POPULARITY
With stubbornness and defiance, WAKE welcomes the wonderful Igor Belokrinitsky, representative of the Ukrainian Wake in Progress Finnegans Wake reading group! Igor joins Toby and TJ for a wide-ranging conversation about the true meaning of indomitability, where Joyce stands in to tell prescient lessons about colonialism, independence, identity, language and exile, which speak directly to the plight of the brave, besieged Ukrainians. We talk about Thomas Pynchon, Nestor Makhno, Monty Python, Joseph Cornell's boxes, and the brilliant mind maps created by Linda Lotiel for each Ukrainian reading session. In war, schadenfreude is necessary, so take your shots at the Russian General if you're a true Wake Otaku, and gird your wedgewords for an episode that is just as generative as it is consumptive. WAKE stands with Ukraine!This week's chatters: Igor Belokrinitsky, Toby Malone, TJ YoungContextual NotesA note from Igor:...And as you graciously offered to support our mission, please point your listeners to uafirstaid.com/en specializing in first aid kits and tourniquets.We have no rare earth minerals to offer in return, but would happily unearth a limerick!A man who was orange in hueHeld a rather peculiar viewThat his fire departmentCould rob our apartmentWhich was "merely getting his due"Monty Python's Summarise Proust Competition: https://montypython.fandom.com/wiki/Summarize_Proust_Competition Find us on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/wake-in-progress.bsky.social To participate in a future reading, directly contact igor.belokrinitsky@outlook.com or logvinenko.alexander88@gmail.comLinda's mind maps can be seen at maybeday.net/night/mind_maps.htmlThe Mind Map Linda made for the reading that Toby joined! https://bsky.app/profile/wake-in-progress.bsky.social/post/3limtxbb65k2yThe puzzles from Toby's episode: https://bsky.app/profile/wake-in-progress.bsky.social/post/3liabhj3jzk2xEpisode 22 with Bobby Campbell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSNs9hcLTl4 For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at patreon.com/wakepod, or check out our Linktree, at https://linktr.ee/wake.pod. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!
Robert Thurman's words were the first I ever read about Tibetan Buddhism, describing the inner explorers of its practices as "psychonauts" and its mental tools for liberation "spiritual technology." Few have done as much to advance the understanding and practice of Tibetan Buddhism in the West and I consider him one of my greatest heroes and teachers. • Scott Snibbe Robert Thurman, an American author, professor, translator & popularizer of Buddhism, takes a deep dive into immersion through a Buddhist portal, sharing with us, stories & ideas of returning to the essential origin of oneself. Being the father of famed actor Uma Thurman is totally inadequate to describe who he is and where he's been. Born in New York City to the stage actor Elizabeth Dean Farrar (1907–1973), a stage actress, & AP editor & UN translator Beverly Reid Thurman, Jr. got his BA from & also did his graduate studies in Sanskrit at Harvard. He eventually built a house in Woodstock, NY where he lived with his first wife & two children for some time. He has seen much of the world, traveling around Turkey, Iran & India, & moving back to NJ in the US, he became a Buddhist monk, study with Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama to become the first American-born Tibetan Buddhist in 1965. He was the cofounder & president of the Tibet House in New York, established to preserve Tibetan culture. He is also the author of many books on Tibetan Buddhism including his popular translation of The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Thurman & I exchanged numerous stories of immersive experiences & ideas. This was our first conversation in roughly 60 years. We had met in summer 1960 in New York City through a mutual friend, Bruce Bennett, Thurman's Harvard classmate. Bennett and I were studying organic chemistry in Columbia University summer school. I was studying Organic chemistry as a pre-med. Although, I never went to medical school, organic chemistry and fluid mechanics are seminal to my work as a composer and sound designer Bruce, a fine saxophone player, took me with him to meet Thurman in Thurman's parents' apartment south of the Columbia campus on the Manhattan upper west side. Thurman was then part of the scene around Timothy Leary at Harvard and working with psychedelics. I was 19 years old, Thurman and Bennett were 20. A few years later Thurman lost one eye in a horrid accident while changing a car tire. This caused him to change his life. He spent five years traveling in Turkey and Tibet, a journey which would prepare him for a life of scholarship and spiritual growth. What follows is a 33 minute excerpt of our 75 minute talk, the discussion of immersivity. It begins with Thurman speaking about his friend the Dalai lama. Topics discussed: Buddhism, immersivity, essential origin of the self, Tibetan Book of the Dead, NYC, Bruce Bennett, Timoty Leary-psychedelics, travel, scholarship, meditation, Dalai Lama, the Sami, reindeer, Helsinki, Himalayas, chanting, sound artist, death, clear light, transparent light, nothingness, void, emptiness, aliens, god, hell, freedom, Joseph Cornell, consciousness, life force, 4 points, of confidence, Alexa AI, musicians losing themselves, remembering one's birth, dream chanting, dogs. • Photo: A. Jesse Jiryu Davis
Today's poem is The Joseph Cornell App by David Roderick. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “The great actor James Earl Jones departed this earth. His passing reminded me of a hilarious app idea I devised at a party. I called it the God App, where the great actor would simply recite the ten commandments. When I imagined a deity speaking, I thought of James Earl Jones, the rich baritone voice that gave us Darth Vader.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp
