2. How to use (spi)ritual Omnipotence

The installation consists of two developments:

1. PREPARATION
• Brochure reading

• Mantra listening
The visitors are first invited to listen through headphones to the OMnipotent mantra audio file. The relatively long listening time (3 min) is required for producing the cognitive switch necessary for a full experience of the installation. The audio is composed by pure electronic sounds of different frequencies that form a rhythm similar to OM. The origins of the sound OM derive from the mystical syllable Aum used in the Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religions. Aum is believed to represent the primordial vibration that was present during the creation of universe, from which all other sounds, words and languages have aroused.

• Hand sanitization


2. EXPERIENCE
The visit of the installation is limited to one person at a time and should not exceed 5 min duration.

• Corridor passage towards the installation area
The corridor is entirely constructed with black cloth. The almost complete absence of light and the narrowness of space stimulate perceptive subjectivity and anxiousness.

• Installation
2.1. Setting
The installation zone is kept in semi-darkness. The cylindrical pedestal supports a fluid-filled vessel that is utilized in the purification ritual.

2.2. Audioscape
The installation room represents a psychoacoustic environment where the mantra audio is transmitted on frequencies above the audible range (x > 22 kHz). Therefore, the visitors are exposed to consciously unperceivable sounds that appear as silence. However, scientific studies (1) demonstrate that although humans cannot consciously hear high-frequency sounds (HFs), the presence or absence of those frequencies has a measurable effect on their psychological reaction. In this manner, we could say that the biological body sensitivity perceives rhythms that appear unrecognized to our conscious mind perception. The fullness of the silence consequently provokes a psychotic experience of unexplainable body involvement.

2.3. Interaction


Notes:
(1) T. Oohashi, E. Nishina, M. Honda, Y. Yonekura, Y. Fuwamoto, N. Kawai, T. Maekawa, S. Nakamura, H. Fukuyama, and H. Shibasaki, Inaudible high-frequency sounds affect brain activity: Hypersonic effect, Journal of Neurophysiology, 2000, available online at http://jn.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/83/6/3548