Conditions of Faith

condition/kənˈdɪʃn/

noun
  1. the state of something with regard to its appearance, quality, or working order."the wiring is in good condition"
  2. the circumstances or factors affecting the way in which people live or work, especially with regard to their well-being."harsh working conditions"

verb
  1. have a significant influence on or determine (the manner or outcome of something)."national choices are conditioned by the international political economy"
  2. bring (something) into the desired state for use."a product for conditioning leather"




faith/feɪθ/

noun
  1. complete trust or confidence in someone or something."this restores one's faith in politicians"
  2. strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof."bereaved people who have shown supreme faith"


exclamation
  1. said to express surprise or emphasis."faith, I was shown the door myself and came home"






Untitled03.25
10014, New York
References: David Hammond, Day’s End (2021); Haruki Murakami, ‘Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage’ (2013); Hirokazu Koreeda, ‘After Life’ (1999)






To See Takes Time


    03.25
    11231, New York
    References: Mary Oliver, Wild Geese (2004); Ovid, Metamorphoses (8 AD); Francis Alÿs, Sometimes Making Something Leads to Nothing (1997); Maya Deren and Alexandr Hackenschmied, Meshes of the Afternoon (1943); Georgia O’Keeffe, Letter to Russel Vernon Hunter (1932)







    Instructions

    03.25
    10003, New York 
    References: Yoko Ono, A Book of Instructions and Drawings (1964); Soundwalk Collective, Correspondences (Kurimanzutto Gallery) (2025); Marina Abramović, The Marina Abramović Method (2022)

    Snow Piece

    Make a snow angel in Central Park.  
    Keep making snow angels until Spring arrives.
    When the snow melts, collect the water in small crystal vials and hang them from a west-facing window. 
    Wait for the afternoon sunshine and count how many rainbows form. 


    Protection Piece 

    Visit an active stratovolcano.
    Identify and collect 444 obsidian rock formations. 
    Polish each rock until it becomes a mirror and then lay down quietly beside it. 
    Listen to the whispers of each, in turn. 


    Heart Piece

    Find 13 fallen acorns in a woodland. 
    Paint them black before carefully removing their hats. 
    Write down your deepest secrets on small strips of scrap paper.
    Place one inside each nut.
    Then, reattach its hat.
    Walk out into the street and give the acorns away to the people who pass by. 




    What I Enter I Can Exit04.25
    75004, Paris
    References: Joan Didion, Let Me Tell You What I Mean (2021); Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865); Alfred Tennyson, The Lady of Shalott (1833); Pope Francis, Urbi Et Orbi Blessing (2025)








    Violets 

    04.25
    75018, Paris
    References: Franz Schubert, Ellen’s Third Song (Ave Maria) (1825)




    I pray here. It moves me: the fabric that drapes the altar and the little violets that adorn the stained glass windows. On this day, I was the only person. A woman in a red cape opened the doors as the sun was setting. She walked down the aisle, to stop before the Virgin. Then, she began her aria. Once over, she left abrupty, without a spoken word. 






    The International Court of Justice 
    Sleeps (on Sunday)

    04.25
    2517KJ, The Hague
    References: Trisha Brown, Watermotor by Babette Mangolte (1978); Ai Weiwei, Arch (2017); International Court of Justice, 28 March 2025 Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in Sudan (Sudan v. United Arab Emirates) (2025); Valeria Luiselli, Tell Me How It Ends (2017)







    Constructions

    • 03.25
    11231, New York
    References: Concrete Constructions v Nelson [1990] HCA 17 (Mason CJ, Deane, Dawson and Gaudron, Brennan, Toohey, McHugh JJ); Anna Pavlova, The Dying Swan choreographed by Mikhail Forkine (1905); Alfred Lord Tennyson, The Dying Swan (1830); Pearls Before Swine, Silver Two-Tone Thorn Ring (2023)


    Inside the garden of my dreams
    there is a tree on whose root i balance
    the arch of my sole, pressed: lead and light –
               a fluttering dance, a reach to rise 

    And with closed eyes and a defeasible mind,
    i touch your hand and trace your ring 
    (yes, the one that made me bleed)
    For this is the formation of the second limb

    A defeated kind, a loving guise, 
    (ah, is that the wind who there sighs?)
    i, alone, reach to rise
                  inside the garden of my dreams. 




    Faerie 

    • 03.25
    10019, New York
    References: Loie Fuller (La Danse du Lys) (1902); Pierre Loti, Loïe Fuller et son École de Danse (1905)  “Elle m’était apparue comme une espèce de grande fleur vivante aux couleurs d’arc-en-ciel ou comme une merveilleuse libellule en perpétuel mouvement dans la lumière...une âme aux reflets changeants” / “She appeared to me as a kind of large living flower in rainbow colours or as a marvellous dragonfly in perpetual movement in the light... a soul with changing reflections”






    Home

    • 03.25
    11231, New York
    References: Gaston Bachelard, Poetics of Space (1957); André Breton, René Char and Paul Éluard, Ralentir Travaux (1930)


    Regard this hourglass earth, with beauty whose history draws a blank 
    At last mad! And at peace

    Sunrise: 7:05am – sunset: 19:03pm, 
    moonrise: 7:20 am – moonset: 20:03pm
    Is it like this every time?
    Like rain in an eclipse, conquered by bittersweet shadow

    I am more clairvoyant than the hand that rolls nightmares across memory
    “So then, rest. Stop hovering above.”
    I feel the grounded weight of an internal tether to earth —
    i drink the freedom that comes with every gust of wind. “Now.” 

    No longer the eternal woman who, in ruins, shook out the bedcovers
    And still, he comes to take me home —
    with lips deliciously parted and a dramatic nostril
    But I found home, some lifetimes ago, and dreamers walk

    Delight. All is ensouled, and all souls are one,
    and lonesomeness means that I am whole at last
    To begin with and to move on from, 
    i sent myself something that i can’t count.






    Abyss (ongoing)




    04.25 
    75003, Paris
    References: Marina Abramović, Dream House (2000)