Yassana

NYC

BLISS is good health.

BLISS is bearing witness to selfless acts motivated by kindness.

BLISS is collaborating with amazing individuals, which I was fortunate enough to do in the context of this online experience.

BLISS is being filled with gratitude: so thank you, everyone, for your contributions.

Nina

New York

Bliss is composing music, juxtaposing sounds and transposing the meaning of what I’ve absorbed into my subconscious about the world around me. Bliss is a walk along a garden path, passing flowers, trees, birds and bees coexisting in their mysterious ecosystems. Bliss is being ‘in the zone’ of warmth and humor with my family and friends. Bliss is teaching and world travel to experience cultures and their creativity. But such activity has been affected by the globally shared situation of covid and its restrictions. More evident than ever is how the interdependent environmental and social crises affect society’s blisses and very existence. Research has proven that the arts have the power to inject bliss, kindness, positive emotions, and the imagination that will influence the realities of the future.



Raphaele

New York

Bliss IS:
The feeling of dissolution of the self with the Universe
The high one feels from hours of dancing
Total love
Fresh dew of a forest awakening on an early spring morning
Thousands of frogs singing in endless harmonic waves ( night/down along the creek)
A friend finding relief from long standing pain
Connecting with a person human to human (homeless/ultra-rich/ doesn’t matter)
Paris at 5 in the morning (after a night of exploring the city with friends)
Discovering ancient Mycenean ruins in Greece and feeling time (centuries)
Crossing through time-space into some absolute via a masterpiece painting (Cimbabue/Santa Croce)
Explosions of ideas flowing without restraint
Fresh cow’s milk from the 2-cow-farm in the highest Alpine village ( St. Veran)
Lavender fields in bloom with resounding buzzing of bees- (South of France)
Becoming one with a parent on their death bed (living in joy till the last minute)
Joining their dissolution slowly as they pass (yet still alive one remains)
Completing work/ realizing dreams
Receiving understanding from one’s audience (in response one’s art work)
An entire venue resonating with ascending harmonics (Rhys Chatham/ Issue Project room/ g3)
Blends of thyme, rosemary, cedar, pine and lavender cooked by the scalding sun (summer south of France)
Encountering a wild boar in the silent underbrush, watching his power and perfection jump over bushes (away)
Feeling the minutes pass in a cool bastide in the hot summer (south of France)
Smelling crushed dry vegetation and white snails shells crackling under feet (South of France)
The tastes of Korea (culinary)
Experiencing Nam June (Paik)
Receiving Elaine Summer’s soothing words/ Listening to Phyllis Yampolsky’s stream of thoughts (the elder/ the wise)
Watching the essence of people and all things (everywhere/anywhere)
A seminal dream, answer to all life questions (A,B,C are the essence D is the variable)
Reconnecting with a friend after years of separation
The resolution of the seemingly unresolvable
Loving one’s family
The gaze of your child / the gaze of a child
Understanding the universe
Harmony with oneself
Life -Dissolution between the self and the Universe
Life

Joshua

Bliss, for me, is often that moment when I encounter something altogether new, something that expands my world or makes me see something in a different way. Staring out of the taxi window at the Duomo in Florence, a building and a city I had only read about until I moved there my junior year in college, overwhelmed by white, green and pink(!) marble architecture that was erected centuries before Europeans set foot on the land that would eventually become the United States. Old Stones! Heart racing and my dizziness compounded by the acrid fumes of Vespas buzzing down the street beside me. Knowing that nothing but new experiences await me – food, art, culture, language, people! There is a certain shift that often comes only after profound contemplation, but it can equally occur instantaneously. Suddenly everything clicks and comes into focus and you now have something incredible that you can carry with you, always.

Madeleine

Brisbane

Bliss for me, at the moment, is in the small details. The way the sun hits leaves. The way bird sounds and traffic noise blends together. Familiar smells and routines. There is so much beauty in details.

Nina

New York

Bliss is recalling the incomparable feeling of my mother’s love, her hugs, kindness, her beautiful face, wisdom.

Michael G.

New York

When I forget myself, and stop rifling through the copious mental baggage I seem to carry everywhere: slipping into an afternoon nap with Mark’s fingers in my hair, in exhilarating free fall whilst painting, before I have to open the parachute.

