On the Way to Supermanhood

“People who come here are very touched, they feel a quality of silence.” The artist, Chantal, is talking about “On the Way to Supermanhood”, an exhibition held at Citadines in February based upon Satprem’s book of the same name. The exhibition is the result of a long process of exploration by a group called Lila / CIRHU.

Chantal, one of the organisers of the exhibition, takes up the story. “Every Friday we meet to discuss and go into silence about anything that is important for us or Auroville. Two years ago, we started to study Satprem’s book. It was very inspiring for me and I started working on a painting that I discovered represented the ‘sunlit path’.

“We read the book aloud three times, then decided we would try as a group to find a few lines from each chapter which are the ‘key’, the essence of that chapter. For example, from chapter eight, ‘The Change of Vision’, the key is We have nothing to do! We have to undo everything and let the new world come through, let its rivers and its unexpected paths flow under our steps. One little second of surrender, and it gets in, it is here, smiling. All is already here!

“Then I thought it would be interesting to give these keys to some Auroville artists to work upon: each would be given one key as inspiration. It was important to have Auroville artists working intensively upon this for two or three months for it created a special vibration before the 50th birthday.”

The exhibition did, indeed, have a special ‘vibration’, one that kept drawing people back. Visitors were asked to maintain silence as they circulated through different areas in which each key was illustrated by a painting, sculpture or installation. There was also an experimental installation by Aquadyn combining water, sound and light, and powerful presentations by Norman based on Satprem’s, “My Burning Heart”, conversations in which he talks of his life and spiritual quest.

“This is the first time that anybody has tried to express the book in this way,” says Chantal. “We felt as a team that it was a gift, a grace, to have the opportunity to do this and it has given us the energy to plan new things for the future.”