Justin Gardiner is the author of two nonfiction books and a collection of poetry. His most recent title is the book-length lyric essay Small Altars, published by Tupelo Press in 2024. Besides his role as Nonfiction Editor for Southern Humanities Review, Justin is also an Associate Professor at Auburn University. Founded in 1967, SHR considers subject matter both within and beyond the South. The magazine has had Justin Gardiner as its nonfiction editor for the past half decade. Four essays are discussed in the episode, with most of all of them showing evidence of the associative qualities that Gardiner, as a poet, enjoys in whatever genre. In this case, we started with Lisa Greenwell's essay “Your Soul Doesn't Need You.” While ostensibly an essay about a carjacking she experienced, it goes wider to consider alike how well both more cognitively based therapy and poetry that speaks to one's soul can aid recovery. In Leslie Stainton's “Here with You,” an understanding of how the artist Joseph Cornell's boxes reflect his life with a brother who suffered from cerebral palsy parallels the circumstances of the author's own, younger sister. Delicacy is the order of the day. In Ceridwen Hall's essay, “Submarine Reconnaissance: Bodies, Permutations, Voyages,” Hall delves into whether submarines are “female” (as her mom believes) or a “he” when in combat, along with many fascinating aspects of serving aboard a submarine and the “aquatic” nature of our memories and the way we must constantly “refit” our thinking. The other, remaining essay, Jennifer Taylor-Skinner's “I Don't Want Somebody in My House,” highlights the grand piano that serves as her companion, in contrast to how an esoteric French composer (Erik Satie) had two baby grand pianos stacked atop each other in his southern France villa. Again, expect the unexpected. Dan Hill, PhD, is the author of ten books and leads Sensory Logic, Inc. To check out his related “Dan Hill's EQ Spotlight” blog, visit this site. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
Justin Gardiner is the author of two nonfiction books and a collection of poetry. His most recent title is the book-length lyric essay Small Altars, published by Tupelo Press in 2024. Besides his role as Nonfiction Editor for Southern Humanities Review, Justin is also an Associate Professor at Auburn University. Founded in 1967, SHR considers subject matter both within and beyond the South. The magazine has had Justin Gardiner as its nonfiction editor for the past half decade. Four essays are discussed in the episode, with most of all of them showing evidence of the associative qualities that Gardiner, as a poet, enjoys in whatever genre. In this case, we started with Lisa Greenwell's essay “Your Soul Doesn't Need You.” While ostensibly an essay about a carjacking she experienced, it goes wider to consider alike how well both more cognitively based therapy and poetry that speaks to one's soul can aid recovery. In Leslie Stainton's “Here with You,” an understanding of how the artist Joseph Cornell's boxes reflect his life with a brother who suffered from cerebral palsy parallels the circumstances of the author's own, younger sister. Delicacy is the order of the day. In Ceridwen Hall's essay, “Submarine Reconnaissance: Bodies, Permutations, Voyages,” Hall delves into whether submarines are “female” (as her mom believes) or a “he” when in combat, along with many fascinating aspects of serving aboard a submarine and the “aquatic” nature of our memories and the way we must constantly “refit” our thinking. The other, remaining essay, Jennifer Taylor-Skinner's “I Don't Want Somebody in My House,” highlights the grand piano that serves as her companion, in contrast to how an esoteric French composer (Erik Satie) had two baby grand pianos stacked atop each other in his southern France villa. Again, expect the unexpected. Dan Hill, PhD, is the author of ten books and leads Sensory Logic, Inc. To check out his related “Dan Hill's EQ Spotlight” blog, visit this site. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature
Justin Gardiner is the author of two nonfiction books and a collection of poetry. His most recent title is the book-length lyric essay Small Altars, published by Tupelo Press in 2024. Besides his role as Nonfiction Editor for Southern Humanities Review, Justin is also an Associate Professor at Auburn University. Founded in 1967, SHR considers subject matter both within and beyond the South. The magazine has had Justin Gardiner as its nonfiction editor for the past half decade. Four essays are discussed in the episode, with most of all of them showing evidence of the associative qualities that Gardiner, as a poet, enjoys in whatever genre. In this case, we started with Lisa Greenwell's essay “Your Soul Doesn't Need You.” While ostensibly an essay about a carjacking she experienced, it goes wider to consider alike how well both more cognitively based therapy and poetry that speaks to one's soul can aid recovery. In Leslie Stainton's “Here with You,” an understanding of how the artist Joseph Cornell's boxes reflect his life with a brother who suffered from cerebral palsy parallels the circumstances of the author's own, younger sister. Delicacy is the order of the day. In Ceridwen Hall's essay, “Submarine Reconnaissance: Bodies, Permutations, Voyages,” Hall delves into whether submarines are “female” (as her mom believes) or a “he” when in combat, along with many fascinating aspects of serving aboard a submarine and the “aquatic” nature of our memories and the way we must constantly “refit” our thinking. The other, remaining essay, Jennifer Taylor-Skinner's “I Don't Want Somebody in My House,” highlights the grand piano that serves as her companion, in contrast to how an esoteric French composer (Erik Satie) had two baby grand pianos stacked atop each other in his southern France villa. Again, expect the unexpected. Dan Hill, PhD, is the author of ten books and leads Sensory Logic, Inc. To check out his related “Dan Hill's EQ Spotlight” blog, visit this site. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-south
Episode No. 653 of The Modern Art Notes Podcast features critic and author Deborah Solomon and host Tyler Green's 2016 conversation with Frank Stella. Frank Stella died on May 4 at the age of 87. For two decades, from the late 1950s until the late 1970s or early 1980s, Stella was one of the United States' most important painters. The Museum of Modern Art, New York famously devoted two mid-career retrospectives to Stella's work, in 1970 and again in 1987. Solomon is a critic whose work can often be found in the New York Times, and the author of biographies of Jackson Pollock, Joseph Cornell, Norman Rockwell. Her biography of Jasper Johns is forthcoming. She wrote this critical obit of Stella for the NYT. The next segment is Stella's 2016 visit to the Modern Art Notes Podcast on the occasion of a Stella retrospective at the Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth. The exhibition traveled to the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and the de Young Museum, San Francisco.
