The 8 dissolutions

Artist: Erik Bergrin

SOLO SHOW ZAZ10TS GALLERY
July 14 - September 10, 2022
10 TIMES SQUARE | 1441 Broadway, New York, NY 10018

The 8 Dissolutions exhibition explores mortality in the recurring cycle of death and rebirth. The project is inspired by Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice that visualizes the shutting down of senses and elements of the body one by one in 8 stages. Artist Erik Bergrin practiced this visualization repeatedly to visualize the textures of the pieces.

Each intricate wearable piece is associated with a dissolution, and is accompanied by a mudra, (or hand gesture), The wearable pieces are created using traditional techniques such as weaving and felting, as well as grown and developed from unusual materials such as seaweed, kombucha leather (or fermented tea,) and different types of crystallizations. Each piece is associated with a sound that is layered one-by-one to make the soundtrack for the video.

Featured on ZAZ Corner’s In Between | July 14 - August 14, 2022

The exhibition also features The 8 Dissolution video created by Erik Bergrin and directed by Arkan Zakharov on the ZAZ Corner’s In Between Programming. The artwork is displayed for 15 seconds at a time on a large LED billboard in the heart of Times Square. Location: 41st Street and 7th Avenue, New York, NY

Photos by Zdravko Cota @photoz.space

PRESS ON THE 8 DISSOLUTIONS AT MORIS MUSEUM

READ MORE ABOUT THE 8 DISSOLUTIONS

Dissolution 1: Earth and Sight
The element of earth dissolves. The eye sense power deteriorates. The person ceases to see clearly, unable to open or close their eyes. As the earth element dissolves it evokes the experience of the dying person being buried beneath the earth. “The visualization of this dissolution brought forth imagery of straps crossing and binding over my body as my arms hung lifeless at my sides sinking back.”

Dissolution 2: Water and Sound
The element of water dissolves. The ear sense power deteriorates. The person can no longer hear sounds. The body can no longer feel the three types of feeling: pleasure, pain, and neutral. The fluids from the body dry up: urine, saliva, blood, and sweat. “The burning heat of red pain creeps up one arm and the uplifting icy blue creeps up the other, meeting at neutral at my neck. My body starts to shrivel and dry up, like a vacuum sucking away all the fluid leaving the fossilized bones remaining. What hangs in the center is the reminder of the sound of where water once was.”

Dissolution 3: Fire and Smell
The fire element diminishes, the body begins to lose its warmth. The nose sense power deteriorates. The person can no longer smell odors. “Images of lava washed over me with the sound of a deep drum beat thrumming overtop. The hands embrace under the drum allowing the fire to leave peacefully.”

Dissolution 4: Air and Taste
The air element dissolves and breathing stops. The tongue’s sense power has deteriorated, it becomes thick and short, its object taste is lost. The sense power of touch can no longer be experienced. The mind loses its ability to remain upon its object, the body loses the ability to perform physical actions, and all awareness of external activities is lost. In worldly terms, we would describe this person to be dead, no pulse is detected. “Visions of wispy white felting are evoked, the internal vision a sputtering red and blue flame of a candle burning out. I can feel the colors on my leg.”

Dissolution 5: The Radiant White Sky
The gross forms of consciousness have ceased, and the subtle forms are revealed. The white drop obtained from the father, which has remained at the crown, begins to come down the central channel towards the heart center. The internal experience is of a radiant white sky pervaded by the whiteness of the moon. “Layers of white coils snake their way up and across my body completely covering me in a sea of white. The black center is slowly swirled in white. The hands frame the one part left of the former body.”

Dissolution 6: The Radiant Red Sky
The red drop obtained from the mother, which has remained at the level of the navel, begins to rise towards the heart. One experiences the radiant red sky. A clear sky pervaded by the redness of the sun. “For me, it was all about texture. The red sky is revealed as an interlocked cage - like form. My body splits open to reveal a leathery rotting inside. The internal sound of the drum beats on. The red sky feels wet The hands are open but clamped in a grasp.”

Dissolution 7: The Radiant Black Sky
The drop moves towards the heart center where the extremely subtle combination of wind energy and consciousness reside. Upon reaching it, the drop encloses between them. All thought stops and one experiences the radiant black sky. “I visualize all black with a white crack like fault line across my body. The shimmer of black stars starts to come. The hands slowly start to open one by one to receive what is to come.”

Dissolution 8: Emptiness
One starts to become conscious again, the clear light of death manifests. This appears as a clear vacuum-like empty sky. “I visualize the vastness of traveling through space. An open vacuum of blackness with shining stars and colorful nebulae, harnessing the energy of the sun in order to be reborn.”