Cenote Cosmos
Cenote is......?
Cenote is......?
Cenote (originally Cenote Workshop) is an art research and practice project that creates a fictional cosmology (another world) paralleling with our contemporary. We explore possibilities for Spiritual Activism with socially engaged workshop, theater, performance, moving images, writing, self-publishing and curatorial practice within and beyond the two worlds.
A cave that breathes / a spring that glows... Cenote Cosmos is a collaborative art practice and research project that delve inward into the nature of “no-self”,and outward into the awareness of collective structures.
沉洞泉是......?
呼吸的洞、发光的泉；沉洞泉是合作共创的艺术实践与研究项目，同时向内洞察无我的本质，与向外探索集体结构的觉知。我们流动于梦境、公共空间、艺术场所、社群、街道、湖泊、雨林、与宇宙…
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沉洞泉波(Cenote Wave)是人脑和CDQYZ-222黑洞的量子场共振构成的一个频率在极的谐振腔，其共振频率的周长刚好相当于银河系半径。
我们试图共振到沉洞泉波的频率，探索sacred activism （灵性行动主义）在当下社会的实践，具体呈现为艺术研究、写作、影像创作、工作坊、共学小组等。
在三位一体的沉洞泉宇宙观中，个体内部的洞察与修行——社会结构问题的行动与实践—— 集体的转变与疗愈，与天地自然合一而共生。
据说：沉洞泉波可以通向古老未来的沉洞泉宇宙（Cenote Cosmos)，欢迎入洞......
我们试图共振到沉洞泉波的频率，探索sacred activism （灵性行动主义）在当下社会的实践，具体呈现为艺术研究、写作、影像创作、工作坊、共学小组等。
在三位一体的沉洞泉宇宙观中，个体内部的洞察与修行——社会结构问题的行动与实践—— 集体的转变与疗愈，与天地自然合一而共生。
据说：沉洞泉波可以通向古老未来的沉洞泉宇宙（Cenote Cosmos)，欢迎入洞......
Collaborative Art Practices
"Along the rising steam of soup, milk, tears, and urine, you can find a pool of glowing spring water, melting away all antonyms. Mystical, streams-of-consciousness imagery envelops political, collective, and female traumas. Images, words, and sounds act as three channels, weaved together into a trance-like experience and collective musings..."
Cenote Workshop
柔而无畏
The workshop begins with Mei and Jia (co-facilitators of the workshop) sharing their understanding and learnings around what ‘Sacred Activism’ means to them, in relation to gentle power, collective healing, feminism and our Shamanic experience.
Then, Jia guides a collective, light meditation. Mei leads everyone into a massage train where participants massage the person in front while standing in a circle, familirizing everyone using their bodies. The circle then turns around for participants to give back to the person behind them. Each participants introduces themselves with one movement and one sound.
After the warm-up, the first section is Image Theater, inspired by Theater of the Oppressed. Everyone uses their body to embody the words ‘柔弱(soft)’ and ‘无畏(fearless)’. Then, paired with another person, the couple discuss and embody the word ‘柔而无畏(soft but fearless)’ together. We share our discussions, learnings and difficulties.
With an introduction of how to incoporate the body state of ‘being soft but fearless’ into our daily scenarios, we ask each participant to choose one scenario from their life (that is not traumatic) where they find themselves being too reactive in a 2-person interaction. We enter into a guided visualization session, where participants can return to the scenario, look at it from a safe distance, and experience the event from the other person’s perspective. Participants are encouraged to channel the soft but fearless state in their body, and make a body movement to the other person, and say one sentence.
In the final collective performance, inspired by Rainbow of Desire, one volunteer ‘narrator’ shares their scneario and experience, with an emphasis on body sensations and emotional states. Then we invite 10 ‘actors’ to embody the experience with one body movement and one sentence (that starts with ‘I’), reflecting the inner state of the narrator. Collectively, 10 actors present the movement and the words/sounds at the same time. The narrator then chooses their own way to respond/transform the embodiments, before another round of collective presentation through movement and sounds.