Mally

Naples

I inhale the silky soft air of my dream destination Florida and gratefully realize that big step moving here 30 years ago- what a moment of decision can make a whole life feel blissfully.

Pablo

BLISS is the conviction that we are loved. (Credit goes to Victor Hugo.).

Alice

New York

Today's bliss is the clear light and intricate shadow patterns that I see outside the window.

Claire

I had and altered experience/dream of Walt Disney guiding me to fly high over the US, but not to fly closer to the earth to read the street signs or I would miss what was happening in the moment. Covering all the US under his guidance I eventually flew over the mountains and was about to crash into one when I thought that if I turned into water I wouldn’t crash I would go through the mountain. So I turned into water and woke with the most unbelievable sense of bliss I have ever felt.

Maria

Miami and New York City

BLISS is traveling to other cultures to meet new people, especially women, and see how they live and work, what they cook, how they feel, what are their dreams for themselves and their offsprings. BLISS is listening to their stories, whichever they want to disclose without me interviewing them, without judging them, giving them an outlet to have their voices heard.

I was raised by my father and his sister, my Tia Olga, a dressmaker and tailor, who would organize sewing circles while my father and his friends played dominoes. The women would tell their stories while they hand sewed or embroidered. This was very influential in my interest in women's manual labor, which years later led to Manos Trabajadoras/Working Hands, a series of video portraits of women in Peru who work with their hands, whether cooking, cleaning, drawing and/or embroidering." I want to continue this series with other groups of women here in the U.S and in other countries. That would be BLISS for me!

Michael

Bliss takes many forms. From the sublime to the frivolous, both are equally valid. For the parent in me, bliss comes when my children have their moments of bliss, especially if it has occurred after having overcome some obstacle or challenge. The artist in me experiences bliss in two forms, the quiet solitude of the act of creation and the other when experiencing particular works of art or architecture. I recently read about Stendhal syndrome, a psychosomatic condition that some experience when encountering art. The syndrome takes its name from the French author Stendhal who wrote while visiting Florence, "I was in a sort of ecstasy, …absorbed in the contemplation of sublime beauty... I reached the point where one encounters celestial sensations ... Everything spoke so vividly to my soul." I have come close to this experience when encountering some works of art.

However, sometimes bliss was just yesterday when nothing out of the ordinary happened if today was the day something life-altering occurred. To understand what I mean, take a look at your camera roll from the summer and fall of 2019. Look at what you and the people in your photos are doing or not doing, no masks, no concerns of gathering in groups or attending public events, and no awareness of how the world was about to change.

Finally, a tiny bit of bliss that I experienced earlier this year watching a YouTube video by the organization of musicians known as Playing for Change covering the Stevie Wonder song Higher Ground. In 2020 musicians from around the world were individually filmed playing and singing the song. I watched the compilation video over and over. I couldn't help but smile watching the musicians' joy while playing, especially Shelia E banging on the drums.

Maria

Miami

Bliss is going for a walk, feeling the ground under my feet and the breeze on my face, while paying attention to my surroundings. It frees my mind to think about my projects, what their next steps should be. Most importantly, it helps me forget loneliness by giving me the freedom to move out of an enclosed space.

Laurence

san diego

Bliss comes with the awareness of living a special moment. It can be an exceptional moment in life, to simple ones. Being conscious of it, being grateful and at peace makes these moments blissful.

Thankful

NY

Such an ideal feeling so often just beyond one’s grasp. Elusive, inspiring, sensual, containing, elemental. That thick silky fur of my many cats. Nature in all its ways. Beyond language really: language can only approximate. Wordless. Wet. Colorful. Musical. Kind. Thoughtful. Gentle. Brief encounters, momentary possibilities. How fortunate we are when we look and see what’s so often been in front of us so much of the time, but this time if we’re lucky we allow it in.

Mally

Naples

Today.. the evening before Thanksgiving- I reflect back on my arrival here in the US in November 1991….. how grateful I am to live here! My dream Country …. The only one in the world, that celebrates “Thank You” with a special Holiday! The country of immigrants, the whole big bowl of nations, races, colors and diversity in cultures and faces! How I love this country - now also - Mine - a deep feeling of connectedness - bliss and gratitude!

Suzanne

Bliss today is watching my Border terriers play chase in a Christmas tree farm—the bigger one barking and herding the smaller one in big loops through the field—zigging and zagging between the trees.

