Spirit Cooking with Marina Abramovic

Re: Spirit Cooking with Marina Abramovic

Postby admin » Mon Nov 14, 2016 11:57 pm

Inside India's Kumbh Mela festival where holy men (and women) reach the gods with a little help from some marijuana and technicolour make-up
by Katy Winter
April 8, 2014

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• The Kumbh Mela is a Hindu pilgrimage to the city of Allahabad which takes place every three years

• Last year's festival saw 100 million pilgrims traveling to bathe in the Saraswati river which runs through the city

• Thousands of Sadhus or holy men also join them, with many more attending to be initiated into the austere holy life

A sea of vibrant colour enveloped the mythical Saraswati river at Allahabad as the crowds descended for the Kumbh Mela festival, among them, thousands of holy men and those young people hoping to be initiated into this ancient section of Indian society.

The Kumbh Mela, the mass Hindu pilgrimage of faith in which Hindus gather to bathe in a sacred river, takes place every three years, switching between four cities, with last year’s event in Allahabad attracting more than 100 million pilgrims, making it the biggest gathering of humans in history.

Now a stunning set of pictures taken by photographer Eric Lafforgue, has opened a rare window into the complex and often hidden world of the religion's holy men or Sadhus who attend the festival.

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A Naga Sadhu smokes cannibis to expand his mind during the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, India last year

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A young men becoming a Naga Sadhu in one of the thousands of ancient rituals that take place along the banks of the scared river Saraswati

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Naga Sadhu In Juna Akhara, Maha Kumbh Mela, Allahabad, India

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A young Sadhu spends his days blessing believers, who come and touch his feet as a sign of respect, and rubbing ceremonial ash on their foreheads

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Sadhus must abandon all their material possessions and familial attachments, living a life of poverty housed in temples or caves, starting each day by bathing in cold water, and supported by donations by the devout

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A Naga Sadhu with very long hair holds it above his head during the 55 day pilgrimage last year, which occurs every forth year at rotating locations

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Recuits are shaven, their hair collected into a ball (right) and buried on the banks of the Ganges

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Recruits are shaven, their hair collected into a ball (right) and buried on the banks of the Ganges to symbolise renouncing of their past life

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Last year's event in Allahabad which drew 100 million pilgrims, making it the biggest gathering of humans in history

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At 3am in the morning on the most important day for bathing in the Kambh Mela millions of pilgrims walk towards t he banks of the Ganges. The crowd must always be carefully managed to avoid stampedes

As well as a pilgrimage for the devoted, the Kumbha Mela provides an opportunity for young people to become a holy person and join the Sadhus; devoting their lives to achieving spiritual liberation - the final stage of life according to Hinduism.

Those pictured with skulls are known as the Aghori; an intense type of Sadhu who venture far beyond austerity and make it their life's work to overcome taboos, whether by meditating over corpses or even, occasionally, eating human flesh.

Others show their allegiance to Hinduism by wearing saffron-yellow longhis (tunics) if they happen to be a devotee of Shiva or yellow and white for Vishnu, and paint their faces with sacred scenes and symbols.

Sadhus must abandon all their material possessions and familial attachments, living a life of poverty housed in temples or caves, starting each day by bathing in cold water, and supported by donations by the devout.

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Important: A pilgrim stands holding a pot of water taken from the Ganges River - one of the holiest places on the planet for people of the Hindu faith

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A child at the Kumbh Mela festival

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A future Sadhu photographed at Kumbh Mela
Faces of the festival: The huge three-yearly event attracts hordes of pilgrims such as this girl (left) and future Sadhus like this boy (right)

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Looking good: Naga Sadhu, one of the babas at the Kumbh Mela festival, poses in a pair of dark sunglasses for photographer Eric Lafforgue

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All too much! A female attendee sleeps on bare boards in the middle of the camp while the Kumbh Mela celebrations continue around her

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Sadhu Amar Bharati, who has been holding his arm up for 38 years, is one of the many fakirs who flock to the Kumbh Mela to collection donations

