“Mindfulness” and Locating the Sacred at the FAB! Festival
20 Sep
Locating the Sacred
This Saturday, FABnyc will be closing East 4th Street to through-traffic. Those antagonist cabs are going to have to find their way around the Bowery, and our block is going to be temporarily honk-free. I’m not the only one who finds the silence of motorists akin to divine.
The Locating the Sacred Festival, an initiative from the alliteratively appealing Asian American Arts Alliance, is helping New Yorkers to explore the meaning of the word sacred in their environment, and they’ll be joining us for FAB! Festival.
As part of Locating the Sacred, The Thai Artist Alliance will be bringing us a performance entitled “Mindfulness,” discussing the conflict in our lives between distraction and mental health, temptation, and spiritual balance. They will also be transforming FABnyc’s ArtUp Scaffolding Bridge into a prayer temple to give passersby a moment of quietude.
Mindfulness challenges us to find the sacred moment in the mundane reality. My challenge as a New Yorker is to healthily coexist with the traffic, finding my own quietude despite the ever-living and growing city. In this way, FAB! Fest also challenges us to, just for a day, relax on the street and appreciate the expansive gallery of art that constantly moves through the block. In this way, Locating the Sacred Festival and FAB! Fest are two events with similar means and missions.
- Written by Shane Reader