Vesal
Cambridge, MA

Swept away by the beauty of a physics idea, lost in the eyes of my daughter's first rabbit cuddle, wrapt in soulful supplication and prayer, consumed by the melody of the piano keys under my fingers, at one with the soil, trees, river, sky and sun accompanying my hike—all these have been moments of complete happiness for me. And they all had at least one thing in common. In each of these moments, I felt the emptying of myself in some way, at least momentarily, and an emptying for something much bigger. Whether it was functioning in some optimal way, or submitting my will to a higher order, or peaking into a greater awareness, all involved subduing the self (not in some self-deprecating way) as a requisite for lasting fulfillment and meaning…and bliss.

Severine

NY

Sitting in a movie theater for the first time in two years with my family. The smell of buttered popcorn, the anticipation mounting while watching endless previews, when finally the walls of the IMAX melt away. I am lost on another planet. My body trembles from the intensity of the surround sound. I forget where I am, what day it is. I am a Fremen walking on Arrakis. I manage to peel my eyes from the screen and see my son with the biggest grin on his face as he throws popcorn in his mouth, my husband sipping an illegally-sized diet Coke like it is our last day on earth and my daughter smiling as Timothée Chalamet undresses and puts on his stillsuit. My eyes tear up - the bliss of normality.

Christine

New York City

After suffering the loss of our infant son and then a miscarriage months after, my husband and I had many sad days. However, that all changed with the news that we were expecting. From that day, to the delivery of our rainbow daughter and now, watching her grow has been pure bliss.

Agathe

New York

The Times I remember how much love I have in my heart are Bliss.

Erika

Quiet moments when my kids are calm and getting along. Hugs and kisses from them. Smelling their heads. Walking through Central Park admiring fall foliage. Lying in bed reading books.

Madeleine

Brisbane

I often think about the time I spent in New York when my daughter was young. I remember my beautiful special friends there who were going through similar experiences and how we helped each other through. Those memories of that time are Bliss.

Deborah

NYC

Spent some time in person studying some amazing paintings by artists I adore...bliss...

Benjamin

Bliss has taken on many colors and meanings since the birth of my first child. For purely selfish nostalgic escapism let me talk about a delicious little afternoon in my island home country. I was probably 22 or 23 and had one of my rare days off swimming. My friends and I went to the beach as we typically did to enjoy the warm sea and perfect sun. Before touching the sand however one of my mates had procured some sticky Afghan hash which the locals called “chewing gum.” We proceeded to a secluded spot in the hills overseeing the plains and the sea. And we indulged…. The short trip downhill and to our favorite spot took on a whole new life as the slow yet lingering effects of our uphill session became abstract and concrete. It was probably one of the best leisurely swims I have had in my life. I thought I was a dolphin at one moment and this feeling carried through the entire afternoon until the sun came down. In between the dolphin swim and the inevitable sunset there was a brief interlude with a failed ice cream hunt across a scorching tarmac road (the owners had closed shop) capped by a successful bailey’s on ice which made me forget my burned feet. That afternoon was Bliss for me.

Mally

Naples Florida

The moment you sit by the river and quietly see the water traveling towards the ocean….. never returning…the moment of eternity sends you peace and stillness ……. Pure bliss.

Lauren

New York City

Bliss to me is family. My daughter's laughter... My mother's embrace. My father's hands and my husband's smile. The feeling you get when you hear the key in the door and you know everyone is home.

Saskia

New York City

Bliss is deeply rooted within. It’s the appreciation for the small things, it’s the ability to see light when a moment is dark. When it’s gone nothing goes right and everything appears to be hard.

Tracy
Atlanta

I find myself looking up at the trees during my morning walk. The colors of the Fall leaves are breathtaking! It is a gentle reminder of how beautiful Mother Earth is and brings me BLISS.

Véro

France

BLISS now : B for the color “black” (the nights are early in November in Paris), L for “light” that always comes back, I for “inner,” S for “salt of life“ which gives it taste and flavor, S for “silence” before sleep.

Yassana

NYC

Bliss is knowing that there are people out there with whom you share a bond so deep it transcends time, geography and whatever catastrophes life cooks up. Those are my “always and forever” people and I can count them on a few digits, but the bliss they bring me could fill a few galaxies…