Then, Jia guides a collective, light meditation. Mei leads everyone into a massage train where participants massage the person in front while standing in a circle, familirizing everyone using their bodies. The circle then turns around for participants to give back to the person behind them. Each participants introduces themselves with one movement and one sound.
After the warm-up, the first section is Image Theater, inspired by Theater of the Oppressed. Everyone uses their body to embody the words ‘柔弱(soft)’ and ‘无畏(fearless)’. Then, paired with another person, the couple discuss and embody the word ‘柔而无畏(soft but fearless)’ together. We share our discussions, learnings and difficulties.
With an introduction of how to incoporate the body state of ‘being soft but fearless’ into our daily scenarios, we ask each participant to choose one scenario from their life (that is not traumatic) where they find themselves being too reactive in a 2-person interaction. We enter into a guided visualization session, where participants can return to the scenario, look at it from a safe distance, and experience the event from the other person’s perspective. Participants are encouraged to channel the soft but fearless state in their body, and make a body movement to the other person, and say one sentence.
In the final collective performance, inspired by Rainbow of Desire, one volunteer ‘narrator’ shares their scneario and experience, with an emphasis on body sensations and emotional states. Then we invite 10 ‘actors’ to embody the experience with one body movement and one sentence (that starts with ‘I’), reflecting the inner state of the narrator. Collectively, 10 actors present the movement and the words/sounds at the same time. The narrator then chooses their own way to respond/transform the embodiments, before another round of collective presentation through movement and sounds.
Be Soft But Fearless
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Poster: Cenote Workshop - ‘柔而无畏(Soft but Fearless)’ at 前台(one step forward), Guangzhou, China. Dec 17, 2023.
Cenote Writings
濒死体验之后，我比此前任何一刻都热爱生命
"The Universal Core of Love: My Near-Death Experience"
孕育真正超越战争的世界：Tamera和平社区/疗愈生场
"Nurturing a World Beyond War: Tamera Peace Community/Healing Biotope"
是修行者，也是愤怒的女性
"A Spiritual Woman, An Angry Woman"
在前世催眠里，我看到自己是爸爸的爸爸
"Our Past Lives All In The Present: My Hypnosis Experience"
Past Cenote Workshops (2021-2022)
You are I, I am You
The workshop begins with a guided Heart Chakra meditation, then leads into a massage train where participants massage the person in front while standing in a circle. The circle then turns around for participants to give back to the person behind them. Then we warm up our voice with an acapella vocal jamming session. A poetic self-introduction game follows, called “if you are, then I am…” We then use tarot cards to group all participants into pairs, and each group participates in a word game called “find sameness” whereby by free association, two people say at the same time one word that’s in the middle of the two random words they each start with. (e.g. water and window → ‘transparent’) The pair with the best connection (that say the same words within the least number of rounds.
Finally, the improvised performance section of the workshop titled ‘You are I, I am You’ let person A in each pair tell a 2-minute story to person B. Then, the story becomes B’s, and B is to expand the story to be more than 10 minutes. When improvisation begins, B will perform to the music A chose in advance, and with first-person perspective, act out the story in much more detail. The performances will be filmed with a smartphone connected to live-projection, and a ‘live film’ is made in the meantime. In the end, A will respond to B’s performance and tell the original story.
Finally, the improvised performance section of the workshop titled ‘You are I, I am You’ let person A in each pair tell a 2-minute story to person B. Then, the story becomes B’s, and B is to expand the story to be more than 10 minutes. When improvisation begins, B will perform to the music A chose in advance, and with first-person perspective, act out the story in much more detail. The performances will be filmed with a smartphone connected to live-projection, and a ‘live film’ is made in the meantime. In the end, A will respond to B’s performance and tell the original story.
