Leo Tolstoy on Emotional Infectiousness and What Separates Good Art from Bad by Maria Popova “A real work of art destroys, in the consciousness of the receiver, the separation between himself and the artist.” By 1897, Leo Tolstoy (September 9, 1828–November 20, 1910) was already a literary legend of worldwide acclaim and a man deeply invested in his ultimate quest to unravel the most important wisdom on life. But he shocked the world when he published What Is Art? (public library; public domain) that year — an iconoclastic , which gave us Tolstoy’s addition to history’s finest definitions of art and which pulled into question the creative merits of Shakespeare, Beethoven, and even his very own Anna Karenina. Underneath his then-radical and controversial reflections, however, lies a rich meditation on the immutable, eternal question of what art — especially “good art” — actually is, and how to tell it from its impostors and opposites. Tolstoy defies the academy’s intellectualizations of art: Infectiousness, however, is not a mere binary quality. Donating = Loving
Art and the Evolution of Consciousness — Eros & Kosmos Allan Combs California Institute of Integral Studies acombs@ciis.edu The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend. — Henri Bergson The idea that consciousness, or experience, has evolved and may continue to evolve through time and history has been explored in one way or another by many philosophers and pioneers of the inner life, but is seen nowhere more clearly than in the history of art. Gebser’s explorations of art and history beginning with a sudden recognition that art at the fin de siècle represented a new kind of consciousness, a new way of seeing and experiencing reality. The most ancient of these forms of experience was the archaic structure of consciousness, perhaps 200,000 years into our past. The earliest human art seems to come from this period. These images exhibit a vigor and simplicity that has not been seen since. Horizontal Evolution Ancient tales from around the world include exchanges between human beings and gods or goddesses. — G. Zones of Experience
Natasha Trethewey Named U.S. Poet Laureate | Art Beat Pulitzer Prize-winner Natasha Trethewey will be the 19th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, the Library of Congress announced on Thursday. “Natasha Trethewey is an outstanding poet/historian in the mold of Robert Penn Warren, our first Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry,” Librarian of Congress James Billington said in a statement. “Her poems dig beneath the surface of history–personal or communal, from childhood or from a century ago — to explore the human struggles that we all face.” Born in Gulfport, Miss., in 1966, Trethewey’s work has chronicled the complicated history of her own family and that of the South. As the daughter of a black mother and white father, an interracial union that was still illegal in Mississippi at the time, “it was very hard to drive around town with my parents, to be out in public with my parents,” she told the NewsHour in 2006. Her hometown was later ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. After she won the Pulitzer Prize, we caught up with Trethewey in our studio:
Os conselhos do homem mais feliz do mundo Nuno Botelho Matthieu Ricard foi a grande atracção do II Congresso Internacional da Felicidade, em Madrid Filho do filósofo francês Jean-François Revel, Matthieu Ricard cresceu entre a nata da nata dos intelectuais da Paris, como Stravinsky e Cartier-Breson. Doutorou-se em biologia molecular e trabalhou com um nobel da Medicina. Trocou então a ciência pela espiritualidade e rumou aos Himalaias. Agora, com 65 anos e mais de 10 mil horas de meditação, voltou à ciência como objeto de estudo e foi monitorizado com 256 sensores colados na cabeça, que mediram a actividade do córtex pré-frontal do seu cérebro. Com traje budista, ténis desportivos e sorriso aberto, encontrámo-lo no II Congresso Internacional da Felicidade Coca-Cola, em Madrid. Foi considerado o homem mais feliz do mundo. Temos de pôr de lado os prazeres mundanos para sermos felizes? Durante décadas, muitos psicólogos defenderam que nos devemos focar mais no "eu". Estamos no meio de uma profunda crise económica.
Generative art Joseph NechvatalOrgiastic abattOir,2004 computer-robotic assisted acrylic on canvas created by viral-based C++ software Installation view of Irrationnal Geometrics 2008 by Pascal Dombis Generative art refers to art that in whole or in part has been created with the use of an autonomous system. An autonomous system in this context is generally one that is non-human and can independently determine features of an artwork that would otherwise require decisions made directly by the artist. In some cases the human creator may claim that the generative system represents their own artistic idea, and in others that the system takes on the role of the creator. "Generative Art" is often used to refer to computer generated artwork that is algorithmically determined. Examples of generative art[edit] Music[edit] Johann Philipp Kirnberger's "Musikalisches Würfelspiel" (Musical Dice Game) 1757 is considered an early example of a generative system based on randomness. Visual art[edit] Software art[edit]
The Visual Patterns of Audio Frequencies Seen through Vibrating Sand Youtube user Brusspup (previously here and here) who often explores the intersection between art and science just released this new video featuring the Chladni plate experiment. First a black metal plate is attached to a tone generator and then sand is poured on the plate. As the speaker is cycled through various frequencies the sand naturally gravitates to the area where the least amount of vibration occurs causing fascinating geometric patterns to emerge. There’s actually a mathematical law that determines how each shape will form, the higher the frequency the more complex the pattern.
Myths About Giftedness ~ by Mary Rocamora, M.A. ~ There are many myths about the gifted that are held in the mainstream culture. The gifted can make it by themselves — they don’t need any extra attention, either as children or as adults. Actually, gifted children and adults need more mirroring and mentoring than most people because there is more inside that is yearning to be lived. Even if you have extraordinary talents, keep your light under a bushel. One should never feel too good about one’s abilities or show them off except when invited or alone. You can be gifted on your own time. After you have done everything you “should” do, you will finally be free to do something meaningful or creative. In the awareness work we offer, the gifted are moved irrevocably away from the obligatory demands of family, friends, being a “good person,” and even our ideas about survival. You can’t earn a living being who you are. If you get too big, you’ll die. The path to realization for the gifted is littered with land mines.
College Bruno Munari on Design as a Bridge Between Art and Life by Maria Popova “The designer of today re-establishes the long-lost contact between art and the public, between living people and art as a living thing.” In the preface to his 1966 classic Design as Art (public library) — one of the most important and influential design books ever published — legendary Italian graphic designer Bruno Munari, once described by Picasso as “the new Leonardo,” makes a passionate case for democratizing art and making design the lubricant between romanticism and pragmatism. Revisiting Munari’s iconic words is at once a reminder of how much has changed, and how little — but mostly a timeless vision for design’s highest, purest aspiration. Munari begins: Today it has become necessary to demolish the myth of the ‘star’ artist who only produces masterpieces for a small group of ultra-intelligent people. In the introduction, he cites Maxim Gorky: Munari cautions against holding on too stringently to conceptions of what art is and isn’t: Donating = Loving Share on Tumblr
Art and the Internet of Things Wireless is increasingly pulling in all kinds of applications, platforms, services and things (rfid) into networks. Many people communicate through mobiles, blackberries, digital organizers, palmtops. Cars become information spaces with navigational systems and consoles like Nintendo DS have wireless capacities and get linux kernels installed.We are witnessing a move towards pervasive computing and disappearing technologies in intelligent clothing (wearables), smart environments (knowing where and who we are), pervasive games, and we will see doors opening for some and closing to others. Mimickry and camouflage will become part of application design. Ipods and Iphones will show colors and produce sounds corresponding with your surroundings. Katherine Moriwaki’s handbag, (Inside/Outside) is a keywork. This means we deal with ad hoc networks, environmental sensors and smart textiles.
Exquisite Minds: Gifted and Creative Children | Exquisite Minds: Gifted and Creative Children « Support for Educators and Parents of Gifted and Creative Children "The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that cr