Tanja London

PERMADEATH sol[e]menace - a ritual, a sculpture audio tour, an artifact [2017/2018]

Originally, part of Justin Watson’s artistic society think tank PERMADEATH, this per se walking meditation is used as a personal ritual practiced in the future society Qualia. As Qualian, you earn a living by reducing your own ancestral stress and trauma.This future society aims to create a non-human-centric, interconnected world view. It is fostered by a communal effort dedicated to move beyond hierarchical power structures, systemic-/ violence, supreme beings, self-/destruction, and the word ‘should’.

PERMADEATH sol[e]menace - the ritual, is designed to get in touch with ancestral knowledge stored in cell memory. This pilgrimage to the ‘self’ throughout the ages grapples with BIRTH, LIFE and REBIRTH. In PERMADEATH sol[e]menace BIRTH and LIFE are represented in more traditional ways. REBIRTH is understood as an accumulation of spiritual and somatic ancestry. The vague layers of REBIRTH can be experienced by the pilgrimage to seven torso based altars, which are distributed in walking distance. Each altar is dedicated to a different body systems [skeletal, organ etc.] Original sound scores developed in collaboration with LA musicians Paul Roessler [The Screamers, The Gitane Demone Quartett], Harry Cloud and Oakland musician Danny Wang, each about 5-7 minutes long lead up to the different alters.

People are invited to become Qualians by doing the 1h 13min walking meditation with head sets on. Each altar invites people to listen to a musically underlined spoken word text and to interact with the altars in different ways. But if people prefer to just sit with one for a length of time or skip some altars that is equally possible. Nonetheless, to access this somatic knowledge and experience how it acts on your mind, one needs time to change one's current state of awareness. The ability to drop into a meditative state and the amount of time spent with the ritual will deepen the experience.

The ritualistic processes within PERMADEATH sol[e]menace are based on somatic knowledge mostly derived from Mind Body Centering and Holotropic Breathing experiences, scientific studies in neuroscience, evolutionary anthropology and - psychology, as well as on epigenetic research, which since the early 2000s has shown strong evidence that stress and trauma is inherited through generations. The ritual pays homage to the fact that we are composite beings, an accumulation of hard- and soft-wired DNA, influenced in our physical, emotional and spiritual evolution by biological, environmental, universal and sociopolitical factors.

Paul Roessler a composer, musician and record producer at Kitten Robot Studios in Los Angeles. Next to his own work Paul is most known for his prominent role in the L.A. Punk scene during the 1970’s and 1980’s playing with bands such as The Screamers, Twisted Roots, 45 Grave and Nervous Gender as well as his work with Nina Hagen. 
https://kittenrobot.com

Harry Cloud is an autodidactic, multifaceted musician, singer and composer living in Los Angeles, CA. He started to write his own music when he was 12 and has a love for intrinsic melodies, noise, archaic as well as unconventional beat and song structures.
https://whitewormrecords.bandcamp.com/music

Danny Wang is an autodidactic musician and writer living in Oakland, CA. In between the crushing pressures of employment and landlords are the pockets of what he loves: making jokes, music and poetry. The overall theme of healing and the process of minds coming together to complement each other’s skills attracted him to this project.