"Quantum Reality: Beyond the New Physics" by Nick Herbert (1987)

One shall believe not that which is most comforting and not that which is most probable, but that which is most likely to generate those testable hypotheses that will facilitate the eventual discovery of truth. Believing otherwise is myopia and selfishness at the expense of posterity.

ProArteDanza

(Harbourfront Centre, 9 October 2010)

Roberto Campanella and Robert Glumbek study ideas, expressed in the form whose beauty humans are best capable of appreciating---that of bodies, perceived as individuals, given meaning by their environment. Ideas migrate, individuals meet; ideas spread, groups form; ideas clash, individuals suffer the collateral damage. Ideas do not survive in a single individual for long; they are harnessed in competition with others' ideas.

Broadcasting ideas without an audience is the last resort in desperation, sad and ugly. Instead, the choreographers respectfully let their dancers listen to each other. The bodies realise that each of them is enslaved by an itinerant idea. An efficient carrier of ideas, an individual sometimes supports others only in order to crash them with greater glory in future. Mostly, however, an individual supports others when not recognising the difference between the others and himself. The dancers' bodies forgive and care for each other, as if conscious of each other's transience (humbled by the potential immortality of the ideas that they carry) and cherishing their moments of capacity. They respect by giving each other's ideas a chance.

Maa: A Ballet by Kaija Saariaho

(Miller Theatre, 25 September 2010)

The prevailing laws of physics, which make life possible, are highly improbable. Even though any other, potential, universe would seem unrecognisable to us, statistically it may deviate minimally from ours. Often, contemporary art represents such potential notions of beauty, plausible and minimally different from the received notion---but ugly. Ugly art helps one understand the native by portraying the foreign. Such art is akin to a poem submitted for publication by a skilful alien, unaware that his language resembles C++ more than English. Such an inhuman work makes a human appreciate the human---as Luca Veggetti's ballet does.

The dancers' movements are strained and serve no purpose. Why move at all? Perhaps, the bodies do not move by their own volition. The characters are absently self-absorbed. They move and touch out of habit, betraying no emotion. Their bodies are vacant. The sadness of the characters' situation is in their inability and unwillingness to fully utilise their bodies (the dancers' skill and effort notwithstanding).

When faced with such an alien production, one can try to appreciate the alien artist; one can even grant him  the benefit of the doubt by supposing that he finds the work beautiful, and, then, try to appreciate that beauty; or one can seek the missing component that is necessary for beauty. The attraction of the first and second alternatives in encounters with contemporary art is less than in encounters with foreign cultures; a culture has its constituency, a piece of art may not.

"Quantum: Einstein, Bohr, and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality" by Manjit Kumar (2008)

Heisenberg, Schrödinger, Bohr, and Einstein each, with near-religious conviction, believed in his own version of reality, despite no experimental evidence could discriminate among them. The physicists' debate was not futile, however. Even though the application of existing knowledge is unaffected by the fiction behind equations, the advancement of future science is. Speculations about the unobserved reality help generate new hypotheses and prioritise pending experiments. Furthermore, even if, say, Heisenberg were unsure about the verity of his vision (which he, a scientist, must have been), the society would nonetheless want him to passionately advocate that vision, thereby encouraging others to harness their arguments.

"Red Plenty" by Francis Spufford (2010)

Many things in a society can go wrong; most do. It is a theory of why something ever goes right that is wanting---a theory without the air of Jane Austenesque inevitability to it. "Red Plenty" tells how coercion, intimidation, and delusion can dress, feed, educate, and house. The employed centralised control is liable to manipulation by all, including those lacking pro-social disposition. Hence, the requisite coördination should better be achieved by a minimally centralised system. Instead of being itself centrally imposed, the system must spread by contagion, through revolution or---most reliably---evolution.

Individual liberty not only prevents the wrong but also nourishes the right, as is best described in Chapter "Midsummer Night, 1962." Liberty enables the like-minded to identify and inspire each other.

Colorama

(George Eastman House, 18 September 2010)

"Alps Skiers with Airplane, Near the Matterphorn in Switzerland" (January 27--February 17, 1964). In her beskied husband's plain view, a beskied woman shoots her husband's best friend (skies erect), posing in front of a  smooth red-and-white aeroplane aiming at the woman and positioned at a slight angle to the barely spoilt sheets of snow below, creased in the background to form the pillows of a mountain range---Alps, apparently. All four involved maintain a gentlemanly distance and leave it to the redness of their fuselages to convey the intensity of their encounter. "Couple in Blossoms at Bronx Botanical Gardens" (February 19--March 11, 1968). A woman---a kodak in her hands---rests her eyes on a flower bed. A man seeks to relive the woman's emotion by gazing at the spot just exposed on her kodak's film. "Portuguese Fishing Village, Nazare, Portugal" (August 9--August 30, 1965). Soaked in a setting sun's warmth that only a glass of wine can furnish, an American couple, installed on a balcony overlooking the sea, frame the shared memories of what later will be identified as the footage of their designated dream.

When one would have kissed before, one has been stepping ten feet away and taking a picture since then. When one would have diverted the eyes and looked down before, one has been boldly aiming the camera and taking a picture since then. When one would have used a drink to appreciate the world in all its over-saturated tones before, one has been loading a film and releasing the shutter since then. One was in no obligation to live a dream any more, it was enough to look a dream when cued by a photographer.

Then, the over-saturated colours, elaborate hairdos, and grow-ups' clothes went out of style. Broadcasting oneself---free from one's dream---took over amateur photography.

Robin and the 7 Hoods

(The Old Globe Theatre, 12 August 2010)

The plot celebrates the twentieth century Robin Hoods---the independent media, especially television. The musical does not innovate. It reliably entertains with the traditional. The first act is saturated with songs sung too closely and with one-liners spoken too quickly---often leaving no room for acting. When present, acting betrays Broadway training. The musical numbers are contrived, but mostly one delights in how cleverly contrived they are.

As soon as the first words of "Come Fly with Me" are sung by Little John Dante (played by Will Chase), the audience senses the irony, suspends its breath, and hopes that John's fiancee (played by Amy Spanger) will not detect the insencerety betrayed by his employment of the off-the-shelf standard. John recognises the precariousness of his situation, and realises that the audience does so (and, possibly, that the audience realises that he realises). The song's salsa segment is expertly done. So is the scene on the plane; the flight attendants' moaning approaches the grotesque but never trespasses it.