The Animated Soul is an interactive computer assisted
installation. It is based on the ritual for achieving everlasting life
as prescribed in The Egyptian Book of the Dead, a collection of
ancient Egyptian rituals and religious texts. It was presented at the
Ghia Gallery, a casket show-room,
in San Francisco in 1991; and at the Kuopio Museum in Finland and Takada
Fine Arts, San Francisco in 1992. The Animated Soul, in book
format, traveled from 1992-1993 throughout the United States under
an NEA grant.
In a tomb environment, the participant makes choices on a computer. Its
hypercard stack is a journey of prayers, ceremonies, and poetic excerpts
that are represented by icons. The selection of icons leads to a
personalized
sequence of portals, eventually leading the participant to Words of
Power.
The icons are contemporary symbols for mass communication and coexist
with
the scanned ancient Egyptian imagery, depicted both on the screen and as
drawings on the walls.
In a sequence of choices, the participant may initially choose the
dancing
couple icon, which leads to the Gate of Pleasure (rather than Gates of
Wisdom
or Power). To enter the Gate of Pleasure, the next selection limits one's
choice to a body part: the belly, genitalia, or legs. The body part
selection
of belly takes the participant to choices represented by contemporary
icons - a grocery cart, a pig, and a trash can. A choice of the grocery
cart
brings up on the screen a Declaration of Innocence. This innocence is
necessary
to declare before entering an everlasting life. After the viewer has
selected
the food cart, the process reverses viewer expectation by declaring,
"I
have not taken food" and the participant's Ka or Ancient Double
appears.
It is Nekhebet and she assigns to the participant a purpose in this life:
to "change faces into things of beauty". An image of goddess
Nekhebet and the purpose are printed out on a ticket. With ticket in
hand
the participant leaves the computer and searches for Nekhebet's casket.
Above the casket hangs a golden balloon imprinted with her image. In the
casket are an image of Nekhebet on her pillow and her Words of Power.
The
Words of Power are printed on a label to be glued onto the ticket. This
act validates the ticket and is a transference of Nekhebet's Words of
Power
to the viewer: *..."In my belly I join the breath of life and rise
from the center of myself. Truth is in the belly. There is food for the
hungry. Let me make you beautiful and protected with my
bandages."
**"Although commonplace icons suggest easy answers, messages such as
that of Nekhebet invert the viewer's original choice. Physical desires
are
often directed into a spiritual dimension. In this instance, the
participant
recognizes the realm of the belly in a larger sense, as the realm of deep
breath meditation. The hypermedia version in moving viewers through its
screens defies the time gap in its seamless connection of past wisdom to
present desires."
*Awakening Osiris by Normandi Ellis
** General excerpts and quote are from Off The Shelf and On-Line:
Computers Move the Book Arts into Twenty-first Century by Betty
Bright, curator of the book exhibition.
Kathryn Woods is responsible for the Hypercard programming and other
valuable
input.