Gift Exchange
The workshop begins with a guided Third Eye Chakra meditation, opening participants’ intuition. Then, we begin a simple game of clairvoyance, where we hold up the back of a tarot card in front of each participant and ask them to trust their intuition and ‘read’ the front of the card. Some are able to read the cards very accurately. Then, all participants stand in a circle and start a ‘massage train’, where every person massages the person in front of them. Eventually, the circle turns to the other direction for everyone to give back. A poetic self-introduction game follows, called “if you are, then I am…”
The participants then take out the objects they have prepared beforehand, which carry meaningful memories for them. The objects are placed secretly in a separate room. By randomized order, each participant goes into the room to choose one object that they feel connected with, without knowing whose it is. After everyone has chosen their object, we ask participants to use their senses and intuition to touch, feel, listen, watch, and smell the object. In a 5-minute automatic writing session, participants jot down all the information that the objects have conveyed. Then, participants try to reconstruct the memory concealed in this object with a 10-minute improvised performance. In the end, the object’s owner reveals themselves, and responds to the performance. In many cases, the owners respond very emotionally, when the memories resurface in this vivid form.
The participants then take out the objects they have prepared beforehand, which carry meaningful memories for them. The objects are placed secretly in a separate room. By randomized order, each participant goes into the room to choose one object that they feel connected with, without knowing whose it is. After everyone has chosen their object, we ask participants to use their senses and intuition to touch, feel, listen, watch, and smell the object. In a 5-minute automatic writing session, participants jot down all the information that the objects have conveyed. Then, participants try to reconstruct the memory concealed in this object with a 10-minute improvised performance. In the end, the object’s owner reveals themselves, and responds to the performance. In many cases, the owners respond very emotionally, when the memories resurface in this vivid form.
Forest Tableaux
Taking place in a forest of a national park, this workshop begins with a guided sitting meditation with a focus on connecting with the natural environment around us. The sitting meditation then progresses into a walking meditation, where we connect with the earth by walking barefoot and with intention. The participants stand in a circle and start a ‘massage train’, where every person massages the person in front of them. Eventually, the circle turns to the other direction for everyone to give back. A game called ‘Shadows’ follows, where groups of two people stand front and back, facing the same direction. With eyes closed, the person in the back leads, holding a gesture without touching the person in front. The person in front senses the energy, and follows with the same gesture as the person in the back.
Participants regroup into 3-4 people each group. Each group draws a card from the ‘deck of characters’, and uses one ‘place’ card and one ‘character’ card as starting points to create a body ‘Tableux’ with the group members in 10 seconds. Attention is drawn to each person’s level and facial expression. Finally, each group draws cards from OH cards, and use the image + text as starting points to create a 10-minute performance in the natural environment. A long rope must be incorporated as a prop.
Participants regroup into 3-4 people each group. Each group draws a card from the ‘deck of characters’, and uses one ‘place’ card and one ‘character’ card as starting points to create a body ‘Tableux’ with the group members in 10 seconds. Attention is drawn to each person’s level and facial expression. Finally, each group draws cards from OH cards, and use the image + text as starting points to create a 10-minute performance in the natural environment. A long rope must be incorporated as a prop.
Covid and After...
In December 2019, a novel coronavirus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic, was first discovered in Wuhan. The city was the location of the first lockdown of the pandemic. Now, 2 years after the outbreak, Cenote Workshop is invited to a psychiatric rehabilitation center in the outskirts of Wuhan to do a series of workshop. Ever since the pandemic, there’s increasing need for psychiatric rehabilitation in the city. This center takes in mostly low-income and homeless patients.
As hosts of the workshop, we bring in kendama toys, crayons, drawing paper, speaker and OH cards. We start connecting with the patients by drawing colorful portraits for them, and chatting with them each during the portrait process. Then, we encourage them to participate in simple group games, singing and dancing sessions. We ask them to pick an OH card and introduce themselves and narrate imaginary stories through these poetic images.
After a few days, we bond with the patients and their genuine souls. We invite outside volunteers who are interested in connecting with the patients to bring in unused books, snacks, stuffed animals, and their talents (dances, magic tricks, improv theater, etc.) to nourish the lives of the patients. After exchanging so mcuh mutual appreciation and gratitute with the patients, we believe joy can bring healing and let everyone experience togetherness.
As hosts of the workshop, we bring in kendama toys, crayons, drawing paper, speaker and OH cards. We start connecting with the patients by drawing colorful portraits for them, and chatting with them each during the portrait process. Then, we encourage them to participate in simple group games, singing and dancing sessions. We ask them to pick an OH card and introduce themselves and narrate imaginary stories through these poetic images.
