Introduced by architect and artist Yukinori Maeda in 1997, Cosmic Wonder is a Japanese art organisation exploring the concepts of light and universal love through three independent projects: COSMIC WONDER art project, COSMIC WONDER Light Source fashion project and COSMIC WONDER FREE PRESS book project with the Zurich publishing house Nieves. Drawing on Rudolf Steiner‘s spiritual science as well as the ever-expanding human awareness of the macrocosm, the miscellany of Cosmic Wonder activities disorients people, making them abandon their expectations and take on spontaneous experiences. For me, simply making an interview with Cosmic Wonder, an anonymous group of artist-cosmologists “from 7 to 21 people depending on the time of the year”, was an escapade of this kind.
Light mandalas from the Light Garden exhibition. Photo by the courtesy of Cosmic Wonder.
Cosmology often manifests as the creation of myths or religions that seek to explain existence and the nature of reality. What does Cosmic Wonder believe in?
We believe in Rudolf Steiner’s spiritual science.
The Austrian philosopher (1861-1925), social thinker, architect and esotericist attempted to find a synthesis between science and and mysticism, seeking for a connection between the cognitive path of Western philosophy and the spiritual needs of the human being. He was also a defender of Goethe’s theory of colours arising from the polarity of light and darkness. Like for Steiner, Goethe and colours, light is central to COSMIC WONDER, too?
Yes, we explore light and love in everyday life through our art and fashion. For example, the concept of COSMIC WONDER Light Source fashion project is to dress people with light and, in doing so, produce an environmental effect. And when we say light, we mean many kinds of light – the human body, spirit and soul can also be seen as light. This idea is weaved into COSMIC WONDER Light Source, composed of positive spirit and materials reverberating the light of the natural world.
“We explore light and love in everyday life through our art and fashion.”
Our most recent project with COSMIC WONDER Light Source is The Solar Garden. It is an ecological lifestyle project inspired by the harmonious energy of the Earth and its plants, resulting as a collection of daily and dance clothing made of organic cotton. All products are hand-dyed with herbs such as akane, gardenia, pomegranate, mulberry leaf, rose bengal, catechu, and natural indigo. With The Solar Garden, we want to promote environmental preservation and sustainable ways of making things.
The Solar Garden daily and dance clothing and a COSMIC WONDER FREE PRESS publication. Images by the courtesy of Cosmic Wonder.
The dance wear collection sounds interesting. And Steiner was into dancing, too! Would you say that his and Marie von Sivers’ expressive movement art, eurythmy (or harmonious rhythm), inspired you, or why did you decide to make clothes for dancing?
Dance wear is a tool for opening up one’s spiritual mind and freedom in daily life. All the pieces in the collection are both for men and women because the spiritual mind and freedom do not differ in sex. Moreover, the clothes can be worn in different ways depending on the climate and the mood of the person dancing.
Can you tell me something about the light art?
We have done numerous art projects about light ever since we started the Centers for COSMIC WONDER, the stages for our open-ended activities in Tokyo and Osaka.
For example, Light Construction was a group exhibition presenting installation, video and music, while Light Streams project focused on photography. We’ve also invited artists to organise events. Kim Gordon, for instance, held a meditative Mind/Body Training session with us. Next, we will have an exhibition called Light Garden. It is based on an installation of two mandalas that can be seen as portraits of light, representing the outward-rippling light waves caused by the inward resonances through which the universe exists within us.
Kim Gordon's Mind/Body Training event at the Center for COSMIC WONDER. Photo by the courtesy of Cosmic Wonder.
Like OK Do, you work in free pace and format, doing different things by intuition. Is there a certain philosophy behind the freedom of form and content?
We’ve worked without time restraints for over ten years now, choosing the right time to do things by intuition. The same goes for location. And we reevaluate our activities all the time. The periodical COSMIC WONDER FREE PRESS publication works like a diary, expressing the present state of COSMIC WONDER and COSMIC WONDER Light Source projects through certain themes or topics of research at a given time.
“We’ve worked without time restraints for over ten years now, choosing the right time to do things by intuition. The same goes for location. And we reevaluate our activities all the time.”
All this feels like the natural thing to do, and we appreciate the people who understand the concept of our work. We would like to continue conveying positive messages to the world.