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This fakir remains inside a thorn bush all day, blessing and praying over the faithful, in an extreme act of devotion seen by some Sadhu

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A Sacred Cow with five legs is displayed to the millions of pilgrims who attended the festival in Allahabad

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Devotion: A man shows off his passion for his faith as he breaks into a spontaneous dance during the Kumbh Mela celebrations in Allahabad

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Sacred: One of the most important parts of the festival for pilgrims is having the chance to take a dip in the sacred Ganges River

Their quest for spirituality is helped along by smoking cannabis; the scent of which hangs heavy over the Kumbh Mela celebrations as the Sadhus, who are widely respected throughout India, gear up for the the rituals which include bathing in the river.

But not every Sadhu completes the same ritual: Hindu worship includes a wide variety of different devotions, depending on the origin of the Sadhu and the guru with whom they trained.

While some adopt a life of solitary wandering, others live in communities. Others are known for particular practices, such as the Black Sadhu who, due to their association with the rituals of death are often feared and rumoured to eat human flesh.

The fakir, meanwhile, engage in dramatic displays of devotion to their faith, performing feats of endurance such as holding their hand above their head, or standing on one foot for years at a time

At the Kumbh Mela, thousands of recruits undergo initiation to become Sadhus, staying up all night in prayer and group meditation by the banks of the sacred river.

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Chilly: Pilgrims continue to wander down to bathe in the river late into the night, although many choose to do so fully clothed

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Washing: Although sacred, the Ganges is also used for everything from sourcing cooking water to washing saris such as these

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Handy: Saris washed in the holy waters of the Ganges are then transferred to the roofs of considerably less sacred cars to dry

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Prayer: A man prays as he takes a dip in the holy waters of the Ganges during the Kumbh Mela festival in Allahbad

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A young 'black Sadhu' who takes care of cremations. They are rumoured to eat the human flesh of corpses (left), and a fakir who took a vow not to let his leg touch the ground for two years. Like others who undertake such extreme shows of faith, he is considered a living God by the pilgims

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Naga Sadhu from Juna Akhara run down to the river to bath early in the morning. A Sadhu must begin everyday with a cold bathe before beginning the days chores

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A sea of vibrant colour enveloped the mythical Saraswati river at Allahabad as the crowds descended, among them, thousands of holy men

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An elephant with its tusks filed down, parades through the streets, ridden by three pilgrims who descended on Allahabad in last years Kumbh Mela

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In their quest for liberation and religious illumination these holy men, who are revered throughout much of India, often engage in smoking cannabis or taking other drugs

Ahead of the celebrations, young Sadhu recruits are shaven and their hair rolled into a ball and buried on the banks of the Ganges to symbolise renouncing of their past life.

Those who are already initiated spend the 55 days of the Kumbha Mela blessing believers who come to pray for money, health or for their sins to be cleansed.

Visitors touch the Sadhu’s feet as a mark of resect and he blesses them, rubbing their foreheads with ceremonial ash, and recieving a donation from the pilgrims in return.

To house the millions of visitors, vast temporary camps are erected and as a result, as photographer Eric Lafforgue reveals, in lots of people getting lost in the crowds. ‘All day, loudspeakers blare out names and descriptions of people separated from their friends and family,' he reveals.

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Ritual: A young reveller has his head shaved during Kumbh Mela celebrations in the Indian city of Allahabad

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Pretty: A little girl wearing make-up designed to make her resemble the god Shiva during the Kumbh Mela celebrations in Allahbad

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And he's off! A Naga Sadhu cycles past in a ceremonial saffron coloured scarf during the Kumbh Mela festival in the Indian city of Allahbad

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Endurance: Many Sadhu perform feats of endurance like allowing their hair to grow very long or by standing on one leg for years in order to prove their devotion
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Re: Spirit Cooking with Marina Abramovic

Postby admin » Tue Nov 15, 2016 8:14 am

Marina Abramovic on Right-Wing Attacks: "It's Absolutely Outrageous and Ridiculous"
by Andrew Russeth
11/04/16

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.