There was a young man who became a fly I don't know why he became a fly – Perhaps he'll die! Who doesn't love a gruesome body horror movie staring an Adonis such as Jeff Goldbloom??? Heyd and Erin invited New York-based artist Matthew Ronay who was influenced by The Fly from 1986 at an early age. Matthew's biomorphic sculptures shift between abstraction and representation, much like Brundlefly's transformation with connections to disease, aging, pregnancy, and puberty. Won't you teleport with us through this story of decay and loss that exposes our most basic human fear of losing control of our own bodies? Be afraid. Be very afraid! Tangents: AIDS crisis, 9/11, Joseph Cornell, anxious/avoidant attachment style, toxic masculinity, bathrooms, trypophobia, cybernetics, EO, American Ivy style, Grand-Guignol For more information about Matthew's studio practice, follow him on Instagram @mysteriousfog Warning: talks of suicide in this episode. Please take care of yourself www.suicidepreventionlife.org Follow us on Instagram @artists.talk.movies Help support the podcast by purchasing t-shirts, totes, mugs, hats, etc!!!! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/erin-stafford/support
Read by Terry Casburn Production and Sound Design by Kevin Seaman
Sharing Nature Worldwide, Climate Champion, Joseph Cornell, 100 Guardian Angels of the Planet!
AUM: The Melody of Love by Joseph Baharat Cornell opens the questions of what is AUM, and what does it signify? We have all heard of the sacred word AUM, and heard it chanted as a mantra by meditators. Go on a journey into the deeper teachings of AUM and the blissful realizations that await those who access this expansive sound vibration. The Spirit Behind All Creation "AUM: The Melody of Love" by Joseph Cornell - Book Review Book of the Week - BOTW - Season 5 Book 49 Buy the book on Amazon https://amzn.to/3FxVVhA GET IT. READ :) #aum #love #awareness FIND OUT which HUMAN NEED is driving all of your behavior http://6-human-needs.sfwalker.com/ Human Needs Psychology + Emotional Intelligence + Universal Laws of Nature = MASTER OF LIFE AWARENESS https://www.sfwalker.com/master-life-awareness --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/sfwalker/message
This week I had 4 fellow collage enthusiasts join me for a great roundtable about contemporary collage: Curator, Kathy Greenwood and Artists, Ginnie Gardiner, Todd Bartel and Michael Oatman. If you love collage, aka "the finding, minding & binding," (thanks, Todd!) then you'll love this episode. And my obsesh w/ glue became next level as we explored both its physical and metaphysical properties. This episode was recorded during a live Clubhouse event 2/8/22 and was held in conjunction with "Echo," an exhibition of collage at the Albany Airport. Exhibition info: "Echo" w/ Ginnie Gardiner & Amy Talluto, Curated by Kathy Greenwood at the Albany International Airport (pre-security, 3rd fl) Web: https://albanyairportartandcultureprogram.com/ and IG: @albanyairportartandculture More about my guests: Ginnie Gardiner: https://ginniegardiner.com/ Todd Bartel: https://toddbartel.com/ Michael Oatman: https://massmoca.org/event/michael-oatman-all-utopias-fell/ Kathy Greenwood: https://www.instagram.com/greenwoodkart/ Additional reading: Kolaj Magazine IG @kolajmagazine and Web http://kolajmagazine.com/ Maxomatic' "The Weird Show" Blog and Podcast: https://theweirdshow.info/ Todd's writings on collage: https://issuu.com/toddbartel Jiří Kolář glossary of collage terms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ji%C5%99%C3%AD_Kol%C3%A1%C5%99 "The Americans: The collage" a book by Linda L. Cathcart: https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Americans/FI00AQAAIAAJ?hl=en Paul de Jong's Mall of Found Residency (now Mount Lebanon Residency): https://mtlebanonresidency.org/History "Complex Muses" curated by Todd Bartel May 18-Sept 4 at Art Complex Museum in Duxbury, MA: https://artcomplex.org/exhibitions/ Collage Artists mentioned (w/ instagram tags where available): Mary Delaney, Picasso, Braque, Cubists, Max Ernst, Hannah Hoch, Dada, Eileen Agar, Paul Nash, Henri Matisse, Romare Bearden, Nancy Spero, Joseph Cornell, Maxomatic @maxomatic, The Weird Show @theweirdshowofficial, Andrea Burgay @andreaburgay, Ric Kasini Kadour @kasini & his “Decentralized Community” idea, Cathleen Daly & her "interlocking collage" idea, John Gall @llagj, Andrea Mortson @doingvsdreaming, Jack Felice @jackfelice, John Hundt @johnhundtblueyes, Red Wizard Collage @red_wizard_collage (tiktok @redwizardcollage & podcast "Cut It Out!"), Paula Wilson @paulalights, Carrie Moyer @carrie.moyer.studio, Ann Toebbe @anntoebbe, Twin Cities Collage Collective @twincitiescollagecollective, Tiko Kerr @tikokerr, Clive Knights @knightsclive, Janice McDonald @janicemcdonaldart, Kira E Wong @kiraewong_art, Kurt Schwitters' “Merzbau” (building for making psychological collages), Julie Heffernan @julie_heffernan_, James Rosenquist, Mark Tansey, Lorna Simpson @lornasimpson, Courtney Puckett @courtneygpuckett, Jiří Kolář and Elaine Lustig Cohen Glue Talk™: Todd Bartel uses: Yes! Paste, Lineco Document Repair Tape and anything at hand Michael Oatman uses: 3M™ Super 77™, 30x40 in adhesive paper sheets and rubber cement Ginnie Gardiner uses: Neschen gudy® 870 Mounting Adhesive I use: Yes! Paste, UHU Stick and Matte Medium Support the Peps by making a Donation, reviewing us on Apple Podcasts or following us on Instagram to see more images illustrating this episode: @peptalksforartists. All licensed music is from Soundstripe. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/peptalksforartistspod/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/peptalksforartistspod/support
Cliquez ici pour découvrir une bonne pratique conseillée par Joseph Cornell : tenter des sorties nature... la nuit ! (santé environnementale) L'article Tenter des sorties nature… de nuit – Joseph Cornell est apparu en premier sur Santé des Enfants et Environnement.
