prayingproject at exit art

It's Sunday morning, and the last day of prayingproject. I've been too exhausted to blog it, but a wonderful, exiting exhausted. For live streaming during the performances from 3pm to 9pm EST, follow the prayingproject link above.
The range of artists and performances is amazing. Pasha is reciting esoteric chants with pig fat in his mouth. Annie is knitting fishing line, sitting on a swing, looking like an angel about to rise into the ethers. Sara is in the process of 100,000 prostrations to Lama Surya Das, his teachers, all the dieties, the cosmos. There are kama sutra performances, a sound, light, water happening, a typewritting mantra and more.
The project itself has been an enlightening experience. It had never occured to me that my contemplative Bead Meditation might be smack in the middle of a cacaphony of more physical and loud praying. The gallery, which is a huge warehouse space, becomes a marketplace of prayer filling with the many layered sounds of spiritual expression. From a crazy sled riding installation which is a part of The Other America exhibition, to the clanking of bell and wood in See-saw, a zen walking meditation.
At first distracting, the noise becomes a rhythmic chant which rises and falls throughout the day, reaching dramatic crescendos and quieter murmurs like crickets chirping. At times one feels completely connected and in the chant; at others, oddly out of step, out of time.
As with any meditation, there is struggle with monkey mind, and body screams. Yesterday I was in agony pretty much all day with a backache. The happy result was to transform the performance in a small way, by beginning to stand while stringing the beads rather than remaining seated. Adversity always transforms.
Today, I'm going to get to a yoga class before heading over to exit art, and may ask if there is a sculpture stand that I can use to turn the entire performance into a standing one. Or at least have the option of standing or sitting.
More about prayingproject to come.