Just when it seemed this election could not get any more absurd, artist Marina Abramovic has been dragged into the mayhem.

Among the latest batch of emails released by Wikileaks, allegedly from the hacked account of John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, is one from Abramovic, in which she invites Tony Podesta, a major art collector who is John’s brother, to “a Spirit Cooking dinner at my place,” and asks if John might want to join. Tony forwarded the email to his brother, which is how it ended up among the stolen emails.

Various right-wing websites seem to have done some cursory internet research on Abramovic over the past 12 hours, and they found a video of the artist painting with pigs’ blood in one of her Spirit Cooking (1997) performances, and they have gotten pretty riled up over the past 24 hours, even claiming that the artist is involved in Satanic rituals.

The Drudge Report led this morning with this headline: “WIKI WICCAN: PODESTA PRACTICES OCCULT MAGIC.” Infowars—run by the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones (the guy who recently said he’s heard that President Obama and Hillary Clinton smell of sulfur)—has linked Abramovic with Aleister Crowley and declared that the dinner included “black magic.” Danger & Play, the site run by Mike Cernovich, the alt-right commentator recently profiled by the New Yorker, has headlined its article, “Podesta emails reveal Clinton’s inner circle as sex cult with connections to human trafficking.”

“I’m outraged, because this is taken completely out of my context,” Abramovic told me by phone this afternoon. She was at Sean Kelly Gallery, her rep in New York. The dinner, she explained, was a reward for donors to a Kickstarter campaign she had run. Tony Podesta has collected her work since the 1990s, and he attended, but John couldn’t make it. In fact, she has never met John Podesta.

“It was just a normal dinner,” Abramovic said, adding that about 10 people attended. “It was actually just a normal menu, which I call spirit cooking. There was no blood, no anything else. We just call things funny names, that’s all.” (The Kickstarter page advertised “traditional soups.”)

Spirit Cooking, Abramovic explained, was a performance she staged at a number of museums around the world in the ‘90s, painting graffiti with pigs’ blood. She also made a limited-edition book, which contains various recipes. That book is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, among other places.

And the Satanism charge? “Anybody who wants can read my memoirs and find out that [my work] is far away from Satanism,” she said. (The book was just released this week, she noted, and it’s doing well on Amazon.) “My work is really more about spirituality and not anything else,” she continued. “I’ve been doing my work for so long, and this is a misunderstanding.” She said of the right-wing attacks, “It’s absolutely outrageous and ridiculous.”

All things considered, Abramovic sounded in relatively good spirits—exasperated but maintaining a sense of humor about the whole thing. “I mean, this world is really turning to hell,” she said at one point, laughing. “I am completely amazed, something is taken out of context for the purpose of winning.”

“We are living in such a strange world,” she said.


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Re: Spirit Cooking with Marina Abramovic

Postby admin » Tue Nov 15, 2016 10:09 pm

https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/44007

From:[email protected]
To: [email protected]
Date: 2015-09-25 14:33
Subject: TWEETS: #GlobalGoals
**Climate agreement tweets coming**

*TWEETS 9/25*

Applaud the global leaders & citizens who crafted the new #GlobalGoals. Let's work together to #EndPoverty & create a better world by 2030

Youth are at the center of the new #GlobalGoals. Excited to see what younger generations will achieve.

My favorite of the #GlobalGoals? No. 14— we must protect our oceans and life below water #SDGs

​--

Milia Fisher
Special Assistant to the Chair
Hillary for America
[email protected]
c: 858.395.1741

Attachments:Image
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Re: Spirit Cooking with Marina Abramovic

Postby admin » Wed Nov 16, 2016 9:05 pm

@AbramovicM666
by Marina Abramovic
Twitter

Image
Marina Abramovic
@AbramovicM666
The Performanсе artist Marina Abramovic.

