...The Art of Listening I CAME to Africa with one purpose: I wanted to see the world outside the perspective of European egocentricity. I could have chosen Asia or South America. I ended up in Africa because the plane ticket there was cheapest. I came and I stayed. For nearly 25 years I’ve lived off and on in Mozambique. Time has passed, and I’m no longer young; in fact, I’m approaching old age. But my motive for living this straddled existence, with one foot in African sand and the other in European snow, in the melancholy region of Norrland in Sweden where I grew up, has to do with wanting to see clearly, to understand. The simplest way to explain what I’ve learned from my life in Africa is through a parable about why human beings have two ears but only one tongue. Why is this? Probably so that we have to listen twice as much as we speak. In Africa listening is a guiding principle. It’s a principle that’s been lost in the constant chatter of the Western world, where no one seems to have the time or even the desire to listen to anyone else. From my own experience, I’ve noticed how much faster I have to answer a question during a TV interview than I did 10, maybe even 5, years ago. It’s as if we have completely lost the ability to listen. We talk and talk, and we end up frightened by silence, the refuge of those who are at a loss for an answer. I’m old enough to remember when South American literature emerged in popular consciousness and changed forever our view of the human...
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..."On The Art Of Living With Others" By Sir Arthur Helps The "Iliad" for war; the "Odyssey" for wandering; but where is the great domestic epic? Yet it is but commonplace to say that passions may rage round a tea-table which would not have misbecome men dashing at one another in war chariots; and evolutions of patience and temper are performed at the fireside, worthy to be compared with the Retreat of the Ten Thousand. Men have worshipped some fantastic being for living alone in a wilderness; but social martyrdoms place no saints upon the calendar. We may blind ourselves to it if we like, but the hatreds and disgusts that there are behind friendship, relationship, service, and, indeed, proximity of all kinds, is one of the darkest spots upon earth. The various relations of life, which bring people together, cannot, as we know, be perfectly fulfilled except in a state where there will, perhaps, be no occasion for any of them. It is no harm, however, to endeavor to see whether there are any methods which make these relations in the least degree more harmonious now. In the first place, if people are to live happily together, they must not fancy, because they are thrown together now, that all their lives have been exactly similar up to the present time, that they started exactly alike, and that they are to be for the future of the same mind. A thorough conviction of the difference of men is the great thing to be assured of in social knowledge: it is to life what Newton's law...
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...Drama Essay Bruce Burton’s statement from Living Drama (2001), states ‘Drama is an art form which is directly concerned with living, with the way we lead our lives. Through drama we explore the way the humans being think, feel and communicate, learning to understand others and ourselves much more fully.’ I agree with this statement and believe that theatre is directly concerned with the way people live their lives. Through drama, we explore many aspects of our lives and learn to understand ourselves and others in differing perspectives. Various theatre styles reflect and address the contextual issues of their times, thus providing evidence to my thesis. Theatre is involved in many aspects of our lives, whether we are aware of it or not. It is present in politics, in religion, in the way we participate in the rituals of daily life. It was in Ancient Greece that the first theatre originated – drama had its roots in religious ritual and celebration, particularly in the worship of Dionysus, the god of festivity. Festivals were serious religious occasions in Ancient Greek times. Tragedies were the main types of plays performed during these festivals – these plays always told the stories of Greek heroes and gods, and showed how good and evil were always in conflict. Citizens of Ancient Greece valued the teachings and values Ancient Greek theatre presented to them, and it affected what they believed in and the way they lived their lives. As the Ancient Greek plays idolised...
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...The most widely renowned symbolic meanings for skulls are death and mortality. Skulls have appeared for thousands of years throughout history whether be it on gravestones in early New England or displayed in Middle Eastern homes as far back as 7200 B.C. Their earliest appearance in art history was the adornment of human and animal skulls with gems. The popularity of skull art has increased greatly over the past decade; they can be seen embellished on almost any item from fashion to furniture and tattoos. Damien Hirst is an English artist, he is said to be the most renowned member of the Young British Artists group and is Brittan’s richest living artist with a net worth of approx. $300 million dollars. The majority of Hirt’s works are paintings, conceptual art and installation art centralizing around the themes of faith, religion, wealth, aesthetics and most importantly mortality. His two most notable artworks are his 1991 conceptual piece ’The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living ‘and his 2007 sculpture ‘For the love of god’. ‘The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living’ is a piece created in 1991 using a 4 metre tiger shark, glass, painted steel, silicone, monofilament and formaldehyde solution. This work attempts to...
