You're Part of It

A good friend of mine, Markuz Wernli Sait, is currently working on a monumental art project called Momentarium.

Over a period of eight weeks Markuz is inviting people in the streets of Kyoto in Japan to become a part of a daily, one-hour art performance. He is following a strict schedule for these performances, so you can plan ahead and visit him at one of the scheduled spots should you be in Kyoto over the next few weeks.

The performances are quirky and thought provoking and you can follow along on his website where he is posting a daily video. He has also been featured in this YouTube video with one of his weekly public tea ceremonies - this one was held in the Kyoto train station.

The videos range from not-much-going-on to very interesting. Especially in the later ones Markuz has found his stride and he has quite a lot of meaningful interactions with random pedestrians around him who visibly slow down, stop and start to think about where they are and what is going on. Their daily lifes have been interupted for a moment of reflection, and they are now a part of what Markuz is doing.

This is a lesson that we can all learn, that by following our daily routine and blindly running from home to work and back, we are actually losing a part of our lifes to pointless activity. Sometimes it's good to slow down, sit down, relax and reflect.