“He who cannot howl will not find his pack.” - Charles Simic "...unusual feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment, unexpected and more abiding than usual." - Joseph Cornell LINKS:Buy Charles Simic's Dime-Store Alchemy here: https://www.nyrb.com/products/dime-store-alchemy-1?variant=1094929469Order my 2021 Headstone Greeting Cards here: https://www.robynoneil.com/cardsandstickersMe on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robyn_oneil/?hl=enHandwritten Notes: https://www.instagram.com/handwrittennotesontv/Me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Robyn_ONeil
Aimee Bender graduated from UC Irvine and teaches at USC. Her books have received accolades in all the major outlets: from the New York Times, LA Times, & MCSweeney's, to Oprah. Her latest novel, published July 2020, is The Butterfly Lampshade. When I was rattling off the list of Bender's books, Kate deadpanned, “So she's basically taken all the best titles from the universe.” In this episode, Bender reads from her latest novel. Of it, an astute reviewer wrote, “[it's] as if we'd shrunk to fit inside a Joseph Cornell diorama... we feel as Francie does: that anything and anyone might be a two-way street, capable of passing from our side into theirs by means of illustration—or from their side into ours by means of emanation...and after ‘slipping into being...we really ought not to be here.'” Listen as we discuss why exposing your kids to things like modern dance and The Blue Man Group is a good thing, how to keep your finger on the pulse of what's going on but also feel confident enough to vary your form as a writer, and remembering the mindless goodness (and potential writing prompt) in just staring at an object in space. (N.B. Your phone's screen does not count.)Honorable Mentions:Flannery O'Connor's reminder to us all:“There's a certain grain of stupidity that the writer can hardly do without, and this is the quality of having to stare, of not getting the point at once.” (from O'Connor's essay “The Nature and Aim of Fiction”) Best writer note to your younger self: “Write what you like, kid. Enough of this posturing.”Aimee Bender's Incredible Backlist:The Particular Sadness of Lemon CakeThe Girl in the Flammable Skirt: StoriesThe Color MasterAn Invisible Sign of My OwnWillful Creatures: Stories
What you'll learn in this episode: Why Marc's box art jewelry was inspired by his time working in the theater industry How Marc went from selling his work on the streets of New York City to selling them to Hollywood's biggest celebrities Why artists have always borrowed from each other's work Why box art is a conversation starter that breaks down barriers How every box tells a story Additional Resources: Instagram Photos: Museum of Israel Exhibition Currently on view at SFO Airport Marc Cohen and Lisa Berman (no relation) About Marc Cohen: Marc Cohen is a highly regarded artist known for his wearable box art. As a former actor, stage manager and set designer, Cohen's two-inch-square boxes resemble stage sets with three-dimensional figures and images. His one-of-a-kind pieces sit on the shelves of numerous celebrities and can be worn like a brooch or pin. The archive of Cohen's work is housed at California art jewelry gallery Sculpture to Wear. Transcript: Inspired by his time in theater and created to resemble a stage, Marc Cohen's box art pieces are well-known among rare jewelry lovers and Hollywood's most famous artists, actors and producers. Part three-dimensional art, part jewelry, the two-by-two boxes feature images and tiny figures that reflect our world. He joined the Jewelry Journey Podcast to talk about his process for creating box art; what it was like to work with theater greats like Tom O'Horgan and Paula Wagner; and why his pieces are more than just shadow boxes. Read the episode transcript for part 2 below. Sharon: You've arrived, it sounds like. Marc: It's kind of an affirmation. Sharon: Absolutely. Do you think the boxes would be as effective if you hadn't had this experience as a set designer or stage manager in the theater? If I sat down and made a box, I could just stick some figures in it. Do you think that really impacted your work? Marc: To answer you in an honest way, I think if I hadn't done those things—all I did before was put little seashells in boxes. I'm skirting away from your answer, so excuse me. I think because I already was someone who had been traveling around the world and already had experiences that were theatrical, because I was meeting people and talking to people standing in the middle of the street in Paris, I was already getting the idea. It was being planted. When I got involved in theater—I also did film—I saw what that was about and how everything was in a frame. A stage in a theater on Broadway, it's in a box. Sharon: That's true. Marc: It all made a lot of sense to me. There are also ironies about it for me. For example, when I talked about when I was going to high school and people would look at me and think I'm an artist, what they were doing was putting me in a box. I like to think the boxes I create are about that, but they're beyond. Once someone engages themselves in looking at it and then they end up talking to somebody, it opens up a whole other kind of thing. It breaks down that barrier that a lot of us have with each other. It came from working in theater with someone like Tom O'Horgan, who was way ahead of his time as a Broadway theater director. He did a lot of avant garde, off-off Broadway stuff. He's no longer alive. He was my best friend in the entire world. There's not a moment I don't have gratitude about that friendship, but since then I've married. I have a beautiful wife. My wife is a filmmaker, and she and I are developing another kind of box art. I know; we don't make jewelry. I'm doing video with her. We have a series called Traveler's Ball. It's on YouTube. People can watch it if they want. It's very cutting edge. She was inspired by what I do, where I do images layered in a box. A lot of our videos have layered images. Along those lines, I have always wanted to create a box video on a small scale. A long time ago, when I first started making these things—I'm a man with a lot of information and ideas in my brain—the technology wasn't there yet. The nanos and the microscopic things, images on the head of a pin, that wasn't around when I first started. For example, I made three-dimensional, two-inch-square watches on a band. I don't have one to show you—Lisa might have one—but I made these. When I was selling on the street, I would wear one and boxes on my lapel. People would see this thing on my wrist and go, “What is that?” I would show them, and they would all go, “Wow, that's unreal! It's big, but that's amazing! When are you going to sell these?” I said, “I'm not ready to