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...City of Art I have been living in the United States of America over four years. I am an international student. I lived in New Jersey, and Texas before, and been in many cities. .However none of them held me how New York City has held me before. The reason is the art of the buildings. My opinion of what art is, art is a perspective of a person that entertains him when he looks at this art one more time. New York is a great sample if this meaning. Whenever I walk in the city, the time just flies. That is because of there is always some building and architecture new to see in New York. When I look at the view of the Manhattan, I see an artwork that is made by a famous painter. Especially, at nights the lights of the skyscrapers look wonderful to me. There is nothing similar art as New York. If we look at the city as an art, the size of the work is not a compared size of a work. This art is not clay, stone, steel, paint, or technique but building. In New York City, every building has its own vertical, diagonal, horizontal, and planar its own. What makes it art is different characteristic of buildings was gathered together and made a both modern and old city together. For example, you can see an old skyscraper with an old design with a modern building with today’s design next to it. There is not a relationship between the buildings, but as I mentioned before when we look at the view of the Manhattan, everything look relevant to each other. The color of the city is grey, but there...
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...The Art of modern living (The Square, R. Östlund ) Swedish director Ruben Östlund after winning the jury's Un certainty for the Force Majeure (2014), returned this year to Cannes with his latest work The Square and this time he went back home with Palm d'Or. Östlund's The Square is a satirical guide through modern life, at the surface level, while in its metaphors lies the great director's philosophy of living. Bite of reality In the opening scene of the film, we meet Christian Nielsen (Claes Bang), curator of the fictional X Royal Museum of Modern Art in Stokholm, while giving a statement to journalist Anne (Elisabeth Moss) about the upcoming exibition "The Square". While Anne tries to penetrate Christian's "sublime artistic mind," asking...
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...social communication and relationship obligations. Symbolism and art are of religious significance to Aboriginal culture, as they helped with the understanding and connectedness of their religion. Aspects of Aboriginal life and spirituality that encompass...
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...long been a controversy amongst critics and students in the majors of the sciences and arts as to which subjects would be more beneficial to study. While science students claim that its field of study involves intellectual ability, art students feel that the understanding and study of art is far richer in its importance, chiefly in its influence through the evolution of human history. I conclude that a balance in the knowledge of both the subjects is essential, the reasons of which I will lay down. Science and math subjects are intellectually rewarding in that they teach the understanding of theories that improve humans’ living standards, such as research conducted in universities and science laboratories to enhance the lives of human beings with vaccines constantly being researched, produced and tested for incurable diseases. Without such a study, the world would be in serious trouble of poor health and living standards. Every theory that is founded would have been tried and tested to prove its success, concluding how the study of science and math subjects requires intellectual capabilities in its challenging field. While it is essential that the study of the sciences and math continues to ensure a healthy living environment, it is also important that a science student receives adequate education in the arts subjects to develop an artistic side of his life. A distinct culture of the arts student is his detailed and subjective approach toward a subject which he has particular...
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...The artistic display at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery of Hanne Darboven titled, “Clockwise from right”, proves to bring light upon the thoughts of Friedrich Nietzshe. One of Nietzsche’s important topics includes the idea of a rational and intuitive man. This essay will explore the question of whether Nietzsche was right when he said that it is important to live an extra-moral life. In a society where there are many practical careers, such as accountants and scientists, it is difficult to reach back to the ancient Greek society to understand how the rational and the intuitive once blended together in a flourishing society. However, there could be a way in which the rational can become more intuitive. Nietzsche’s claim that the rational could make an attempt at becoming more intuitive in today’s society holds true. Hanne Darboven was a German artist who is primarily known for her systematic charts, sequences of numbers, and her long strands of looped forms that evoke handwriting. Before becoming an artist, Darboven first trained as a pianist, and in the 1960s she studied graphic design in Hamburg, Germany. In 1966, Darboven left Germany for New York, where she met and exhibited with several artists of the burgeoning Minimalist and Conceptual art...
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...John Smith October 29, 2015 ART 1300-C Mrs. Issacson “The School Of Athens” As one of the renowned great master of the High Renaissance era, Raphael Sanzio da Urbino is best known for his work pertaining to the “School of Athens”. The Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance period, is highly respected for his work. His work was primarily admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplantonic ideal of human grandeur. Raphael was the youngest of the great artists, living from 1483-1520, as stated by “Rahpael’s School of Athens: A Theorem In A Painting?.” (Haas, 2012, pp. 4). Along side Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci; they compose the traditional trinity of great masters of the High Renaissance period. During this period, Living with Art said, “Pope Julius II asked Raphael Sanzio da Urbino to decorate the walls of several rooms in the Vatican palace” (Getlein, 2013, pp. 160). The School of Athens is “considered to be the summation of Renaissance Art by many” according to Living with Art (Getlein, 2013, pp. 160). Raphael composed this painting through the method of fresco for the end wall of the Stanze della Segnatura. This room was a room that may have been the Pope’s library. The School of Athens was started in 1510 and completed in 1511. The twenty-six foot by eighteen foot painting still resides in the Vatican of Rome, with in the Stanza della Segnatura (Getlein, 2013, pp.160). The School of Athens depicts several...
