The Sphinx Without a Secret

This very short story was first published in The World, in May 1887. In the story, Lord Murchison recounts to his old friend a strange tale of a woman he had loved and intended to marry, but was now dead. She had always been very secretive and mysterious, and he one day followed her to see where she went, discovering her stealthfully going to a boarding house. He suspected there was another man, and confronted her the next day. She confessed to having been there, but said nothing happened. He did not believe her and left; she died some time later.

He went to the boarding house to speak to the owner, and she confirmed she had rented the room and that all the lady ever did was come to it and sit alone for a few hours at a time, reading or doing nothing.

After telling his story, he asks his friend if he believes it — that her secret really was that she had no secret — and his friend said he was certain of it. Lord Murchison ends with the reply: "I wonder."

HAJJ

Hajj

journey to
the heart of Islam

26 January – 15 April 2012

http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/hajj.aspx

One of the five pillars of Islam central to Muslim belief, Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca that every Muslim must make at least once in their lifetime if they are able. This major exhibition charts the history of this deeply personal journey.

NEW EXHIBITION, COMING SOON...


I bet that there will be plenty of things to learn at the British Museum.


I have learnt a little more about the Ka'aba. It houses the 'Black Stone' in it's eastern corner, a sacred stone. This is what Wikipedia has to say about it.

The Black Stone (Arabic: الحجر الأسود‎ al-Ḥajar al-Aswad) is the eastern cornerstone of the Kaaba, the ancient stone building towards which Muslims pray, in the center of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is revered by Muslims as an Islamic relic, which according to Muslim tradition dates back to the time of Adam and Eve.^[1]

The stone was venerated at the Kaaba in pre-Islamic pagan times. It was set intact into the Kaaba's wall by the Islamic Prophet Muhammad in the year 605 A.D., five years before his first revelation. Since then it has been broken into a number of fragments and is now cemented into a silver frame in the side of the Kaaba. Its physical appearance is that of a fragmented dark rock, polished smooth by the hands of millions of pilgrims. Islamic tradition holds that it fell from Heaven to show Adam and Eve where to build an altar. Although it has often been described as a meteorite, this hypothesis is now uncertain.^[2]

Muslim pilgrims circle the Kaaba as part of the Tawaf ritual of the Hajj. Many of them try, if possible, to stop and kiss the Black Stone, emulating the kiss that Islamic tradition records that it received from Muhammad.^[3]If they cannot reach it, they point to it on each of their seven circuits around the Kaaba.^[4]

A meteorite...more research needed.

OH, GREGORY SCHNEIDER...

...CAN I HAVE ALL OF YOUR WORK, PLEASE?SO WHAT HAVEN'T YOU DONE?!?!

BLACK BOX
&
WHITECUBE


OH AND I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU DID A PROJECT ABOUT THE KA'ABA IN MECCA, PROPOSED FOR THE VENICE BIENNALE?
(apologies for my lack of detail, i did mean to mention the KA'ABA, in earlier posts)

'When Rosa Martinez, in her role as a co-curator of the 2005 Venice Biennale, commissioned Gregor Schneider's Cube Venice, a 50-foot-square tower of veiled scaffolding designed in tribute to the Ka'aba in Mecca--a sacred and undocumented site forbidden to non-worshippers--she and Schneider agreed that Piazza San Marco, the plaza in front of the conversely very touristy cathedral of San Marcos, was the ideal place to display it. As the festival approached, that proximity worried Venice city authorities. In the end, their refusal to grant necessary permissions was supported by Italy's Ministry of Culture. Schneider asked that black pages be substituted for his planned materials in the Biennale's catalogue, but Cube Venice and the debates it provoked are documented here.'

Thanks AMAZON REVIEWS, now i have to buy this book. WISHLIST?

ART MAKING ITSELF

THE TYPE OF ART THAT I LIKE TO MAKE, OR NOT MAKE, MAKES ITSELF.

I WOULD LIKE TO THANK AHMED MATER FOR HIS MAGNETISM I, HIS SUDO-SCIENTIFIC VISION OF MECCA, A MAGNETIC FIELD SHAPING THE IRON FILINGS.

MAGNETISM I, ALTHOUGH QUITE A SIMPLE PRINT, EXORCISES THE CONNECTIONS WITHIN THIS TRYPTIC WITH A SIMPLE EXPLANANTION; THE BLACKBOX EFFECTS ITS SURROUNDINGS.

MECCA AND 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY THERE IS THIS AWE OF THE UNKNOWN, AND ALMOST INEXPLICABLE NATURE OF WHAT THE BLACKBOX IS ACTUALLY DOING.

MECCA (MEKKAH)

ITS TAKEN ME SOMETIME, BUT MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, I MIGHT MAKE SOME WORK NOW. MAYBE.

I NEED TO DISCOVER WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT, AND RELEVANT, BECAUSE IT IS.


RESEARCH HAS BEGUN.

Mecca^[2] ( /ˈmɛkə/; Arabic: مكة‎, Makkah, pronounced [ˈmækːɐ]) is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located 73 km (45 mi) inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of 277 m (909 ft) above sea level. Its resident population in 2008 was 1.7 million, although visitors more than double this number every year during Dhu al-Hijjah.

As the birthplace of Muhammad and a site of the composition of the Quran,^[3][4] Mecca is regarded as the holiest city in the religion of Islam^[5] and a pilgrimage to it known as the Hajj is obligatory upon all able Muslims. The Hijaz was long ruled by Muhammad's descendants, the sharifs, either as independent rulers or as vassals to larger empires. It was absorbed into Saudi Arabia in 1925. In its modern period, Mecca has seen tremendous expansion in size and infrastructure. Because of this Mecca has lost many thousand years old buildings and archaeological sites.^[6] Today, more than 13 million Muslims visit Mecca annually, including several million during the few days of the Hajj.^[7] As a result, Mecca has become one of the most cosmopolitan and diverse cities in the Muslim world,^[8] although non-Muslims remain formally prohibited from entering the city.^[9]

THANKS WIKIPEDIA, MY FIRST BLACKBOX OF TWO-THOUSAND-AND-TWELVE.

'MY' BLACK BOX

'BLACKBOX' - TONY SMITH

sculpture, 57.1 x 83.8 x 63.5 cm.

'BLACKBOX' - RORY BEARD

57.1 x 83.8 x 63.5 cm replica sculpture, MDF, black paint.

I think my box is better.

INPUT-OUTPUT

THE FIRST BLACKBOX BLOG.