Wednesday, June 19, 2013

SoLow Spotlight: At the Gloaming with the Hipster Shaman

The fantastic Julius Ferraro has been conducting interviews with some of our SoLow artists. We'll be featuring them here on the blog leading up to and through the Festival. Thank you Julius! And don't forget, you can view the entire lineup of artists in the full SoLow listings!


. . . I HAVE SOME COOL-LOOKING NECKLACES AND A GRIFFIN PUPPET . . .



Anne Wilson is not the only SoLow artist inviting audience members into her home for a party (see Last Meals from Death Row), but hers is the only show promising to faith heal attendees. Wilson has experience putting on solo work, and At the Gloaming with the Hipster Shaman, an all-night party capped by an exorcism at dawn, promises a unique experience. She kindly agreed to answer some burning questions about what audiences can expect from her solstice celebration.

SoLow Fest: In what ways are you a "hipster shaman"? Is this a serious or ironic self-title, or something else?

Anne Wilson: The title, and concept of the show has four main thoughts behind it:

1. I am not a trained shaman. I've done some guided meditations. I am not a priest. I am not certified by the Catholic Church to perform exorcisms. I have some cool looking necklaces and a griffin puppet that are my ritual garb. I am throwing together aesthetics from different religious and spiritual lineages with zero regard for the rich traditions that they come from. I am reading about rituals in books and online and throwing them together with my own creativity to come up with a homemade ritual exorcism to be performed on audience members who are also unfamiliar with these spiritual practices.

2. I am trained performer. I have studied for most of my life how to shift consciousness in myself the performer, and in the audience as a witness to my consciousness shift. And those shifts are very real. I am one of many artists who believe performance continues a spiritual tradition from when we all lived on the savanna and performed for each other at night around a fire.

3. Many people who are trained shamans and priests are utterly full of shit. Organized religion and spiritual movements are built on a solid foundation of bullshit. And that bullshit is being used to oppress people all around the world. In the US I primarily see generic new age spirituality and evangelicalism used as a tool to part people from their money without providing any service beyond what the placebo effect can give. To me, this is more offensive than strapping a griffin puppet to your head and calling yourself a shaman. I say this having studied Reiki and Bodytalk, which are two systems that I have a complicated relationship with.

4. Performance is also built on a foundation of bullshit. But performance, unlike Bob Larson, is cognizant of its own bullshit. And performance, unlike Bob Larson, isn't claiming to heal anyone or solve anyone's problems. This makes performance more valuable than perhaps any other spiritual practice.
I didn't quite realize how interested I was in this intersection until the no-pressure SoLow Festival came along and I noticed all these curiosities pop up when I allowed myself to be silly or wild and less intellectual in imagining a piece.

SF: What should people know about At the Gloaming before they go?

AW: If they act like assholes they will be cast out of the ritual and the home as quickly as a demon will be cast from the breast of a believer.


For tickets to At the Gloaming with the Hipster Shaman, email anne.macg.wilson@gmail.com.


Julius Ferraro is a Philly freelancer. He writes regularly for Art Attack and his blog, Notes on Words.

The wonderful Julius Ferraro has been conducting interviews with some of our SoLow artists. We'll be featuring them here on the blog leading up to and through the Festival. Thank you Julius! And don't forget, you can view the entire lineup of artists in the full SoLow listings!