Jeffrey Schiff

  

Everywhere Chidambaram
 
   

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Year: 1998
Materials: ayurvedic soap, brass bowls, water
Dimensions: Variable

Everywhere Chidambaram

Everywhere Chidambaram developed as a reaction to two fundamental yet opposing features of India's character: tolerance of chaos and squalor (which is inclusive of virtually everything), while at the same time an almost obsessive fixation on dogma and purification. The project consists of three pieces, all made of soap, all under the collective title Everywhere Chidambaram. Chidambaram refers to the site in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu where the deity Shiva performed his famous dance, known as the Nataraja. It is thought to be the only location on earth strong enough to accommodate Shiva's dance, and thus one of the most sacred places in India.

The title work, Everywhere Chidambaram, derives from a poem by the Tamil saint Tirumular. Tamil letters cut out in Ayurvedic Medimix soap spell out three lines from the poem -- "Everywhere the sacred form / Everywhere the sacred dance / Everywhere Chidambaram" -- and are lined up on the floor along the walls of the gallery. A basin of water is placed beside each line of letters. The viewer is invited to recite the poem through the silent, sequential act of washing each letter.

The color 50-page book Everywhere Chidambaram from Nature Morte Press is available for $12.95 + tax/shipping at Printed Matter Inc., 195 Tenth Avenue New York, NY 10011 T: 212 925 0325, http://printedmatter.org