Do you often look on your phone or laptop for recommendations? Places to go to or things to do? I do.
Do you often get tired and end up staying home? I do.
Do you often randomly choose something to do just to get out of house? I do.
Do you agree we’re spending way too much time on the Internet? I do.
Did you do something lately without looking up reviews? Going to a place – gallery, theatre, restaurant, bar, museum – that came out of the blue, without prior documentation? I would guess not too much or not too many. It’s risky, right? The ifs invade our minds on our way there. The only chance to do something like this is when we’re close to the mentioned places, and decide to give them a chance. “I’m hungry, look, there’s a restaurant here, I’ll give a try”. Even so, you’re tempted to Yelp it, who knows, it might be bad food with terrible customer service.
Some people would rather talk to Alexa or Siri, than talk to a new person. It’s exhausting to initiate a conversation with a new person. What should I start with? What if I don’t like that person and I’m wasting my time? What if I like that person and I won’t be able to make a good impression? What if we have no interests in common? What ifs, what ifs, the list goes on.
With every “if “or “what if”, we lose a little bit of our spontaneity, openness and innocence, but “win” a box of fears.
When having to decide over a place to rent in Las Vegas, we started searching online for apartment buildings in our budget. Nothing unusual, that’s an option if you want to skip an agent. We found some apartments, we went to see some of them, we liked two or three. But then the hard part started: the process of choosing the right one. We went home and looked up building reviews, including tenants, administration and safety. We found a bunch of reviews from different people with different experiences, expectations, and needs, therefore there were a lot of contradictory opinions for each of all the apartments. Because we had to make a decision fast, we chose the apartment we liked the most without taking into consideration its reviews, and so far everything went well.
We did the same last Friday, when without prior research, we attended the opening reception of Tamar Ettun’s exhibition and performance at Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, UNLV, and we enjoyed a unique experience.
“This solo exhibition consists of several parts. At the center, there is an intimate compartment containing an installation of interactive audio work. It is surrounded by mixed media sculptures, a selection of experimental videos, and four inflatable room-sized environments environments where visitors will be enveloped by a climate of vivid color.”
Jubilation Inflation is also a fulfilling performance that touched my soul. Without knowing what the artist’s message was, without reading a short intro or a review, I was present in the moment, with no expectations. What I experienced through it was the feeling of vulnerability and isolation. We tend to find comfort in our safe world. Moreover, we become unwilling to share in-person emotions with others and we are afraid to let our gentleness be seen.
Without noticing, we engender solitude and then, desperately try to find a meaning. Sometimes we might fail in finding it, because the most satisfying forms of meaning aren’t found when we pursue them directly.
The performers’ interactions with the public, with each other and with the inflated balloons, created the perfect painting of the desolation of humanity. At one point I felt the desolation like a tick tock, brought in scene by each music note and each performer inflating a new balloon.
It was a one time only experience, and I’m grateful we had the chance to be there, delight our souls, meet wonderful people and feel embraced in the local community. I want more!
If traveling to Las Vegas, check the exhibition for a personal point of view of Jubilation Inflation.
Sometimes, maybe, the best recommendation is our instinct. Or, as I was saying above, just free your mind and decide to try something out of left field, without prior checking, without looking for reassurances.
Trust your instinct!
