The LMU Academy of Catholic Thought and Imagination is creating a live multimedia show to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the merger of Loyola University and Marymount College with a multimedia presentation with Sacred Heart Chapel as the backdrop. “Anima Mundi / The Soul of the World” will take place Dec. 3, 4, and 5 at 7 p.m. All are welcome.
The process of creating “Anima Mundi / Soul of the World” required animation, 3D printing, and high-definition video mapping projection. The show includes music composed by President Timothy Law Snyder and the participation of a live choir. José García Moreno is the mastermind behind this show. LMUTW interviewed García Moreno to discuss this celebration of LMU’s legacy and future.
LMUTW: Where did this idea come from?
García Moreno: It was three years ago. I was asked to do a presentation about collaboration on the East Coast and I was on the plane. Suddenly, the idea came to me to use geometry as a way to express how people relate. I started to think about how spheres of influence create patterns of movement, and how groups of people that collaborate together can benefit from learning how birds fly.
Using state-of-the-art technologies could create something that has been a very long tradition in the Catholic Church, which is using walls to display images that may trigger an emotion, a reaction, or a contemplative moment. “Anima Mundi” relies on the idea that images in motion are enthusing and inspiring.
LMUTW: Why did you create “Anima Mundi” around the merger of Loyola and Marymount?
García Moreno: I wanted to do this in honor of the Jesuits, Marymount, and CSJ sisters. It is a celebration of coming together as a community. We celebrate them but also the Tongva who laid the grounds for what came afterward.
I wanted to use Sacred Heart Chapel because of what it represents on this campus. It is a sacred space representative of what LMU means. I wanted to make an artistic intervention that could reflect the foundational collaboration of the three entities, plus the cultural heritages that have framed our Californian history: the Tongva, the Mexican, and others. It made sense to me that the Sacred Heart Chapel is the axial point around which everything revolves in terms of the foundation of this university. As such, the Sacred Heart Chapel is our screen to project a multimedia event that relates the animation medium with technology, art, ministry, and mission, and hopefully reflects and honors our community.
LMUTW: How are you creating “Anima Mundi” practically?
García Moreno: We had to create a tangible model of Sacred Heart Chapel because this is not a flat screen. Its facade has been sculpted. Imagine that, in a way, we are projecting into a sculpture. We had to build a precise 3D model representation of the chapel because we will be using six huge projectors that will be aimed at the Sacred Heart Chapel, and the images will have to wrap around the intricacies of the front facade. Once we had a 3D model, we were able to print a resin miniature. The miniature model also allows us to do mock-ups of the show by projecting on it.
LMTUW: What are your hopes for this show?
García Moreno: I want people to be inspired by the beauty of the images, by the power of the choirs, and I want them to feel that we are all in this together. Ultimately, we need to move together if we’re going to change for good and to adapt to the challenges of the future. We have a great power to change the world by doing small things through everyday interactions. In the same way, that a flock of starlings move through the sky. The patterns of movement of those birds are not created by following an alpha but by small interactions that each one of us has with those in our proximity.We could learn from their efficiency in the way the move together.I hope people have an emotional reaction to the show.
The whole purpose of the show is about a force, a spirit in movement that permeates in nature. Also, in the show, we have quotes rooted in all faiths. We are a community that embraces diversity of opinions, origins, and religions. We are a community of voices. And those voices must have the space to be expressed. The quotes included references to major religions and traditions such as Hinduism, Ignatian spirituality, the missions of the R.S.H.M and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, Buddhism, Hebrew Elder Traditions, Qur’an, Laudate Deum, and even a science quote, as we believe in promoting a renewed dialogue between spirituality and the sciences.
LMUTW: Who has collaborated on this project?
García Moreno: This is an interdepartmental project across campus have come together to make this event happen. The Academy of Catholic Thought and Imagination is the producer. Timothy Law Snyder composed the music. We have involved the LMU Choruses and its director, John Flaherty because this is a Cantata about collaboration. I also want to thank the support of the School of Film and Television, the College of Communication and Fine Arts, and MarComm. It could not be a project about collaboration if it was not the product of a collaboration itself. I wrote, designed, and directed the project and I am very fortunate to work together with former students of mine, LMU alumni, which are now fantastic artists including, Andrew Cepollina, Alex Thurnher, Sheldon R. Williams, Moses Kent, Adam Galles, and Eloïse Kabbaz Szabo.