After a few days, we bond with the patients and their genuine souls. We invite outside volunteers who are interested in connecting with the patients to bring in unused books, snacks, stuffed animals, and their talents (dances, magic tricks, improv theater, etc.) to nourish the lives of the patients. After exchanging so mcuh mutual appreciation and gratitute with the patients, we believe joy can bring healing and let everyone experience togetherness.
Meisner Workshop
To be an interesting actor – hell, to be an interesting human being – you must be authentic and for you to be authentic you must embrace who you really are, warts and all. Do you have any idea how liberating it is to not care what people think about you? Well, that's what we're here to do. — Sanford Meisner
In this workshop, we introduce the Meisner Repetition Exercise and expand upon it to create short scenes with a simple dialogue script.
After a simple warm-up session, we ask two participants to sit across from each other. We give a brief introduction of the Meisner Technique that the goal is for the actor to not focus on themselves and instead concentrate on the other actors in the immediate environment. One participant is instructed to start the repetition exercise by simply saying a physical characteristic of the other participant, such as “You are wearing a T-shirt.” The other participant is instructed to repeat, “I am wearing a T-shirt.” The words are deemed insignificant compared to the underlying emotion. As the exercise progresses, it becomes more about each other’s behavior, and reflects what’s going on between them in the moment, such as “You look impatient.” The way every phrase is said as it is repeated changes in meaning, tone and intensity to correspond with the behavior that each participant produces toward the other. Through this device, the participants stop thinking of what to say and do, and respond more freely and spontaneously, both physically and vocally.
After the exercise, each pair of participants use a simple dialogue script as starting points of dramatic circumstances to create short scenes.
After a simple warm-up session, we ask two participants to sit across from each other. We give a brief introduction of the Meisner Technique that the goal is for the actor to not focus on themselves and instead concentrate on the other actors in the immediate environment. One participant is instructed to start the repetition exercise by simply saying a physical characteristic of the other participant, such as “You are wearing a T-shirt.” The other participant is instructed to repeat, “I am wearing a T-shirt.” The words are deemed insignificant compared to the underlying emotion. As the exercise progresses, it becomes more about each other’s behavior, and reflects what’s going on between them in the moment, such as “You look impatient.” The way every phrase is said as it is repeated changes in meaning, tone and intensity to correspond with the behavior that each participant produces toward the other. Through this device, the participants stop thinking of what to say and do, and respond more freely and spontaneously, both physically and vocally.
After the exercise, each pair of participants use a simple dialogue script as starting points of dramatic circumstances to create short scenes.
The Creation of Oracle
This workshop takes place at TANK Shanghai, during the exhibition Jia Aili: Harsh.
Rituals in Rituals of the Future
This workshop/performance takes place at Himalaya Museum, Shanghai.
After an hour of meditation, instructed body movements and energy works, the performance begins by having two participants sitting in chairs, facing each other. One begins by stating a simple, physical trait of the other person. The other person is asked to repeat this sentence until he/she observes any change of actions and emotions of her/his partners. As the dialogue changes and progresses, the participants move from sitting position to standing, running, dancing, crying, screaming, playing etc.. The connotations of the repeated words become less important as the participants move and act spontaneously.
In the last part of the workshop, the participants randomly choose the viewers to be their partners. As the participants initiate abrupt, irrational and dysfunctional conversations with the viewers, the viewers react accordingly to their immediate emotions, which are sensed by the participants to further the interactions.
After an hour of meditation, instructed body movements and energy works, the performance begins by having two participants sitting in chairs, facing each other. One begins by stating a simple, physical trait of the other person. The other person is asked to repeat this sentence until he/she observes any change of actions and emotions of her/his partners. As the dialogue changes and progresses, the participants move from sitting position to standing, running, dancing, crying, screaming, playing etc.. The connotations of the repeated words become less important as the participants move and act spontaneously.
In the last part of the workshop, the participants randomly choose the viewers to be their partners. As the participants initiate abrupt, irrational and dysfunctional conversations with the viewers, the viewers react accordingly to their immediate emotions, which are sensed by the participants to further the interactions.
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