“FROM THIS MOMENT FORWARD I WILL CHANGE POISON INTO MEDICINE” was conceived and designed for the Sony Jumbotron in Times Square when it was the largest of only two video screens in Manhattan. This was long before every possible surface in Times Square was covered in video. But even then, the visual noise and competition from neon and gargantuan billboards selling Broadway Musicals and Calvin Klein underwear was extreme. This video was created as a personal vow, a combination of two Nicherin Buddhist concepts. It was edited without a soundtrack, but the visuals were meant to be as “loud” as possible. The sound you will hear is the actual ambient street noise recorded during the documentation of the piece. It followed a blessing by a small group of Tibetan Monks on the sidewalk under the screen (not recorded). “FROM THIS MOMENT FORWARD I WILL CHANGE POISON INTO MEDICINE” is 20 seconds long and was shown once every hour for the entire month of October in 1991.
FROM THIS MOMENT FORWARD I WILL CHANGE POISON INTO MEDICINE, 1991
20 seconds, silent (recorded on location with ambiant street sounds)
Commissioned by the Asia Society of New York as part of The International Year of Tibet 1991