Previews of 2009

I have landed in Mauritania, and, as I await my navigational provisions, I thought it fitting to mention what 2009 has in store for labyrinths and labyrinthians. 

The crises of navigational ethics may have dominated the critical brain-space of contemporary labyrinthology in 2008, but despair not: 2009 promises to be an enriching, edifying, and exciting year for labyrinths and labyrinthians.  

The CLP has compiled a list of developments to debut in our new set of months that have already grabbed the imagination and ignited the eager anticipation of the international labyrinth community.  

Here are three developments which I greatly await, and my colleagues will be sharing theirs soon: 

1. In March, Californian labyrinthect Skye Morgan will be unveiling The Cube in an office park outside of Los Angeles. One part art, one part social commentary, and one part functional labyrinth, The Cube is a five-story labyrinth constructed entirely from cubicle partitions. The corridors of nondescript, gray cubicle walls underneath numbing fluorescent lights hanging from drop ceilings are purported to make for an extremely claustrophobic and disorienting navigation. No word has yet been leaked about the nature of the center and great room of The Cube, but I, for one, am up for the challenge.    

2. On June 16, labyrinthologists will finally be able to get their hands on Stephon Crete's equally acclaimed and maligned Procodic Boundaries: On the Ballast of the Perimeter. Though shrouded in much mystery, Dr. Crete is expected to unveil significant new corollaries to his Vector Theory, furnish complete data tables from his measurements of labyrinthons, and, most astoundingly, incorporate his theory of salvific magnetism into his so-called Unified Labyrinth Theory.  Labcritics, get ready to spill some ink! 

3. Brazilian experimental composer, who boldly goes only by the name of Thiago, will be premiering Caminhada, an epic symphony written exclusively for Balinese-styled gamelan, Gamelan gong kebyar. In an interview, Thiago revealed that he scored the symphony after navigating the sublime East Amazon Edge Labyrinth. (I am scheduling my first navigation for the fall of this year. Do I have any willing co-navigators?) While not explicating any details about his notation and transcription, Thiago stated that he developed a system by which he assigned pitches and duration based on the length of corridors, juncture composition, and chamber arrangement. He found the gamelan to be best suited to "perform the navigation." Apparently, each performance of the symphony will be different, representative of the alternative congressional and egressional routes the East Amazon Edge Labyrinth permits.  The first performance will be at the Sydney Opera House in midsummer. Get your tickets while they are still available.