Archives for October 2015

What is Impossible to Remember

"If time takes in, space moves out. Space qua place locates; it furnishes outward abode in the world. Space specifies; it gives local habitation." Edward S. Casey "Each time a painter realized that he was dissatisfied with the limited role of painting as a celebration of material property and of the status that accompanies it, he inevitably found himself struggling with the very language of his own art as understood by the tradition of his calling." John Berger "This darkness can be explained by the blind spot in our eye at the point where the optic nerve enters the retina and where we cannot see. Only when the point of the blind spot has been passed do we see the pencil point again … [Read more...]

Gone Gone

"Ah, children, be afraid of going prayerless to bed, lest the Devil be your bedfellow.” Cotton Mather "McCarthyism is Americanism with its sleeves rolled." Joe McCarthy "Indeed, for Godard, the ethical is inherent within the aesthetic and will be revealed in the unique poetic processes of cinematic montage (“at the time of the resurrection”)." James Williams "The general influence of divine maintenance is not sufficient for the preservation of the moral good of creatures: the latter also needs that of grace." Matthew of Acquasparta In the current New York Review of Books, Geoffrey O'Brien reviews Patti Smith's new book (not to mention this piece in the Guardian : … [Read more...]

Know Your Place

"The world of supermodernity does not exactly match the one in which we believe we live, for we live in a world that we have not yet learned to look at. We have to relearn to think about space." Marc Auge "I would propose instead the appropriation and redirection of the very technologies of distraction enforced by dominant culture... Hence, camouflage, mimicry, wit, guileful ruse, deception, and stealth -- forms of qualified surrender -- enter the lexicon of architectural means to reprogram the dominant logics of space in the city." Stan Allen "...the happiness of travel is and remains temporary escape from home without subsequent demand...the traveller of the capitalist age must … [Read more...]

Zombie Narcissists Have No Secrets

"In 2010, a team at the University of Michigan led by the psychologist Sara Konrath put together the findings of 72 studies that were conducted over a 30-year period. They found a 40 percent decline in empathy among college students, with most of the decline taking place after 2000. Across generations, technology is implicated in this assault on empathy. We’ve gotten used to being connected all the time, but we have found ways around conversation — at least from conversation that is open-ended and spontaneous, in which we play with ideas and allow ourselves to be fully present and vulnerable." Sherry Turkle (New York Times, 2015) "My difficulty is only an — enormous — difficulty of … [Read more...]