The miracle of WORLDSPIRIT
By Kenji
Williams – Director and Performer of WORLDSPIRIT
Can we all live in harmony and happiness? Can this world ever find peace, and sustainability? In these dark times, it may seem far-fetched. Perhaps, it will take a miracle. Worldspirit is one of these miracles .
Kenji Williams & Alex Grey:
I first met Alex Grey in 2001 in New York. I had sent him a copy of one of my films I had made titled “Moment Utopia”, some music, and a letter of possible collaboration. Alex viewed the film, and invited me to his studio. This was our first encounter. Over the years, I developed a deep friendship with Alex, hosting him whenever he came to San Francisco, and taking care of him during his stay in the Bay Area. We were even both invited to visit the legendary guru, Samraj Adi Da’s monestary in Northern California.
In 2003, I was traveling back and forth between Tokyo and San Francisco, and was finalizing the mix for my latest album, Faces of Epiphany. I wanted to use Alex Grey’s painting “Original Face” for the cover of the CD artwork. However, at the time, I didn’t have enough money to pay for the licensing fee, so I started thinking about how to come up with the money.
The Worldspirit Seed is born on May 23rd,
2003:
I asked Alex when he was coming next to San Francisco, and when he said “in 10 days”, on May 23rd,2003, I immediately thought this was an opportunity. I had always wanted to throw a fundraising party for him for his “Chapel of Sacred Mirrors” project, and it immediately dawned on me that this was my opportunity to make something happen. So, in 10 days, I found a space (Infinite Kaos art warehouse), negotiated the terms, booked the artists (including myself), printed the flyers, and promoted the event. Once the word was out, it sold out in 3 days.
At this point, I was simply planning on having Alex do his usual lecture and slide show, and then I would perform live afterwards. But 4 days before the event date, as I was talking on the phone with Alex about the logistics, I mentioned the idea of doing a live collaboration together. Alex, responding, “I was thinking the same thing!” – and we immediately started talking of ideas. So, in four days, we came up with a general theme and storyline that Alex would perform with spoken word, and I wrote 1 hour of simple loops and ambient moods as the soundtrack to the story. Alex put together the images for his slide projector, and off we went – straight off the plane from New York, Alex Grey showed up, and we performed this audio visual show thrown together in 4 days, without a rehearsal.
That night, I had luckily invited
my friend Eric Kalabacos. Amongst the 400 people or so that were there, almost
everybody there couldn’t stop talking about how amazing it was after the
show. That night, Eric, who was starting a new media company called Magnetic
Presence, decided to fund this concept to bring it to the next level and
release it on a DVD. What came out of this, is what is now known as
Worldspirit. As we prepared and talked about what to
do next, I was given the opportunity to direct Worldspirit.
Worldspirit is conceived:
Even with a sponsor
however, Alex Grey was a bit hesitant about performing again, for a bigger audience, a more complex
scale, and a bigger budget. Everything was riding on a one time performance,
including the DVD that would live on much longer than the live event itself.
Most movies involve filming multiple takes, and carefully edited and chosen
footage that is often fixed in post production. Worldspirit is a documentation
of Live performance, - a 1 take.
This meant that it was insurmountably more risky than the first time. As the
director of the project, I spoke with Alex many times, had the producer fly out
to New York to meet with him, and finally Alex decided to do it. This is a miracle, - because Alex has
never collaborated with any other artist, other than his wife Allyson, and has
never performed in front of such a large audience. But as he told me one time,
the only way you evolve as a human being and as an artist, is to get out of
your “comfort zone” – and choose to take up challenges.
As the director of Worldspirit, I wrote a
proposal to Alex Grey and Eric Kalabacos, about a possible theme and storyline
for Worldspirit. My idea was to create something powerful, that could touch as
many people as possible. It had to be a story that most humans could relate to.
And when I looked at what this was, it was really about digging deep into the
core of ourselves, looking at the most fundamental elements of what we share as
humans. We all share a body, a mind, and a spirit, - and with this acknowledgement, I want to suggest that
these three things evolve, and are evolving right now. In fact, we need to integrate &
evolve these three elements in order to create a peaceful and sustainable
culture and planetary civilization. This, in many ways, is the clarity that
comes out of the chaos and confusion of our times, and is reflected in much of
my music and films that I create. Alex Grey’s artwork illustrates this
very concept of mind, body, spirit – in visible form and much of his work
is dedicated to revealing the core of all spiritual traditions. Alex and I were
a perfect match for this project, and we wanted to communicate this with an
integration of all art forms, media, & technology.
The Worldspirit Event happens – Dec 12th,
2003:
Against all odds, the project moved forward, and we organized, promoted, produced, and performed Worldspirit live in front of a sold out crowd of 1200 people on Dec 12th, 2003, 6 months after the seed was planted. Working off the storyline, I composed and produced the entire musical soundtrack, and working with Eric Kalabacos, choregraphed the sequencing and movement of the animated visuals of Alex Grey’s art on the 3 screens on stage done by the Dimension 7 VJ artists. This meant creating 3 hours of custom made visuals, to be timed exactly to the live spoken word and music. This event also involved a second stage, with performance artists, and a visual magic show called “Aura” who we flew in from Tokyo. Even Alex’s wife Allyson and daughter Zena were included in the performance. All of this was integrated into a 1 hour show. We had one chance to make something beautiful and inspiring – and there were no second chances… and to tell you the truth, from start to finish, this project was so incredibly challenging and difficult for all of us. I am just blown away by the professionalism of every member of the production, from Alex Grey, to Sayoko Yazawa and Shinya Takaoka of the Aura show, to Chris Sia who performed the “Lamentations” piece, to Eric Kalabacos, the producer.
The show was documented with a 5 person camera crew, and after the live event, it was time to put the footage and artwork together. It took me 5 months of 12 hour days straight. Directing, editing, motion graphics, 5.1 audio mix. The packaging was done by an artist named Vibrata Chromodoris, and Eric Kalabacos oversaw the final integration and completion of the project.
I truly feel so blessed and happy that Worldspirit did manage to manifest, and can now be shared in a beautiful package that can rest in your hands. It is a miracle in physical form, and I feel it is important for people to know about the history of Worldspirit, and how it came about.
What I hope to Inspire:
What I hope to inspire as the director of Worldspirit, comes from two things: Its history, and its content.
With its history, I hope to show what can manifest out of a small, radical art event with the simple intention to help others. This was my intention, and I am in awe of what has come out of it.
With the content of Worldspirit, It is to remind us of our common spirit that transcends religion, culture, race, age, and sex. Worldspirit is radical integral art - an audiovisual experience that guides you through the evolution of mind, body and spirit, through poetry, music, and visual art. We hope to provide a transformative experience that heals, educates, and elevates. This evolution is shared by every single human on this planet, with perhaps mind and spiritual evolution being the most needed at this time. Evolution suggests, that having a world-centric respect of all cultures and beings, rather than an egocentric and self centered existence IS at a higher level . In regards to spirituality, having a spiritual practice that acknowledges a universal spirit and respect of all religions, rather than believing that only one religion is the truth, is again, a higher form of spirituality. High quality art and music that transforms people by speaking to mind, body, and spirit, is also a higher level of communication. This is what evolutionary theorist and spiritual scholar, Ken Wilber, calls “Integral”. Raising ourselves to this “integral” consciousness and spirituality is what is so desperately needed in this increasingly polarized and chaotic world. We need to find what is our common ground, the core that we all share, and celebrate it through spiritual, transformative art.
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