“Mute Parade” by Iván Navarro
Paul Kasmin Gallery, NYC
October 2016
For the full experience, click here and listen while you read.
Sitting in my favorite chair, sun shining through the window, it was a quiet morning and I was journaling and listening to my Spotify playlist, “No Lyrics.” This song came on (are you listening?). It captured my attention, touched my heart, and carried me away... What is this? What does that mean? Who is Arvö Part? What’s his story? The more questions, the more answers, followed by more questions and more answers and on and on.
curiosity.
The song is titled “Spiegel im Spiegel,” composed by Arvo Pärt, performed by Anne Akiko Meyers, Kristjan Järvi, Philharmonia Orchestra. Spiegel im spiegel is German for mirror in the mirror. When you place two mirrored surfaces so that the light is caught between them, the light bounces from one to the other and back again creating a series of smaller and smaller reflections that appear to recede to infinity.
mirror in the mirror – infinity mirror.
In preparing to write this post I found myself wondering what photo I could capture and wasn’t sure how I would create the infinity effect with my tools at hand. Then I remembered…a while ago my son installed a show at the Paul Kasmin Gallery in New York City that might have used infinity mirrors. What was that? Were they infinity mirrors? When was that? Do I have any photos? Who was the artist? What is his story? Yes! I have a photo! The “Mute Parade” exhibit, Iván Navarro, 2016. Yes! He used infinity mirrors.
curiosity.
The deeper I allowed the exploration to go, the more I learned, the more connections I made, the more expansive and inspiring the journey became. Insights and ideas burst to the surface. A thought, a question and off I was in a digital spiral of information not knowing where I was going next but trusting the journey none-the-less. And this post was born.
I got to thinking that the coaching relationship is like spiegel im spiegel, only in reverse. Coaching happens when a continuous bounce of light moves from coach to client and back again in the form of questions, insights, observations, challenges and accountability - curiosity. In this bounce of light, however, instead of making the reflection forever a smaller version of sameness, the spiegel im spiegel of coaching creates expansion and transformation. What I have found to hold true is that the willingness to let the light bounce occurs when clients get really curious and are open to deep exploration; when they engage with my questions and their own curiosities and questions then lean in to the challenges and embrace the accountability. Willingness to let that light bounce even when it gets hard is directly related to outcomes of growth, fulfillment and transformation.
Spiegel im spiegel can blow your mind and sometimes it may feel like you are going down the proverbial rabbit hole, as if you’re inside our infinity mirrors with no way out. However, I submit to you that if you let go and let the music of curiosity and exploration take you for a ride you might just find your heart.
infinite curiosity.
photo by Lynne Harris Bernstein © 2016