(Queensland Museum, 1 December 2014)
The exhibition’s implicit thesis is that underwear has been shaped by technological advances (nylon, lycra, central heating) and social fads (tango, aerobics), but has shaped nothing but the wearer’s frame. The underwear’s under-appreciated agency undermines the exhibition's artistic legitimacy, thereby relegating the exhibition to an ethnographic display.
An undergarment belongs to an art gallery only to the extend that it has been an element of a vocabulary current in a conversation that has effected social change, which, in turn, has affected the conversation---and with it, the vocabulary. Conversations have protagonists, whose lives intertwine to form a narrative, and who are the ultimate objects of art. Uninhabited, the exhibition is merely an anonymous exhibit of other people's washed laundry.
5 December 2014
20 November 2014
15 November 2014
"The Compass of Pleasure" by David J. Linden (2011)
Individuals differ in their susceptibilities to addiction. An individual with an intense susceptibility will become addicted anyway; his only decision is to choose an addiction. The society can only hope to steer the individual towards a productive addiction by multiplying the choices available to him.
It is unlikely that the technological progress is an aberration that will cease. Individuals have found the same outlet for creativity in technology as used to be available only in art and science. This outlet cannot be lost. It is possible, however, that abundant consumption will subdue the desire to create. It is also possible that technological advances will enable one to administer pleasure directly, without resorting to the exercise of creativity.
The future ushered by such advances would take suburbia to another level. The greatest source of satisfaction is other people. Finding the right kind of other people requires time. Instead of lubricating connexions (e.g., as Facebook does), technology might dispense with connexions altogether. Some (mostly good-looking and intelligent) nonconformists would socialise and work. Others would volunteer to exist in solitude, plugged into machines.
It is unlikely that the technological progress is an aberration that will cease. Individuals have found the same outlet for creativity in technology as used to be available only in art and science. This outlet cannot be lost. It is possible, however, that abundant consumption will subdue the desire to create. It is also possible that technological advances will enable one to administer pleasure directly, without resorting to the exercise of creativity.
The future ushered by such advances would take suburbia to another level. The greatest source of satisfaction is other people. Finding the right kind of other people requires time. Instead of lubricating connexions (e.g., as Facebook does), technology might dispense with connexions altogether. Some (mostly good-looking and intelligent) nonconformists would socialise and work. Others would volunteer to exist in solitude, plugged into machines.
31 October 2014
"10th Anniversary Season" by ProArte Danza
(Harbourfront Centre, 5 October 2014)
Watching a new dance is akin to travelling to a country whose tongue one does not understand. One builds a narrative from one's latent thoughts triggered by the witnessed scenes. One identifies with the detected lives of others. The lack of comprehension prunes the superfluous and deepens the connection.
ProArte Danza celebrate civilisation without diminishing the individual. Civilisation empowers the individual by providing continuity, through conversations and shared beauty.
Watching a new dance is akin to travelling to a country whose tongue one does not understand. One builds a narrative from one's latent thoughts triggered by the witnessed scenes. One identifies with the detected lives of others. The lack of comprehension prunes the superfluous and deepens the connection.
ProArte Danza celebrate civilisation without diminishing the individual. Civilisation empowers the individual by providing continuity, through conversations and shared beauty.
6 September 2014
Magic in the Moonlight (2014)
Woody Allen is getting subtler and surer with age. He is also more impatient to derive the truth, without fretting about its ethical consequences. There aren't any.
Mind betrays man. The capacity to change one's mind in the light of evidence betrays youth in a man. Youth and good posture betray youth in a woman. Man worships youth because everything else he can derive.
Mind betrays man. The capacity to change one's mind in the light of evidence betrays youth in a man. Youth and good posture betray youth in a woman. Man worships youth because everything else he can derive.
29 August 2014
Club Villa Malcolm in Córdoba
Stilettos are indispensable for gliding backwards---reluctantly, pointedly, delicately. Long flowing hair does not belong; it suggests gravitation. The function, communication, dictates shape.
Common to both dance and architecture is the principle that what looks better feels better. Dancing is an inherently urban activity. A choreographed ballet is an exercise in urban planning. A social dance is an evolving medieval city. Awareness of, and merging with, others is an urban pursuit.
One experiences oneself through others, who motivate one to be, to change---or to have the others replaced. The gratification from enlisting (with) others merges the selfish and the selfless. It is an evolved stimulus for social learning.
Common to both dance and architecture is the principle that what looks better feels better. Dancing is an inherently urban activity. A choreographed ballet is an exercise in urban planning. A social dance is an evolving medieval city. Awareness of, and merging with, others is an urban pursuit.
One experiences oneself through others, who motivate one to be, to change---or to have the others replaced. The gratification from enlisting (with) others merges the selfish and the selfless. It is an evolved stimulus for social learning.
25 August 2014
Sheldon in Honduras
The music is just a bit too loud. The cigarette smoke is just a bit too thick. The place is just a bit too perfect. One can think in silence, in shorthand, and breathe the pure oxygen of civilisation.
Enveloped in the bossa nova rhythm, the girls kiss, audibly, with a cigarette tucked between two fingers. The lighting is cinematic, the smoke natural, the red deep and soft, the blue distant, the soundtrack muted orange. The patrons traverse; ever polite, the waiters manoeuvre, assist, never serve.
Enveloped in the bossa nova rhythm, the girls kiss, audibly, with a cigarette tucked between two fingers. The lighting is cinematic, the smoke natural, the red deep and soft, the blue distant, the soundtrack muted orange. The patrons traverse; ever polite, the waiters manoeuvre, assist, never serve.
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