The Mantra Trailer

Performance art by visiting artist Sherri Lynn Wood

Art Students League Denver

Friday May 2, 2008 from 5:30 – 8:00 pm

A partnership between Platte Forum and the Art Students League of Denver. The Art Students League’s visiting artist series is generously funded by the Olson-Vander Heyden Foundation

man·tra /ˈmæntrə, ˈmɑn-, ˈmʌn-/ Pronunciation Key[man-truh] –noun

In eastern spiritual traditions, a mantra is a sacred word, chant or sound that is repeated during mediation to facilitate the transformation of consciousness. In mass media, a mantra is an expression or idea that is repeated seeking to define, simplify and control complex realities.

The Mantra Trailer is a traveling mediation space, recording studio and site of mysterious broadcast in the form of a 1972 breadbox trailer. As community-based art with an emphasis on civic-engagement, the Mantra Trailer provides an interface for the human voice as a counter to globalization and the enculturation of consumerism.

The Mantra Trailer, parked in the south parking lot of the League, invites you inside to privately contemplate, chant, voice and record your prayers, aspirations, desires, frustrations and petitions for the transformation of self and society—anything that resonates within you in your life, work or play. Meanwhile, dialogue is initiated on the outside as people encounter the exterior, which is equipped with an ultrasound, directional speaker that continuously broadcasts a mix of pre-recorded mantras.

FREE and open to the public

Sherri Lynn Wood is an improvisational quilt maker with a Master of Fine Art in Sculpture from Bard College and a Master of Theological Studies from Emory University. Most of her creative projects spring from her daily life experiences and quest for personal growth. She often invites others into the art making process as a way of sharing interior realities and exploring civic relationships that can lead to personal and social change. She is based in Durham, North Carolina.