sell them yet.” I did eventually sell some. I only made two dozen of them in my life. If you look at an Apple Watch, they finally did what I was thinking about doing in 1985. The only difference is theirs is a one-dimensional object you wear on your wrist. It is amazing to see somebody with an Apple Watch and all the different things it does, but for me, there's a missing ingredient. The missing ingredient is a point of view. A point of view is putting characters in front of something, like we are in real life; people standing on the street corner talking, meanwhile the bus is going by. I always wanted to take that idea and put it on a small scale and add the element of art to it. I didn't want it to be cookie cutter, we're making five million Apple Watches and everybody's going to have one. Not everyone's going to have a Marc Cohen version of that, and I want to keep it that way. I'm famous for a lot of things, but I'm also famous for the fact that I never like to make any of these things more than once or twice. There's something about that I only made one-of-a-kind images. In the beginning, I used other people's images—the fine art of appropriation. There's a guy who's no longer alive who I learned a lot about; his name was Joseph Cornell. Joseph Cornell is probably the grandfather of appropriation art. Rauschenberg and Warhol, when they talk about their own art and their influences, they always bring up the name Joseph Cornell. Joseph Cornell made boxes. He handmade them himself. He was an eccentric guy who lived in Utopia, New York. Think about that: Utopia, New York. Joseph Cornell was this rather interesting guy. He was a poet. He was curious. He made all these different boxes, and you can't buy one. They're incredibly expensive. But I've had people along the way say, “You're like a modern-day Joseph Cornell.” I don't know what that exactly means. I'm a modern-day Joseph Cornell? But they talk about what I've done and what I've accomplished. It's an interesting thing for me that has followed me in this jewelry story. What else could I tell you? Sharon: I'm curious. Do people commission you and say, “It's my husband's anniversary. I want a box with us and our wedding picture with it.” Marc: Exactly. For example, Lisa Berman has a relative whose name is Virginia Apgar. Virginia Apgar is famous because she created the Apgar Score. I don't know if your viewers know what that is, but they can look it up. There was an event Lisa was going to be doing. Lisa, being an old friend of mine, I felt like I wanted to give her a memento. There's a forever stamp, and this is Virginia Apgar. Sharon: A frame with the brooch. Marc: A frame with the brooch in the middle, and all around are these images of Virginia. Warhol and Hockney did this thing where they took a person's face—I don't know if you've ever seen any of those silkscreens that Warhol used to do. I'm influenced by that too. That's how I came up with this idea of making Lisa a one-of-a-kind, object of art concept. Sharon, I want to tell you another thing: how the box art thing really started. Originally, when I first started doing things, I started a company called Still Life. Still Life was the early stages of box art, but it wasn't in a box. It was a flat piece of plastic, circular most of the time, and it was either blue or white or green. On top of that, I would marry other things. I had little three-dimensional palm trees, and I would glue them to the surface of this round, circular piece of plastic, and then I would glue those figures I'm telling you about. I would have people at the beach. If it was a travel map, I would have people with suitcases. I had a whole series. I had like Still Life Creations Beach, Still Life Creations Travel, on and on. Still Life creation stages is how it evolved to the boxes. The point is that when I was doing Still Life, one night, I came across the idea of taking a little box and turning it into something you wear. That doorway I was speaking about earlier opened me up even further into where I am to this day. I'm still very fertile with a lot of ideas. You live in this visual world. Sharon: Right, absolutely. I love the idea that they're door openers and conversation starters that break down barriers. It's not easy to do in New York or anywhere, but I don't think New York is the conversation-starting capital of the world, let's say. Marc: Right. All the world's a stage, and all of us are players on that stage. Some people have the ability to get on that stage and act and do, while other people are off on the side watching. They're not as easily going to jump in. Ruth Bader Ginsberg whom we all love—who didn't love Ruth Bader Ginsberg? What an incredibly magnificent woman. When she was out of being a Supreme Court justice, Lisa had this idea for a show. She invited all her wearable art friends to come up with a collar idea. She mentioned it to me, and I was trying to figure out what I could do with boxes to make a collar. I'm going to try to do this carefully. Behind me— Sharon: We'll show a picture of this when we post the podcast so people can see it. Marc: Right, behind me is this. This is a series of 18 boxes in a square. I mounted it on leather. I made it in such a way that you could take this off and wear it around your neck as a necklace. My wife, who is very gorgeous—she used to be a model, among other things in her life—she wore it. Lisa has a picture of her wearing it. It's one of those objects that, if you wear it among the other incredible collars that all of Lisa's artists made, this is even more of a conversation piece because of the image of Ruth. In each box I put her most-known rulings, the titles of them. Wearing that, going to an opening somewhere, it's going to draw people's attention. That's why I keep on saying the same thing over again: every box tells a story. Sharon: Where do you get the little figures? Do you buy them at doll stores where people make doll houses, or do you go to the toy store? Marc: It used to be a trade secret. I tried in the beginning to keep everything I did very secret, but if you're a creative person and you buy one of my boxes, if you really want to know how I made it, you can take it all apart and figure it out. If they're really curious, they could look at the figures, and now that we Google everything, they could find out that the figures are made in Europe. When I first started, I bought the figures at a model train store. Model train stores have everything for making dioramas. Sharon: They're too large for what you're doing, but I was thinking about the little plastic toy soldiers my brother used to have. Marc: Exactly. I have made boxes bigger than two inches square to be worn. That's easy to wear, but suddenly six inches to wear—that's a major statement. I used to take top hats and other hats