NewWorLdLog: St.JohnTheDivine Cathedral

Friday, 16 July 2010

St.JohnTheDivine Cathedral

1- The Apocalyptic Pillar

On the western facade of the building, stonemasons have sculpted numerous scenes that seem oddly out of place for a Cathedral. The most striking one is the chilling depiction of the destruction of New York city and its landmarks.

The scene above was done in 1997, four years before the destruction of the Twin Towers. Other recognizable skyscrapers are the Chrysler Building and the Citigroup center.

We see the Brooklyn bridge crumbling with cars and buses falling into agitated waters. At the right is the Statue of Liberty, which seems to be sinking in the water. Beneath this horrifying prophecy is the New York Stock Exchange, with people trading goods around it.

So, what is the purpose of this weird carving? Well, the first thing that needs to be mentioned is the actual St. John the Divine is credited for writing the Book of Revelation in the Bible, which describes in symbolic imagery the events of the apocalypse. Occultists believe that the Book of Revelation has been hermetically coded to reveal its true meaning to the initiates of esoteric teachings. This scene, carved on the west entrance of the cathedral, depicts New York as being ”Babylon the Great”, the city who gets completely destroyed by the wrath of God.

(from Vigilant Citizen)

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CEP Proposal

Deleuze & Guattari once wrote that “New York is virtually a city without a language...” [from Postulates of Linguistics in A Thousand Plateaus, 1923, pp. 103]. How provocative a statement to make about a city brimming with so many languages, dialects, slang etc. I thought. New York for me has always been, as for so many before me, a city of such artistic prestige and accomplishment, vitality and possibility. It has drawn young artists to its bright lights and wide streets for decades now, and it will continue to. Surely New York is a city without any ‘without’: a city of infinite possibility and opportunity, offering itself to all whom arrive, making them never want to leave, offering everything they need.

But I was too hasty; my argumentative cry against with their provocations would have been quickly silenced, had I read a little further on: “There is no language that does not have intralinguistic, endogenous, internal minorities...” (Deleuze & Guattari, 1923, pp103). But my silence was brought with a smile, with a sense of relief, of assurance. Just as I believe[d], and have argued, New York is a city without a language- without a set, solid and all-conforming ‘language’, but rather a multiplicity of tongue, of variations of the tongue, the lingua franca, of English. New York for me is a prime example of how all languages, exchanged by so many different people from such different places is continually being shaped, changed and modified, mutating every day through common shared discourse and people trying to make sense to each other.

Having been born in one country but then being raised between two countries has brought difficulty when pledging allegiance to either. I have felt neither here nor there, not this nor that. What happens to those who don't feel a part, or feel apart, from their surroundings? They start something new; they seek out new places to live and to start again, afresh. The historical implication of New York City having been built ex nihilo by such a wide group of people(s) having travelled from their Old World in search of the New, ready to build themselves a New life in new contexts has always inspired me to travel and work there, to also become a part of the engagement with the 'new' moving away from the old, the traditional, the conventional, the usual, the obvious. I can see a direct link between this state of mind, towards progression through experimentation, in my journey to art and performance College and my future journey to New York and the USA, to frame my questions around the 'New' within city whose very name and ethos is just that.