Having collected lots of thoughts - I now have a space to arrange them in at The Elysium Studios in Swansea .elysiumgallery.com
I hope to fill the wall with more ideas and connect them with threads.
I followed up some ideas from our speed tutorials - I particularly liked the thoughts of the anthropologist Tim Ingold -he talks about us having conversations with the world - loose ends and lines that get knotted and tangled together on the journey. He encourages thinking through the activity of making, the making driving the thinking. He describes a tension between the idea and the material.
Also Nina Katchadurian was mentioned during the tutorials - she deconstructed maps and reconstructed them - a visual thread marking a physical route through a landmass. ninakatchadourian.com/maps/finlandroad.php
Today we had a lecture on the 'sublime' This has triggered more thoughts on movement and purpose.
The sublime related to the natural world back in the late 18th century - the awe produced by landscapes and wilderness - the vastness of the heavens. It is said that in this century we have overcome the natural world, have controlled it and our awe is now centred around technology. I would argue that we have not controlled nature - we have altered it to our own detriment. We ourselves are nature. We are digitalising and measuring and quantifying everything to the point where we believe there is no mystery.
"God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him ..." Nietzsche. It is we who kill the concept of God and then go on to find other ways of experiencing the sublime - continually searching out new 'gods' to worship. Perhaps we need things to believe in ? We need anchors in an uncertain world - we always try to make sense of the world around us.
The discussion around the sublime seemed to empahsise that only grand scale works can create a sense of awe - I'm not sure about that as I have experienced awe by looking at a small Ben Nicholson relief. Or have marvelled at the beauty of some small insects - jewel-like beetles and intricately patterned butterflies for example.
Paul.
I hope to fill the wall with more ideas and connect them with threads.
I followed up some ideas from our speed tutorials - I particularly liked the thoughts of the anthropologist Tim Ingold -he talks about us having conversations with the world - loose ends and lines that get knotted and tangled together on the journey. He encourages thinking through the activity of making, the making driving the thinking. He describes a tension between the idea and the material.
Also Nina Katchadurian was mentioned during the tutorials - she deconstructed maps and reconstructed them - a visual thread marking a physical route through a landmass. ninakatchadourian.com/maps/finlandroad.php
Today we had a lecture on the 'sublime' This has triggered more thoughts on movement and purpose.
The sublime related to the natural world back in the late 18th century - the awe produced by landscapes and wilderness - the vastness of the heavens. It is said that in this century we have overcome the natural world, have controlled it and our awe is now centred around technology. I would argue that we have not controlled nature - we have altered it to our own detriment. We ourselves are nature. We are digitalising and measuring and quantifying everything to the point where we believe there is no mystery.
"God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him ..." Nietzsche. It is we who kill the concept of God and then go on to find other ways of experiencing the sublime - continually searching out new 'gods' to worship. Perhaps we need things to believe in ? We need anchors in an uncertain world - we always try to make sense of the world around us.
The discussion around the sublime seemed to empahsise that only grand scale works can create a sense of awe - I'm not sure about that as I have experienced awe by looking at a small Ben Nicholson relief. Or have marvelled at the beauty of some small insects - jewel-like beetles and intricately patterned butterflies for example.
Paul.
Postcards are not pointless. They are just a little message to say hello. And have an opportunity to say more if you like. A physical communication. A reminder to the recipient that they are thought about. A way of sharing an experience. Not pointless at all. Try sending one!
ReplyDeleteI wholeheartedly agree - the current train of thought is raising questions about whether the sublime experience is something from the past. Walking in a landscape and recording and sharing that experience is for me a slice of the sublime. Sublime is not dead !
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