Engineering For the Human Spirit: From Gentle Wind Project to I Ching Systems, 1983-2022 at Theta

Artists: The Gentle Wind Project, I Ching Artworks, I Ching Systems, Family Systems Research Group

Exhibition title: Engineering For the Human Spirit: From Gentle Wind Project to I Ching Systems, 1983-2022

Organized by: Nick Irvin

Venue: Theta, New York, US

Date: January 11 – February 11, 2023

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Theta, New York

The Gentle Wind Project was established in 1983 as a not-for-profit research center dedicated to the development of “healing instruments” drawing from its founders’ idiosyncratic system of beliefs. Incorporating elements of traditional Chinese medicine, electromagnetism, particle physics, color theory, homeopathy, and the I Ching, the healing instruments were intended to go beyond the banal insufficiency of mainstream therapies, and to heal the body and spirit on a material, “structural” level.

Through regular use, Gentle Wind Project’s colorful and elaborately designed rods, pucks, consoles, and cards were meant to repair and realign the body’s electromagnetic field. Their designs, however, are not mere decoration: color, line, and shape are as essential to the tools’ operation as the homeopathic materials embedded in them. According to founder Mary Miller, colors are “three-dimensional formations of subatomic particles,” and thus material. The instruments’ fligrees of vector, gradient, and curve are, by some secret language, transitive.

In the early 2000s, the group was subject to a fraud investigation by the Main Attorney General’s Office, as well as a slew of internet campaigns devoted to debunking the instruments and the group. Since then, the Gentle Wind Project has been commonly referred to as a “cult”.

In 2007 the State of Maine forced the Gentle Wind Project to disincorporate and leave the state. They quickly reformed as Family Systems Research Group, and later became I Ching Systems and Artworks, the name by which they are known today.

But it was in this middle phase, after the dissolution of their non-profit status and before incorporating the category of “Artwork” into their name, that the group had a moment of contact with the art world. In 2007 they had an exhibition at Feature Inc., the pioneering, independent-spirited commercial gallery owned and operated by the gallerist Hudson (1950-2014), who had early showings of artists such as Charles Ray, Richard Prince, Vincent Fecteau, B. Wurtz, and Takashi Murakami, among others. Holland Cotter reviewed the show favorably for the Times.

Looking at the materials from the Feature show, what has always struck me is that this presentation of the group seemed entirely *sincere*. At no point is there any wink, any suggestion of bad faith on the gallery’s part. This became all the more striking when I learned that the group’s courtroom dramas had concluded, unfavorably for the group and in public, the year before the show. Hudson’s decision to show these works, even then, seemed to convey his faith––if not in the tenets of Gentle Wind outright, at least a faith in those who seek some kind of otherwise. Utopia and art of course have a long, fabled history––so do art and cults––but to show this material in New York, already so secular and commercialized by 2007, seemingly in complete earnest, is to my mind remarkable.

It would be easy to insert our own sneer here, with the distance of time and non-affiliation. In fact, I think we’re conditioned to it in this golden age of cult documentaries and true crime podcasts, which ask so little of their subjects, sensationalizing their stories with sociopathic glee. Their makers see themselves as too safely removed, too comfortable. This exhibition, along with the publication we’ve made for it, are an attempt at a more imbricated portrait, an attempt to do something other than plain advocacy or snide derision. I think of the attempt as “ambivalent”––not in the sense of indifference, but in the sense of dual valences. On the one hand, there’s Hudson’s sincerity––his belief in belief, and its relation to art––which I hope to hold in view, in tension, with the other, less rosy aspects of telling the history of this organization.

At bottom, this project is about art, belief, and law.

– Nick Irvin

Engineering For the Human Spirit: From Gentle Wind Project to I Ching Systems, 1983-2022, 2023, exhibition view, Theta, New York

I Ching Artworks, Personal Balanced Space Ver 5.3.3, 2022, Laminated paper, magnets, 35½ x 23¼ in

Engineering For the Human Spirit: From Gentle Wind Project to I Ching Systems, 1983-2022, 2023, exhibition view, Theta, New York

I Ching Artworks, A Personal Hexagram, Acrylic on printed canvas, 18 x 14 in

Engineering For the Human Spirit: From Gentle Wind Project to I Ching Systems, 1983-2022, 2023, exhibition view, Theta, New York

Gentle Wind Project, Photon Health Accelerator Ver 3.1, 2002, Laminated wood, delrin, acrylic, laminated symbols, magnets, herbal formulas, 5¼ x 15¼ x 3¾ in

Gentle Wind Project, Universal Healing Cube, 2001, Clear lexan, PVC pipe, laminated symbols, magnets & herbal formulas, 10 x 10 x 10 in

