Now admit it…when was the last time you saw a speech made in 1893 spelled out in lights on a grand staircase? Well here it is. This is inside the Chicago Institute of Art. Here you see just one of the staircases. There are others, all with parts of the speech spelled out in lights. It was quite a sight to behold for the first time.
The speech was given in 1893 by Swami Vivekananda at First World Parliament of Religions, held in Chicago in conjunction with the World’s Columbia Exposition. The Parliament was the earliest attempt to create a global dialogue of religious faiths, and Vivekananda, eloquently addressing its 7,000 attendees, argued for an end of fanaticism and a respectful recognition of all traditions of belief through universal tolerance. A great idea.
The staircase was the brainchild of Indian artist Jitish Kallat. His goal was to connect two historical moments: the First World Parliament of Religions held on September 11, 1893, and the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on that very date, 108 years later.
The work is called Public Notice #3 and is a comment on the evolution, or devolution, of religious tolerance across the 20th and 21st centuries. I think the latter is more the case. I personally find religious intolerance to be intolerable, but once more, we find ourselves steeped in fanaticism throughout the world, even among religions that supposedly have their origins in the same place.
It’s ironic that this staircase, representing a speech on religious intolerance, leads up to some of the most beautiful paintings in the world. I guess the Swami’s speech fell on deaf ears.
(To see a larger version of this photo, just click on the image)
To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com.
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