and make a whole diorama around the hat, one-of-a-kind. I made a whole bunch of those, and I sold those pretty quickly. I made sunglasses that had a whole scene in the rim of the sunglasses. They didn't last very long because they're fragile; the wrong windstorm and they break. That's why the box, in the end, became the most utilitarian object to protect what was inside, the image and the little characters. There's meaning in that, protecting ourselves. Sharon: Where are you getting your ideas from? Are you walking down the street and seeing the World Trade Center and saying, “Oh, that would be great”? Marc: That's interesting, too. I don't live in New York City anymore. I really wish I was living in New York City. I can't afford it right now, but in the early days when I first was doing this, the mid-80s, early 90s when I was selling on the street, I would walk up and down all the fashion streets where all the storefronts are, a million different shops. There are boxes, but they have mannequins inside them. They are large versions of what I was doing on a small scale, and I would get inspired just by seeing what other window display people were doing. I would go to Barney's. Barney's uptown was amazing, the designers of the windows there. So were the windows in Tiffany. Because I'm a box artist, I see these things and they inspire me. I'd hear political news of the day, and then I'd try to match something with what was happening in the world with an image, either one I would create or one I would find and appropriate. Sharon: Do you call yourself a box artist if people ask, “What do you do?” Do you say you're an artist or a maker of jewelry? What do you call yourself? Marc: I call myself a box artist. Sharon: A box artist. Marc: I want to call myself a box artist. First of all, I like to think I created that name. Let's put it another way. When I was doing what I was doing, people used to say, “Oh, it's a shadow box,” because that's how people can connect with the idea. Shadow boxes, if you know what they are, are mostly that. They are cardboard most of the time, and people put things in them and they create shadows against the inside of the box. When I first started making these things, everybody was asking, “What is it? What do you call it?” and I would say, “It's a box and it has a little bit of art inside of it. It's box art.” The name stuck, and every time people would come up to me, they'd say, “What's your latest box art?” When you could get on the internet and Google things, I never saw the word box art in relationship to what I do, but I also never saw the word box art in relationship to anything. Once I started using the name, and when I would make my business cards and they would say, “Marc Cohen, Box Art,” then people would have that. You know how it is. The buzz gets out, so the word eventually stuck. So, I claim box art and I claim myself as a box artist. I claim myself as a lot of other things too, but some of them I can't mention. It's a funny journey, all of this. Now, it's Box Art Dreams. What is Box Art Dreams? Box Art Dreams is video, because that's the next level. I want to get even more intimate. I'd like the store to be even bigger in its depth and in its message. One image can do that on a certain level. For the person that's looking at it, one image can stimulate a lot of images in their head, but think about on top of it. If I have a two-inch square box and it has a little video screen inside of it, and there's a little movie in there and there are characters standing in front of it looking at it, I don't think I'm going to be able to make them fast enough. Sharon: It's an interesting idea. Marc: That's the goal. Now, I can't do that alone. My wife is a video maker and editor. I'm plugging Julia Danielle—she's a genius at video. One of our goals is to take the wearable art idea and give it even more of an attraction. It's not just on your lapel; there's something flickering in the box. Sharon: That would be really cool, yes. Marc: If it lights up, God almighty, what people would think. That's where I'm at. Once I do that, I don't know. Then, the next is large-scale exhibition. Starting with little boxes and leading me on a journey of jewelry and art. Sharon: I do want to mention, for those who are interested, that your boxes at this stage are with Lisa at Sculpture to Wear. We'll also be posting a link and a lot of other information about today. It'll be with the podcast. Marc, thank you so much. That was just so interesting. Marc: I appreciate it. Thank you. I want to tell you I'm honored for what you're doing. Sharon: Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Thank you again for listening. Please leave us a rating and review so we can help others start their own jewelry journey.
Poeta, ensayista, narradora, docente, María Negroni nació en Rosario y vivió muchos años en Nueva York. Es autora de libros como Elegía Joseph Cornell, Islandia, Objeto Satie, El sueño de Úrsula, La anunciación, Archivo Dickinson y Pequeño mundo ilustrado (que acaba de ser reeditado). Su obra fue premiada en varias ocasiones, tanto en la Argentina como en otros países; muchos de sus libros fueron traducidos a otras lenguas y ella misma es una gran traductora de poetas como Elizabeth Bishop, Sylvia Plath o Marianne Moore entre otras. Fue reconocida con distinciones como la beca Guggenheim y el Konex de Platino. María tiene un doctorado en literatura latinoamericana por la Universidad de Columbia y es la creadora y directora de la Maestría de Escritura Creativa en la UNTREF, es decir que a la vez que escribe, María enseña a leer y a escribir. Recientemente Literatura Random House acaba de publicar su nuevo libro, El corazón del daño, en donde la hibridez clásica de los textos de Negroni se dirige esta vez hacia la autobiografía y, con ella, el trabajo de la literatura sobre la verdad de los hechos que se narran. Una vez más, como en toda su obra, hay un trabajo con la lengua, que es explorada tensando los límites con un objeto: rescatar las palabras del sentido común. Hay una narradora protagonista y otra protagonista, central, que es aquella hacia quien está dirigido el relato: una madre, la madre de la narradora. En El corazón del daño, la infancia y la militancia de los 70 resultan elementos claves de la historia con todo aquello que conllevan: la formación, la familia, el exilio, el regreso, la memoria. En la sección Libros que sí Hinde recomendó “Michel Foucault”, de Didier Eribon (El cuenco de plata) y “Retratos” de Pablo Bernasconi (Catapulta) y en El extranjero comentó “Freedom Is Not Free” de Mashid Mohadjerin. En la sección Mesita de luz, el escritor Guillermo Martínez nos contó que libros está leyendo y En voz alta, el escritor colombiano Juan Cárdenas leyó un poema del libro “Concierto animal”, de Blanca Varela.