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...Art Nouveau April 10, 2013 Response Paper 1. How does Arts and Crafts influence show in Art Nouveau? Arts and Crafts developed in England in the 1860s. Art Nouveau is a rejection of the European Academic Style. They are both decorative, influenced by medieval, pre-Raphaelite art movement and many other aspects. They can both be understood as reactions to the Industrial Revolution but more so the Arts and Crafts movement. The Arts and Crafts movement stressed the importance of beautiful, handmade crafts and Art nouveau eventually evolved from this, especially in architecture. These new age architects especially Gaudi saw the way architecture was being produced most notably that of the example district in Barcelona and was appalled by it. It was like the architecture of a systematic machine much like that of the industrial revolution and he did not agree with it. He saw architecture not only as a functional thing but also a breathing, living and beautiful thing much like that of the goods produced from the arts and crafts movement. 2. Which are the differences between A&C and Art Nouveau? Art Nouveau originates in France and is characterized by the floral, natural forms, whiplash curves and extravagant fluidity of line. It is mainly based on the principals of nature and the idea that buildings or architecture was more than a means of living but rather an interpretation of the living world. They sought to breathe beauty back into the world and to create a fluid...
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...Tyler Hunt Art Nouveau April 10, 2013 Response Paper 1. How does Arts and Crafts influence show in Art Nouveau? Arts and Crafts developed in England in the 1860s. Art Nouveau is a rejection of the European Academic Style. They are both decorative, influenced by medieval, pre-Raphaelite art movement and many other aspects. They can both be understood as reactions to the Industrial Revolution but more so the Arts and Crafts movement. The Arts and Crafts movement stressed the importance of beautiful, handmade crafts and Art nouveau eventually evolved from this, especially in architecture. These new age architects especially Gaudi saw the way architecture was being produced most notably that of the example district in Barcelona and was appalled by it. It was like the architecture of a systematic machine much like that of the industrial revolution and he did not agree with it. He saw architecture not only as a functional thing but also a breathing, living and beautiful thing much like that of the goods produced from the arts and crafts movement. 2. Which are the differences between A&C and Art Nouveau? Art Nouveau originates in France and is characterized by the floral, natural forms, whiplash curves and extravagant fluidity of line. It is mainly based on the principals of nature and the idea that buildings or architecture was more than a means of living but rather an interpretation of the living world. They sought to breathe beauty back into the world and...
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...the financial world is all made by man. It is powerful and what makes our world move the way it does, but this does not mean a financial oriented world is the best way or ideal way to live. Living this way is not the right way. What this only brings is conformity and stress and creates a bleak and deadened world of a narrow spectrum of paths to take. Creativity is lost and however much money you have, money will not be anything without humanitarian world to support it. Money is not enjoyable without artistry and constructed beauty. It will value nothing, and values nothing compared to the vast imagination. The New York public schools system is planning to cut the humanities program from schools to bring up the deficiency in the more important fields such as “mathematics” and other core classes. While doing so may bring more knowledge in those fields, if one sees the bigger picture, it is only hurting our country. Not only is creative nature and culture curbed, our economy can be broken as well. The steady loss of knowledge in humanities can destroy America. Humanities creativity and it creates visionaries. By learning art culture and why or how people do certain things to obtain these aesthetics, people can then use it. First one must know about art. Then, they will understand the art and...
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...Michelangelo perfected different areas of art which he displayed in his architecture. He started to develop a new style of architecture that did not align with the Renaissance standards (radford.edu). He also introduced the idea of architecture as an embodying movement. Although there are only bits of it seen in the statue of David, there is also something that signals the beginning of a change away from the ideals of Renaissance to a new type of art (radford.edu). Michelangelo made the movement about the quality in movement and power, rather than beauty, as the new ideal. Michelangelo believed this incomplete form was the sign of the organic quality of the living thing (radford.edu). His architecture makes us feel that the forces of the...
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...African art history Every civilization throughout history has recorded their beliefs, history and ideologies through different mediums and artwork. Three core beliefs of African societies included honoring ancestors and animal deities, elevating rulers to a sacred status and consulting diviners and fortune tellers. You can see this in their artwork by the use of symbolism in the sculpture to portray how important someone was by making a rulers head oversized and the use of tame animals near the figure to show his power over all things. They also honored their ancestors by way of body decoration and modification, rituals and masks. Being firm believers in the spirit world, they made grand forms of architecture using brick and living rock to create places of worship. The early African people had a few ways of remembering and honoring their ancestors and family, like making sculptures for display in shrines or making pendants and jewelry depicting the likeness of those who perished. One example of this is the Waist pendant of a queen mother, from Benin Nigeria, ca. 1520, thought to portray the mother of Oba Esigie. The naturalistic ivory pendant symbolized the legacy of a dynasty and was made to honor the king’s mother. There are Portuguese heads on the top and bottom of the head. The Portuguese were thought of as people from the spirit world who brought wealth, power and prosperity to the king. Trade networks led to the wide spread of religion throughout early African...
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