Early American Ritual Objects and Kiva Diagram
Kiva-Studio is an artwork directly executed on the computer
printout
forms generated by scientific research. The overlay consists of drawings
that decipher the computer code, and xerox tranfers that illustrate other
material related to the theme of the work. Kiva-Studio correlates
early American Indian artifacts, sites, and ritual with counterparts in
the life and surroundings of artist Sonya Rapoport. Kiva-Studio
depicts
PLACE as a concept of spiritual shelter and creativity. PLACE is the
subject
of the computer computation that locates early American Indian tribal
sites
according to pottery design patterns and their date of execution.
The artwork is presented by continuous printout forms that alternate
between
computer programs of KIVA as PLACE, and analyses of Rapoport's STUDIO as
PLACE. A KIVA is the Pueblo Indian ceremonial room, the PLACE for
performing
religious ritual necessary for controlling nature for human survival.
Rain
and fertility symbols are evident. Cross references relating to this
material
are on the juxtaposing alternating panels of Rapoport's STUDIO, her PLACE
of contemplation and creativity, her counterpart to KIVA.
The initial overlay on the printouts for the KIVA panels is a series of
commas representing the pottery design structures. An example would be
single
commas in a row being indicative of simple pattern repetition. Then a
sample
of the pottery design of this structure is illustrated. Xerox transfers
of maps and sites focusing on the KIVA of a paricular area comprise the
next overlay. Each panel's heading, such as tools, conveys the content
that
unfolds vertically along the connected forms. Companion Indian /Rapoport
panels are to be read horizontally to compare specific KIVA-STUDIO
correlations.
This piece was created in 1978. The Richmond Art Center in California
hosted
the work in its exhibition Shelters,1986.
The extensive library, printouts of archeological research and guidance
that made this work possible was due to the the cooperation of Dr.
Dorothy
Washburn, a Miller fellow at the University of California at Berkeley
during
that period. The Peabody Museum at Harvard University in 1978 and the
Donnell
Library Center, New York City in 1979 were among the venues for showing
work in this the series.