Heaven Can Be Here (even if it's just for a second)
…Is an immersive working experience employing installation, healing crystal sound bowl meditation, and performance to induce feelings of euphoria. Debuted at the 2019 7th Annual Sidewalk Detroit Festival, Supercoolwicked and the audience set out to answer the question,
“What if we all simultaneously chose peace?”
The purpose of this project is to challenge the notion that "life is pain". Possibly, euphoria or heaven is a choice that we can lean in to. Societally, it seems that we are so far removed (especially as black people, people from Detroit, oppressed people, etc.) from the notion of heaven that it feels like a far off fantasy, or something that that requires the currency of our life force. Everything worthwhile requires sacrifice, but peace in the present is highly possible - WE JUST HAVE TO CHOOSE IT. We can save this earth. We can save ourselves. Most of the work is the belief.
Throughout the experience, viewers were walked up their main chakra system using guided meditations and healing bowls. Each chakra has its own audible description, its own guided meditation, and its own corresponding song. During the experience, participators were also encouraged to interact with the 6-foot-long heaven cloud installation by attaching "little clouds" to the golden weave hanging from the cloud. The little clouds were used to describe the viewer’s own personal interpretation of heaven. The cloud install was made in collaboration with the visual artist, Angela Eastman.