Announcement for Virgo Rising

You are cordially invited to the presentation of the work Virgo Rising by artists-in-residence Silvan Laan (NLD) and Emily C. Thomas (USA), on 25 September 2016 between 6 pm and 9 pm at Yellow Bird, Woodbury, TN.

Virgo Rising is a temporary earthwork, a line on the land, connecting the points of sunrise and sunset on the fall equinox. Virgo Rising not only serves to structure time, as the equinox marks the transition from summer into winter, it also structures space, since the interplay of sun and earth determine the work’s perfect east-west alignment.¹

During the equinoxes,² day and night are equal in length all over the planet (except the poles).³ Light and dark are in equilibrium; a balancing point in nature and consciousness. A time to reflect on the transition from our outer to inner selves, as the darkness of days increases, approaching winter.

Virgo Rising will turn the hanging valley of Yellow Bird into a celestial observatory,⁴ an intersection between heaven and earth, microcosmos and macrocosmos, darkness and light, individual and social experience.

We hope to dissolve the boundary between the observer and the artwork by inviting you to participate and enjoy Yellow Bird’s cob and cedar-lined, wood-fired sauna. Refreshments, including a Yellow Bird specialty, passiflora punch, will be served. Please bring a towel or other personal items which will aid in your comfort of the sauna experience.

¹ On the equinoxes, the sun rises due east and sets due west.

² The spring equinox takes place around 20 March, the fall equinox around 23 September.

³ Equinox from Latin aequinoctium, aequus (equal) and nox (night).

⁴ The sun, moon, planets, and the signs of the zodiac share roughly the same trajectory across the southern sky, known as the ecliptic.