ECU FALL 2011

nterdisciplinary Forums: Creative Waters

WATER DARY

by Maksim Bentsianov

"I am the mobile Vortex" Maynard Keenan "Blood into Wine" 2010
This would be nothing without YOU (graffiti)

(it's nice to read the text while listening to Paco De Lucia and please ignore the grammar; this is the personal diary, not an essay :))
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl9PJrWeSUc&feature=related


Once was riding a ferry from Vancouver to Victoria standing on the sunny deck and gazing onto the
boiling-bubbling effect of water down at the foundation of the ship.

And thought of this phenomenon of collision as something impermanent, illusionary by it's nature. The
cause and effect that neutralize each other. Just as like our lives that boil around and then pass away.
With all our cravings, desires, fetishised dreams and broken hearts; do we really make a difference
for this universe? Looking at the rationalism that incorporates diving into the absurd entertainment in
society, i've tried to create my own entertainment. This is how it started.

Last summer 2010 happened to hang out with my friends surfers at one of the big rivers in Alberta.
There were four of us and each one of us stayed pretty late at night and got really wasted. n the state
of shifted consciousness we went for a night walk. Something, some kind of force was driving my body
to walk straight and confident in the midst of the deep forest where cougars are those who decide
whether you stay alive or not. Nevertheless, didn't see any cougars although i felt their presence. And
2 of my friends that walked with me were joking heavily on me, talking of the wild bloody nature of the
beasts. The purpose of our walk was pissing. We occurred to be on the small river watershed with some
stones around where we could stand. The evening started to bring somewhat ritualistic nature. Three
of us stood on the rocks and at the same time we pissed into the river. felt the spirit of it. n the action
of the collective act felt connected with the water and my friends. And thought that it's not in vain that
animals piss around their territory. Although this was not the land but water which is impossible to mark.
The effect of the event created new patterns of thinking in my mind. So now, each time 'm pissing would
that be a washroom, feel the global interaction of water. And that extends to any body-water interaction:
showering, drinking etc. As a parallel to that interaction of humans and water, there's also plant and
human co-evolution according to Dennis Mckenna. And now, if all living beings have water in themselves,
can it be that we are constantly interchanging information, bio-synthesizing the knowledge of past and
present with plants, animals, insects etc where water is the catalyst of the transfer, the giant information
processor?

A year later, this summer the idea came to my mind. having seen the experiments of doctor Emoto
where water is shown as a thinking creature (although i'm still quite sceptical about it) thought that can
interchange the information with water, tell it my story, or share a story by pouring a mass of water from
one watershed to another. What if an ocean can take a role of a priest which never happened to confess
my sins to being orthodox Christian. always saw this act of talking something personal to a priest as an
act of lies. Because, can't deny the human nature where in a dialogue, lies arises anyway. As Terence
McKenna said: "Language was invented in order to lie". So, thought that can confess to the ocean and
never lie.

As an artist want to explore the social space and the role of aesthetics within our lives. The initial idea of
the confession or wish, took a form of the art performance with the elements of absurd entertainment and
the situation where extreme conditions bring people together. So by pouring one mass of water from one
watershed to another (just as pissing), i decided to see it as an act of universal information interchange
within the context of absurd actions of humans. Still in the absurd, the truth resides. The plan was to wake
up early at 6am and walk from my home on Burrard and 13th avenue to the Wreck Beach holding the
water gun filled with the liquid. n the process of walking it was required to think of something want to
tell to the Ocean, or maybe ask for a wish. 2 of my friends took a part in the walk which was priceless.
Each of us was excited to go for this unusual task, to make a commitment to the absurdity of waking up
as early as 5am and walk for about 2 hours. Luckily there was no rain, so it made our walk start to shine
gradually from the darkness of the night to the light of the day. While walking we chatted about school,
work, projects, joked around, even decided to cross the private property fence to enter the vast misty gulf
field. "The mist is water too" thought.

n the process of walking thought of the tribes in Amazon that are getting extinct because of corporate
organizations that are supplementing their homes with private businesses. thought about death.
thought how my live is fragile and how it is essential to be thankful for being alive. "Celebrating this
chance to be alive and breathing" in the NOW. thought of how water is pure and we are pure, but
because of the social and historical contexts we live and suffer in the present environment. thought of
the interconnectedness of all. thought of my family and how miss them and how wish all of them good
health and happiness. thought of the happiness of all beings in the universe.

Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSXwQv1x1tY
(please load it first before watching)