Joined August 2013

[DELETED] In reply to ___
Marina Abramovic ‏@AbramovicM666 Nov __
@ ___ because [I joined twitter when I was 66 years old]

In reply to ismet korkmaz
Marina Abramovic ‏@AbramovicM666 Nov 12
@KorkmazIsmet because 6 my lucky number

Marina Abramovic ‏@AbramovicM666 Nov 4
I'm not satanist!Stop it!

Marina Abramovic ‏@AbramovicM666 Nov 4
My friends, please stop twittering me with tag spiritcooking! Just enjoy art and stop asking me about politics.

Marina Abramovic ‏@AbramovicM666 Nov 4
Marina Abramovic Retweeted Fletcher Scott
Why not?Marina Abramovic added,

Fletcher Scott @funkmasterfletc
@AbramovicM666 so you tag your name with 666, interesting.

Marina Abramovic ‏@AbramovicM666 Nov 4
So my dear
‼️I NEVER CLIMB INTO POLITICS QUESTIONS!‼️
I am a woman-art but not social scientist.
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Re: Spirit Cooking with Marina Abramovic

Postby admin » Thu Nov 17, 2016 12:43 am

https://wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/emailid/14333

HONDURAS: MAYBE, MAYBE

From: Cheryl Mills
To: Hillary Clinton
Date: 2009-08-28 13:30
Subject: HONDURAS: MAYBE, MAYBE

UNCLASSIFIED U.S. Department of State Case No. F-2014-20439 Doc No. C05764911

Date: 07/31/2015 RELEASE IN PART B6
From: Mills, Cheryl D <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, August 29, 2009 8:30PM
To: Subject: Fw: Honduras: Maybe, maybe

Fyi

From: Kelly, Craig A
To: Mills, Cheryl D; Abedin, Huma; Sullivan, Jacob 3 Cc: Smith, Daniel B; Macmanus, Joseph E
Sent: Sat Aug 29 16:53:56 2009
Subject: Fw: Honduras: Maybe, maybe

Attached is from Lew Amselem, our rep to OAS. He gives a readout of his conversation today with Arias Accord negotiator Jon Biehl. Some nice comments about S from Biehi and Arias. I will forward another note from Hugo Llorens with similar message. Best, ck

From: Amselem, W Lewis
To: Task Force Honduras; Otero, Maria
Sent: Sat Aug 29 13:54:22 2009
Subject: Honduras: Maybe, maybe

From: amseleM
To: Amselem, W Lewis
Sent: Sat Aug 29 13:51:00 2009
Subject: Biehi called a little after 1:30 pm to say the meeting with the de facto envoys had been abruptly cancelled -- but for perhaps a positive reason.

Micheletti has asked about half the team to return to Tegucigalpa (Corrales stayed, as "he seeks to confirm that he will not lose his visa"). In the phone call he got from the de facto envoys as they headed for the airport, Biehl said he detected a positive attitude. The envoys seemed confident they would get M to sign the SJ Accord. The envoys prmoised to call Biehi late this afternoon with the news from Honduras. If, if, if, if, the news is positive, Biehl and OAS Political Director Victor Rico will leave for Tegucigalpa tomorrow morning to meet Micheletti, make sure this is not another time-wasting tactic, and get something in writing from him that he agrees to the Accord and will sign it.

Just before speaking to me, Biehl had spoken with Arias who expressed cautious optimisim that we might have a break-through. Arias told Biehl to tell us, that if that happens the United States gets the credit.

Arias said the US has played the game exactly right, with the appropriate mix of carrots, sticks, toughness, unified message, even-handedness and, above all, good timing. Arias said the Europeans have been calling him over the past two days, and have fallen into line with the US; the Swedes, as head of the EU, and have told him that they will take their cue from the US and will support US actions. Arias, Biehi said, was extremely complimentary of the "great political instincts shown by Secretary Clinton."

-1-4n

UNCLASSIFIED U.S. Department of State Case No. F-2014-20439 Doc No. C05764911 Date: 07/31/2015

With fingers crossed, the old rabbit's foot out of the box in the attic, I will be sacrificing a chicken in the backyard to Moloch . . . Tri  
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