Amy Ione Online

Upcoming Lecture: Fluid Lines and Shifting Boundaries:

Cenart:  July 14, Centro Nacional de las Artes, Arte y Nuevas Ciencias 2009

Ann: Explore Classical Music with John Reager

Saturday, July 18th, 2-3:30pm, Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St., Berkeley, CA 94704, 34d Floor Community Meeting Room.  More information:  510-981-6241.

New book Review Posted: The David Hockney and Robert Irwin books by Lawrence Weschler

 

In True to Life: Twenty-Five Years of Conversations with David Hockney , Lawrence Weschler notes that a Hockney comment, "You see with memory," runs diametrically counter to Robert Irwin's entire aesthetic. Irwin's creative starting point is concisely summed up in the title of Weschler's biography on Irwin, Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees.   For Irwin, to truly see something, one needs to forget everything about it, right down to its very name.   Yet, as Weschler points out, the seemingly divergent approaches of these two artists do have a fascinating meeting point:   Their most successful projects draw us into the artist's world.   

As we come to know their pieces, we are, in effect, in the work with the artist through this engagement. Their creative projects do not hold us as removed spectators, but ask us to step in and join their vision.   This relational aspect is most explicitly contextualized in the final essay of the Hockney book, which speaks of artist's return to painting in 2007. After Hockney mentioned that he had taken to thinking of these late landscape canvases as figure paintings, Weschler pointed out that there are no bodies in these works. Hockney replied that the viewer is the figure in the work.

Ann: June Leonardo Reviews posted

Leonardo Reviews is pleased to announce the new postings at:  http://leonardo.info/ldr.html
(ISSN:  1559-0429)

Article Library Protesters to Ohio State U.: Digital's OK, but Save Our Books!

May 13, 2009

About two dozen faculty members and students, clutching signs that read “Don’t Gut the Library” and “Keep our books on campus,” picketed the administration building at Ohio State University yesterday,

Ann: Why Does Art Matter Now? (NYC/Whitney)

Why Does Art Matter Now?     |    Thursday, June 18, 7 pm

In our current economic climate, the arts appear to be expendable, yet, paradoxically, creative thinking is more necessary than ever; this interdisciplinary program seeks to address how and why art matters now.  Artist Vik Muniz, physicist Lisa Randall, pollster Nate Silver of fivethirtyeight.com, and choreographer Elizabeth Streb discuss the ways in which they use creativity in their fields, how they push themselves to innovate, and the value of thinking outside the box at this moment.  Moderated by historian and filmmaker Peter Galison.

Article: Brain Scientists Identify Links between Arts, Learning

Arts education influences learning and other areas of cognition and may deserve a more prominent place in schools, according to a wave of recent neuroscience research. One recent study found that children who receive music instruction for just 15 months show strengthened connections in musically relevant brain areas and perform better on associated tasks, compared with students who do not learn an instrument. A separate study found that children who receive training to improve their focus and attention perform better not only on attention tasks but also on intelligence tests. Some researchers suggest that arts training might similarly affect a wide range of cognitive domains. Full article

Article: When Senses Intersect

Scientific American Mind Matters editor Jonah Lehrer chats with Cytowic about his new book, Wednesday is Indigo Blue, which he co-wrote with David Eagleman. Richard Cytowic is a neurologist. The article discusses what synesthesia can teach us about ordinary perception, creativity and Vladimir Nabokov. Full article.

Article: Evolution of Human Consciousness, With Words, Music and Brain Imagery

“Self Comes to Mind” is a 30-minute work for cello and two percussionists, with video imagery based on brain scans. Full article Article Evolution of Human Consciousness, With Words, Music and Brain Imagery By ANTHONY TOMMASINI (NYTimes)

Ann: Leonardo Reviews - May 2009

Leonardo Reviews is pleased to announce the new postings at:  http://leonardo.info/ldr.html (ISSN:  1559-0429)