he had a ``closed
eye`` for a long time and that directly after the session `he could see
much better. To me it is very significant to hear this kind of reactions
in Africa. But it doesn´t surprise me because of the African tradition
of ritual healing sessions. In other countries I have not encountered
these kind of stories yet.´
Rob is currently planning to go to Israel and the land of the Palestinian
Authority to do a Silent Sky project with Israelis and Palestinians. His
idea is to gather a circle of people on both sides of a wall that is separating
both groups from one another. The healing power of the sky might not stop
the ongoing aggression in that part of the world, but al least it might
make them realize that contemplating vertically might bring some solace
in finding a new perspective for peace.
participants after silent sky session
