16 Conundrum K
"We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them" Khalil Gibran
KEY WORDS
Puzzle
Rearrange
Reasoning
Ask
Patience
Uncertainty
VIDEO
MEANING
You hold all the pieces of the puzzle but can't see how they fit. The solution is within your grasp, but requires a change of perspective. Remember to communicate calmly as the clock is ticking and those around you may be feeling confused and emotional. What skills are needed to face this challenge, and who has relevant experience to share? When you can only see two doors, there is usually a third choice waiting patiently to be found
Information overload disrupts our ability to see the world clearly. If you have more than three priorities, you don't have any priorities. Opening your mind will allow you to simplify and edit your work. Look beyond fixed obstacles to see change happening all around them. Check the facts before assuming yesterdays problems are still valid today. Rather than seeking to fix things, change the energy around them so that they fix themselves.
OBJECTS
Bee (Air) Dlilgence, industriousness, focus on completing the shared vision as a team.
Butterfly (Earth) A new passion in life will arise when untangling the current situation.
Moon (Light) Your inner artist is patiently waiting to offer you creative solutions. Listen.
Snake (Dark) Choose carefully whose advice you follow. Only give good advice and kindness to others.
Flower (Earth) Openness and authenticity will help the right opportunities to find you.
Cup (Water) Remember to top up your health as you aspire to higher levels of being.
THE MAGIC SEAL
THE ART
The desert is the key element of this card. I wanted to set Conundrum in an empty space, with no other elements that the emptiness itself, like an abstraction, a pure concept of space with no physical reality. This is the reason why a sandy desert came into my mind: it has no shape because the wind continuously models it, shaping the landscape in forms- every time different. A desert is like a fluid, alive, moving.
In this background two doors are floating, leading to other dimensions. We see a dense ray of light beaming from each of them. The doors are ajar, ready to be opened, but not open enough to show us what there is beyond the threshold. The mystery of a Conundrum! Two possibilities equally valid, equally indiscernible. The only difference that is visible to our eyes is the style of the two doors, a mix of Baroque, Gothic and Moorish elements.
AUGMENTED REALITY
The main character of the Augmented Reality animation is The Master of the Keys. He has the keys that open every door; he knows the secrets of every choice, he knows how to solve every conundrum! He is playing like a juggler with the two doors, making them fly over his head passing them from one hand to the other. Is he mocking our ignorance and indecision? Or he is just saying “choose, I know you do not know which one to open, still you must open one! Choose now!”.
THE MUSE
Tipp The Bellhop is a cabaret character created by Neil Kelso to confront audiences with reminders that at every moment they have another opportunity to choose their next action. A bellhop is powerful ally - he can go anywhere in the hotel and always says less than he knows.
Tipp plays mind-games with audiences and somehow is able to foresee random choices they will make. Inspired in part by Hilbert's Paradox of the Grand Hotel (a thought-experiment which explores countable infinities) and Jorge Luis Borges "The Library of Babel" (a short story that conceives the infinite universe in the form of an infinite library, and the search for meaning in it). Tipp reminds us that when faced with a choice, all we can ever do is the best that we can with the information and experience available.
For more about Neil Kelso's cabaret work visit www.NeilKelso.co.uk
THE MUSIC
The keys jangle as they are turned in the locks. Are they opening a door, or closing one? A Spanish guitar leads with a mysterious melody, indulgently stretching the tempo as it warns all who will listen of the many possible dangers ahead. Which door should we choose? What does our heart tell us? Have we been burned before? Do we dare risk everything? What choice do we have? Before long more opinions have joined the conversation. A haunting orchestra serenades us, pushing us forwards with a hypnotic percussive beat, and a trilling thrilling vibraphone dances towards us like jangling skeletons emerging from their hiding places. This really is quite the conundrum you face. Can you hear what your heart is telling you?
LINKS TO GO DEEPER
To find out more about Hilbert's Paradox of the Grand Hotel, we recommend watching the TED-Ed Lesson by Jeff Dekofsky (charmingly animated by The Moving Company Animation Studio) - click here to watch: YouTube - The Infinite Hotel Paradox
Expand your mind and change your perspective by looking out of someone else's window: www.window-swap.com