Using Benches for a conscious connection with self and ever changing nature of things.
'A Gate to the Clouds' project uses current existing benches situated in the Tel Aviv (and in general, urban) public space to create islands of self-care, peace of mind and conscious connection with self – heart, body, mind and soul - all as one.This is materialized via invitation to use to benches in order to lie down with eyes open and observe the passing clouds (or whatever that passes by – birds, insects, airplanes, light, etc.) for a session of five minutes.
This invitation can be realized with guided aid (in the form of a guided audio file that be online app, via a USB connector to be connected to bench), or without any instruction.
The benched will be clearly signposted and colored so that it will be easy to detect a ‘Gate to the Clouds’ in the public space. Hence, people aware of the option can look for a bench in their vicinity (or, in a hopeful future, just use any bench for that reason) when desired.
The suggestion asks for a radical use of a common public space (bench) that is used usually for different means: community/friendly gathering, taking a break but also to deny people from an option (such as putting metal dividers to deny homeless people to sleep on them). The suggestion gives people the possibility to connect consciously to themselves and to the ever changing nature of nature and all beings while being in the public urban space (unlike at hope alone, in the studio with a practicing group or in nature). Amidst busy cities that have no breaks, amidst the narrow ways it is considered acceptable to move and use the body in the public space, the suggestion to ‘take a break’ while connecting, is highly uncommon.
In the post-pandemic era, where so many people grew high levels of anxiety, where the public space seem ‘dangerous’, when the world ‘halted’, the suggestion gives people the opportunity to reconnect to themselves and the changes that happen all the time in the world, even when seems to halt.
Technically, it demands a willingness from the part of the Tel Aviv municipality to signpost benches
From the artists it demands to create a logo, to create audio instructions files, to find a web/app host, to locate the benches to participate in the project in all parts of the city, and in various possible locations (industrial area, city center, Jaffa, Eastern parts, parks, avenues, near kindergartens, old age homes, Northern parts, bustling nightlife areas etc.)