I Ching Systems, Personal Alignment Pack II Ver. 0.10, Laminated card, 11 x 17 in

Family Systems Research Group, Soft Sleep Ver 8.2, 2008, Laminated card, copper strip, 5.5 x 7.5 in

Family Systems Research Group, Trauma Card 4 + Combat Fatigue, Ver 0.003, 2007, Laminated card, aluminum and copper tape, 5⅝ x 7⅝ in

Family Systems Research Group, Trauma Card 2 + Combat Fatigue Ver 17.0, 2006, Laminated card, 4.5 x 6.5 in

Gentle Wind Project, System 10.51 , ca. 2006, Delrin, acrylic, laminated symbols, hermal formulas, tuning forks, 8 x 10 x 6 in

I Ching Systems, Advanced Rod, 1990, Acrylic with laminated symbols, copper band, herbal formula, 11⅞ x 1¼ in; I Ching Systems, Rod of Light, 1989, Acrylic with laminated symbols, herbal formula, 9½ x 1¼ in; Gentle Wind Project, Rod of Light, 1988, Acrylic, copper, herbal formula, 7½ x 1¼ in

Gentle Wind Project, Physical Alignment Set 2, ca. 2000, Delrin, colored acrylic, laminated symbols, herbal formulas & magnets, metal handles, 2½ x 12 x 8 in each

I Ching Artworks, The Rainbow Bridge, Ver. 1.2, 2016, PVC, laminated symbols with herbal formulas & magnets inside, 12 x 8 x 8 in

I Ching Systems, The Pizza, 2017, Laminated cards, wooden color panels, 3 x 10½ x 10½ in

Engineering For the Human Spirit: From Gentle Wind Project to I Ching Systems, 1983-2022, 2023, exhibition view, Theta, New York

Family Systems Research Group, Rainbow Bridge Ver 2.0, 2007, Delrin, black acrylic, laminated symbol, herbal formula, 3⅞ x 3⅞ x ⅝ in

Gentle Wind Project, Rainbow Puck 9.1, ca. 2005, Delrin, colored acrylic, laminated symbol, herbal formula, 2 x 4 x 4 in

Gentle Wind Project, Super Puck, 2001, Gentle Wind Project, Delrin, laminated symbol, colored acrylic, herbal formulas, 1¾ x 4 x 4 in

Gentle Wind Project, Puck-Puck, 2001, Plastic, paper, sand, homeopathic compounds, tuning fork, hardware, 8 x 3½ x 3½ in

Gentle Wind Project, Review of Feature Inc. Exhibition by Holland Cotter, 2007 The New York Times, October 26, 2007; Gentle Wind Project, Feature Inc. Exhibition Documentation, 2007 PrInted press release and show postcard

Gentle Wind Project, Review of Feature Inc. Exhibition by Holland Cotter, 2007 The New York Times, October 26, 2007

Engineering For the Human Spirit: From Gentle Wind Project to I Ching Systems, 1983-2022, 2023, exhibition view, Theta, New York

I Ching Systems, Color 3-Stack Ver.. 6.3 Revision A, 2022, Intended for use alongside Color Booster Pack Version 2.2 Revision C Saturn Relief laminated card, wood and plastic layers 7 x 5 in

I Ching Systems, A Combat Soldiers Journey Ver 1.2^12, 2014 (Free for veterans), Laminated card 7¼ x 4⅝ in

Engineering For the Human Spirit: From Gentle Wind Project to I Ching Systems, 1983-2022, 2023, exhibition view, Theta, New York

I Ching Systems, Advanced Color Cord System, 2017, Colored ropes, colored acrylic rods with coils & herbal formulas sealed inside, laminated, Dimensions variable

Gentle Wind Project, Advanced Rod, ca. 2004, Delrin, epoxy colors, herbal formulas, 1¾ x 12 x 1¾ in

Engineering For the Human Spirit: From Gentle Wind Project to I Ching Systems, 1983-2022, 2023, exhibition view, Theta, New York

I Ching Artworks, Fibonacci Life Path for “Erika Newton”, 2022, Laminated paper, 34½ 52¾ in

I-Ching Systems, The Woman’s Connection with Barrie-Louise Swintzen, Broadcast 8/7/2001: Gentle Wind Project, 2001, The Woman’s Connection

Engineering For the Human Spirit: From Gentle Wind Project to I Ching Systems, 1983-2022, 2023, exhibition view, Theta, New York

I Ching Artworks, Advanced Alignment & Balancing Rods, 2013, Wooden rods, plastic puck, two wooden blocks, and photo of display, Dimensions variable

Gentle Wind Project, Fourth Annual International Conference For Instrument Keepers, 2006, Spiral bound booklet, 11 x 8.5 in