In this episode I share the different methods I use to connect with nature. Connecting with nature can be difficult if you are unable to quiet your mind, but I give you some techniques you can practice to do so. Connecting with Nature and dropping into meditation have very similar principles. Using your sense to absorb and witness the space around you can help you find your sense of belonging on Earth. I share stories about connecting with Nature at the beach, in my garden, and the techniques I use to get there. It can be as simple as breathing and observing! I also share a little Earth consciousness philosophy, and share a book called "Listening to Nature" by Joseph Cornell. How do you connect with Nature?
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Dialogues | A podcast from David Zwirner about art, artists, and the creative process
A conversation about art criticism that is deeply engaged with the lives of the artists. Olivia Laing’s work regularly appears in The Guardian, Financial Times, and Frieze. Her latest book, Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency, examines the more complicated parts of life through the biographies and art of Agnes Martin, David Hockney, Andy Warhol, and Joseph Cornell, among other artists. This acclaimed collection of essays presents art as an antidote to what ails us—loneliness, alcoholism, our bodies—and a fitting way to write about art right now. Funny Weather is available now in bookstores and online.
Jonathan Safran Foer is the author of Everything Is Illuminated, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Eating Animals and Here I Am. He has also edited a new modern edition of the sacred Jewish Haggadah. Everything Is Illuminated won several literary prizes, including the National Jewish Book Award and the Guardian First Book Award. He edited the anthology A Convergence of Birds: Original Fiction and Poetry Inspired by the Work of Joseph Cornell, and his stories have been published in the Paris Review, Conjunctions and the New Yorker. Jonathan Safran Foer teaches Creative Writing at New York University. We Are the Weather is an extraordinarily powerful and deeply personal book that lays bare the battle to save the planet. Calling each one of us to action, he answers the most urgent question of all: what will it take for things to change? 5x15 brings together outstanding individuals to tell of their lives and inspirations. This talk was recorded at the online 5x15 event on 5th Nov 2020. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories
Bill and Bob explain a simple activity you can do to connect your kids and yourself to trees. Our sources for this episode include: Sharing Nature with Children by Joseph Cornell https://www.sharingnature.com/
In Episode 13 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews one of the most important and groundbreaking curators working today, Dr Zoe Whitley on BETYE SAAR!! And WOW was it incredible to record with Zoe at London's Hayward Gallery – where she is senior curator – to discuss the life and work of the now 93 year-old Betye, who featured in Zoe's 2017 Tate Modern (and now touring) exhibition, SOUL OF A NATION! Betye Saar is one of the most important artists in contemporary art, and currently has solo exhibitions on right now at both MoMA and LACMA! Known for her political collages and assemblages of found objects that mix surreal symbolic imagery with a folk art aesthetic, Saar has contributed enormously to the history of art from her involvement with the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 70s, right up to the present day. Growing up in the 30s and 40s in Los Angeles, Saar was inspired by Joseph Cornell’s assemblages and Simon Rodia’s “Watts Towers” nearby to where she grew up made from found scrap materials. Raised by strong women who always encouraged her creativity, as well as identity as a black woman, Saar’s work predominately critiques American racism toward blacks. It was in the 1960s that she began collecting images of stereotypes African-American figures from folk culture and advertising of the Jim Crow era, which she transformed into figures of political protest. A work we discuss in depth is “The Liberation of Aunt Jemima” which remains one of her most important works from this era (also exhibited at Zoe's incredible “Soul of a Nation”), a mixed-media assemblage which uses the stereotypical figure of the ‘mammy’ to subvert traditions of race and gender. Speaking about the work she said: “I feel that The Liberation of Aunt Jemima is my iconic art piece. I had no idea she would become so important to so many. The reason I created her was to combat bigotry and racism and today she stills serves as my warrior against those ills of our society.” She is INCREDIBLE, and a force. And Zoe's enthusiasm, personal approach and expertise in Betye Saar is SO inspiring!!! If you want to see more then DO NOT miss Zoe's co-curated "Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963–1983" currently on view at San Francisco's de Young Museum (https://deyoung.famsf.org/exhibitions/soul-of-a-nation); and for those in LA and NYC don't miss her show at MoMA (https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/5060) and LACMA (https://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/betye-saar-call-and-response). . GO BETYE! Works discussed in this episode/ Further reading Black Girls Window (1969) https://www.moma.org/audio/playlist/302The Liberation of Aunt Jemima (1972) http://revolution.berkeley.edu/liberation-aunt-jemima/ Soul of a Nation at Tate Modern https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/soul-nation-art-age-black-power Here is also an incredible essay recently published in the NY Times https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/04/arts/design/betye-saar.html Thank you for listening!! This episode is sponsored by the National Art Pass and the Affordable Art Fair! @artfund: https://bit.ly/32HJVDk To receive a free tote bag with your National Art Pass, enter the code GREAT at checkout! @affordableartfairuk: https://affordableartfair.com/ Follow us: Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel Recorded by Joel Price Sound editing by @_ellieclifford Artwork by @thisisaliceskinner Music by Ben Wetherfield https://www.thegreatwomenartists.com/
Art critic Alastair Sooke, in the company of some of the leading creatives of our age, continues his deep dive into the stunning works in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, whilst exploring what it really means “to see” art. Today's edition features the choice of Nobel Prize winning Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk. He picks American artist Joseph Cornell's jewellery box - a homage to Marie Taglioni, an acclaimed 19th-century dancer. Main Image: Joseph Cornell, Taglioni's Jewel Casket, 1940. Velvet-lined wooden box containing glass necklace, jewellery fragments, glass chips, and glass cubes resting in slots on glass, 4 3/4 x 11 7/8 x 8 1/4" (12 x 30.2 x 21 cm). Gift of James Thrall Soby. Museum of Modern Art, NY, 474.1953 Producer: Tom Alban
Knjiga Celjske Mohorjeve družbe, Doživljanje narave, ki jo je napisal Joseph Cornell, je pravzaprav zbirka zanimivih nalog in iger s pomočjo katerih skuša avtor zbuditi naša srca k ljubezni do narave. V oddaji smo prebrali nekaj odlomkov.
