cosmogram
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{{short description|Flat geometric figure depicting a cosmology}}
{{about|the flat geometric figure depicting a cosmology|Drake cosmogram|Arecibo message|the cosmogram horoscope|cosmobiology|cosmograph|cosmography}}
A cosmogram depicts a cosmology in a flat geometric form.{{Cite web |title=cosmogram {{!}} NCpedia |url=https://www.ncpedia.org/glossary/cosmogram |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=www.ncpedia.org}} They are used for various purposes: meditational, inspirational and to depict structure – real or imagined – of the earth or universe.
Often, cosmograms feature a circle and a square, or a circle and a cross. The circle may represent the universe, or unity, or an explanation of the universe in its totality – whether inspired by religious beliefs or scientific knowledge.{{Cite web |title=Interview with John Tresch on cosmograms |url=http://sonicacts.com/portal/interview-with-john-tresch-on-cosmograms |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=sonicacts.com}} The square or cross may represent the Earth, the four directions. The centre may represent the individual.{{Cite web |title=NPS Ethnography: African American Heritage & Ethnography |url=https://www.nps.gov/ethnography/aah/aaheritage/lowCountry_furthRdg4.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240722041313/https://www.nps.gov/ethnography/aah/aaheritage/lowCountry_furthRdg4.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 22, 2024 |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=www.nps.gov}}
Many diagrams featuring circles and squares or crosses may be interpreted as cosmograms, although they may not be intentionally created as such. For example, traditional Chinese coins, that are round with a square hole in the middle, have been given such an interpretation, and so has the board for the game ludo (see Cross and circle game).
Examples
In the 20th and 21st centuries, the framework of a traditional cosmogram is used to reflect on a particular person, persons or cultures.{{Cite web |date=1990 |title=Houston Conwill : the Museum of Modern Art, New York, November 16, 1989-January 9, 1990 |url=https://assets.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_2119_300062955.pdf |access-date=3 April 2022 |website=MoMA}}{{Cite web |title=Architectural art "The New Ring Shout" at Ted Weiss Federal Building, New York, New York |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2010720136/ |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=Library of Congress}} Often public buildings and parks host the cosmogram permanently. Examples include a memorial at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem,{{Cite web |date=14 December 2011 |title=RIVERS African Cosmogram |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/jag9889/6518091753 |access-date=3 April 2022 |website=flickr}} which commemorates the center's namesake and Langston Hughes,{{Cite web |title=What is a Cosmogram? |url=http://cosmogramofharlem.weebly.com/what-is-a-cosmogram.html |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=cosmogramofharlem.weebly.com}} who during his lifetime lived near the plot of land where the center was constructed.
Strawberry Fields, the memorial for John Lennon in Central Park, fits the criteria for a cosmogram: a pattern inside the border of a circle with an inner circle inscribed "Imagine".{{Cite web |title=Strawberry Fields |url=https://www.centralparknyc.org/locations/strawberry-fields |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=Central Park Conservancy |language=en}}
Hindi and Buddhist mandalas are cosmograms, but similar diagrams, known as schema, were also used in western Europe during the Middle Ages.
Architectural cosmograms – ancient city planning employed by the Aztec, Mayan and Mesopotamian cultures – used structures to reflect the cosmos.{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Michael E. |date=2005 |title=Did the Maya Build Architectural Cosmograms? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30042813 |journal=Latin American Antiquity |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=217–224 |doi=10.2307/30042813 |jstor=30042813 |issn=1045-6635|url-access=subscription }}
The Kongo cosmogram, a core symbol in Bakongo religion of the Kôngo people, represents man's origin, destiny, and path to salvation.{{Cite web |title=Deep Meaning of Kongo Cosmogram {{!}} BLAC Foundation |url=https://blacfoundation.org/deep-meaning-of-kongo-cosmogram/ |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=blacfoundation.org}}{{Cite journal |last=Gundaker |first=Grey |date=2011 |title=The Kongo Cosmogram in Historical Archaeology and the Moral Compass of Dave the Potter |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23070096 |journal=Historical Archaeology |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=176–183 |doi=10.1007/BF03376840 |jstor=23070096 |issn=0440-9213|url-access=subscription }}
The basement floor of First African Baptist Church in Savannah, GA has a Congolese cosmogram made of drilled holes in the shape of a diamond with an inner cross. This is a prayer cosmogram depicting birth, life, death and rebirth. There is speculation that this cosmogram is made of drilled holes in a floor because American slaves hid in underneath the panels and needed air holes for circulation.{{Cite web |last=Artstor |title=Artstor |url=https://library.artstor.org/#/public/SS7731300_7731300_10955348 |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=library.artstor.org |language=en}}
Scholars argue cosmograms appear in performance, citing the concept albums of George Clinton's bands Parliament and Funkadelic.{{Cite journal |last=Gaskins |first=Nettrice R. |date=2016-01-02 |title=The African Cosmogram Matrix in Contemporary Art and Culture |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/14769948.2015.1131502 |journal=Black Theology |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=28–42 |doi=10.1080/14769948.2015.1131502 |issn=1476-9948|url-access=subscription }}
See also
{{Commons}}