Totally unconventional

I've been interested in the wilder and unconventional aspects of Andy Warhol for sometime and particularly the spontaneous elements when he, with film clips etc, together with the Velvet Underground improvised together in the Exploding Plastic Inevitable (EPI) multimedia performance art show. I happened on a PBS show about him and this event really caught my imagination. What also caught me is that the EPIs took place in 1966-67 and many elements now form an accepted part of art installations. Yet much of the worship arts and content of spiritual events do not have a participatory spontaneity within their practice.

It seems that that Warhol was a Eastern Rite Catholic and attended church regularly, though his lifestyle and values were less than conventional and many would say unChristian. I was interested to note the claim that in Warhol's eulogy John Richardson depicted his faith as devout: "To my certain knowledge, he was responsible for at least one conversion. He took considerable pride in financing his nephew's studies for the priesthood". You may like him, or hate him, or like me simply be challenged to think more about life because of him.

I am still interested in the participatory spontaneity as a possibility within the worship arts and sometime ago I produced a backing track for part of a larger Passion/Easter reflection project which I hope one day will happen. Elements I had planned were words and phrases from Isaiah 53 to be called or shouted out and images and film reflecting the passion of Christ to be blended with this, together with other possibilities.

(click here for streaming audio)