Viewing the World

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Of the forces that supposedly brought modern art into being, a wide range of factors have been cited - industrialization, the “machine age,” and psychosexual emancipation. Though kindergarten has never been “fodder for argument over absinthe and Gauloises in Montmartre cafes,” Bosterman suggests that its influence on modern art “has been largely ignored because its participants were in the primary band of the scholastic spectrum.” To which we may add that the gender of its practitioners was overwhelmingly female. In the standard narratives of art-historical criticism, women are not only absent from the canon of modern masters, but female activities, interests and occupations have been cast as mostly irrelevant to the movement itself. This exhibition challenges that view, locating women and children at the origin of this aesthetic upheaval.

The Institute For Figuring // Exhibition:INVENTING KINDERGARTEN

http://theiff.org/oexhibits/kindy02.html
http://thebeautifulbrain.com/2010/10/herzog-cave-of-forgotten-dreams/

The Parallel Film: Herzog’s “Cave of Forgotten Dreams”

Cave of Forgotten Dreams is the latest film from German director Werner Herzog. The film premiered in New York City on October 2nd at The New Yorker Festival. Director Werner Herzog (left) inside the Chauvet cave. When Werner Herzog was granted access to film in the very secretive Chauvet cave in France—sealed for 30,000 years with pristinely preserved Paleolithic wall paintings, and discovered in 1994—he at first resisted his producer’s suggestion that he document it in 3D.

"Don’t ever trust a movie. Trust in imagination. Trust in your own ecstasy. Trust in the ecstasy of truth"" by maia.alina Oct 11

Horacio Salinas for The New York Times In particular, Whorf announced, Native American languages impose on their speakers a picture of reality that is totally different from ours, so their speakers would simply not be able to understand some of our most basic concepts, like the flow of time or the distinction between objects (like “stone”) and actions (like “fall”). For decades, Whorf’s theory dazzled both academics and the general public alike. In his shadow, others made a whole range of imaginative claims about the supposed power of language, from the assertion that Native American languages instill in their speakers an intuitive understanding of Einstein’s concept of time as a fourth dimension to the theory that the nature of the Jewish religion was determined by the tense system of ancient Hebrew. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29language-t.html

Does Your Language Shape How You Think?

Followup to : The Parable of Hemlock Suppose I find a barrel, sealed at the top, but with a hole large enough for a hand. I reach in, and feel a small, curved object. I pull the object out, and it's blue—a bluish egg. Next I reach in and feel something hard and flat, with edges—which, when I extract it, proves to be a red cube. I pull out 11 eggs and 8 cubes, and every egg is blue, and every cube is red.

Words as Hidden Inferences

http://lesswrong.com/lw/ng/words_as_hidden_inferences/#more

Art Students' Mental Health: A Complicated Picture - Arts & Academe

http://chronicle.com/blogs/arts/art-students-mental-health-a-complicated-picture/27923 By Daniel Grant Art institutes, like all colleges, strive to put their best foot forward when appealing to prospective students and their parents: These are our art studios; this is our distinguished faculty; have a look at our art library. However, considering how many students avail themselves of mental-health therapy in the course of a given year—10 percent of the student body at the Rhode Island School of Design, 25 percent at the Maryland Institute College of Art, 30 percent at the Savannah College of Art and Design—perhaps the college’s counseling center should be a stop on the tour.

Separate truths

What we need is a realistic view of where religious rivals clash and where they can cooperate. The world is what it is. And both tolerance and respect are empty virtues until we actually know whatever it is we are supposed to be tolerating or respecting. by maia.alina Aug 30

This article makes the important point that not only are religions different, but to ignore their differences is dangerous and unproductive. Although the idea behind all religions or one tries to make up for past wrongs, the fact that it is untrue only adds to our misunderstanding of other cultures and religions. And, since this idea does not have basis in the world of facts, it actually does nothing to make cultures more tolerant or understanding of each other. This type of feel-good message is common in our public discourse. Rather than grapple with reality, we instead pretend that the world is simple and easy to deal with. When the world isnt as rosy as we had painted it, the public is left feeling confused and apathetic. Without facts or knowledge of history, we are unable to combat injustice, fear, and ignorance. The whole world seems to operate without logic or meaning.We become unforgiving and unwilling to understand others. by maia.alina Aug 30

From Separate Truths, by Stephen Prothero (Boston Globe) I understand what these people are doing. They are not describing the world but reimagining it. ~SP by maia.alina Aug 30

Seeing reality - differences are important by maia.alina Aug 30