We talk to Canadian filmmaker Stephen Broomer about his passion for found footage, the creative and chemical processes he applied to his recent work 'Tondal's Vision' and his own journey through this particular style of experimental film. We also discuss the history of found footage and the distinct trends he identifies in the genre, referencing work from among others Jack Chambers, Joseph Cornell, Charles Ridley and Ken Jacobs.
The Hermit's Lamp Podcast - A place for witches, hermits, mystics, healers, and seekers
Enrique and Andrew catch up on what the birds are saying. They talk about the effect of living with an oracle versus reading and oracle. The conversation winds through ideas of how being in tune wit the oracles impact their relationship with the rest of life. Finally they end by answering listeners questions. Episode 13, Poetry, Magic, and Ice Cream, and episode 63 [00:00:30], Definitions and Silence. Think about how much you've enjoyed the podcast and how many episodes you listened to, and consider if it is time to support the Patreon You can do so here. If you want more of this in your life you can subscribe by RSS , iTunes, Stitcher, or email. If you'd like to connect with Enrique go check him out on Facebook here. Thanks for joining the conversation. Please share the podcast to help us grow and change the world. Andrew You can book time with Andrew through his site here. Transcription ANDREW: [00:00:00] Hello, my friends, welcome to The Hermit's Lamp podcast. I wanted to let you know that the new intro music here was composed by my daughter, Claire. I hope you dig it. I certainly am loving on her creativity. Also, this is episode 91 with Enrique Enriquez. And if you have not caught our past conversations, you should go check them out: Episode 13, Poetry, Magic, and Ice Cream, and episode 63 [00:00:30], Definitions and Silence. Both available in the archives, either on the website or in your podcast catcher. [new music!] Speaker 2: [00:01:00] Let me start by saying thank you to all the Patreons who support this podcast in general, and specifically help the process of providing transcripts of every episode to the public so that anybody for any reason can access all this wonderful information. Those fine people are getting access to great bonus material and they make this happen. If you are listening to this podcast, think about how many episodes you've listened to, how much you've appreciated it [00:01:30], and please consider heading on over to Patreon.com/TheHermitsLamp, and pitching something in to continue supporting this work. It is truly a situation where every dollar helps. Welcome back to The Hermit's Lamp podcast. I'm here today with Enrique Enriquez, who is a card reader, poet, and artist, and you know was featured in a wonderful movie called Tarology, which [00:02:00] you can find on many places online right now. [Here's the trailer on YouTube: https://youtu.be/A5UR3VesQGo] This is the third time that Enrique has been on the show, and if you haven't checked out the other episodes, check the show notes for them. I'll provide links, so people can go back and hear our previous conversations. Enrique, for people who are meeting you for the first time, who are you? What are you about? What's going on? ENRIQUE: Well, you know, the other day I went to a bookstore that is across the street. And first of all, Andrew, it's always [00:02:30] so good to hear you and always so good to talk to you. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: But anyway, you know, I have this book store across the street and I went there. And there was this voice, they were doing something on the floor, I was talking to the guy. And then as I was about to leave, the woman on the floor stood up to say, "Wait!" and then I turn around and say, "What?" And say, "Are you the guy who talks like a bird?" And I say, "Yes, as a matter of fact [00:03:00], I am," and she say, "Yes, a friend told me about you," and I . . . That made me very happy, you know? ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: So, I guess, I am the man who speaks like a bird. ANDREW: Excellent. ENRIQUE: And at the moment, that seems to be plenty. ANDREW: I think that's wonderful. I mean, for me, listening to the birds and, and trying to speak with them is definitely one of my, one of my favorite things these days. You know, I've been spending, for [00:03:30] years now, really spending a lot of time trying to engage with them, and more and more over time I've found myself drawn deeper and deeper into . . . into the world of birds. So yeah, it's wonderful. ENRIQUE: Yes. Yeah, if you know, I suspect that birds are some sort of [Amic? Homic?] knowledge religion that is universal. I only know one person, a friend of mine, who says that birds are jerks and he hates birds. And [00:04:00] he say, "I know you like birds, but I hate birds," and but also always ... ANDREW: (laughing) That's a lot of strong feeling for birds! ENRIQUE: Yes, exactly. ANDREW: Why does he hate birds? ENRIQUE: Yes, but usually, I don't know, I mean, I guess, we said, you know, a bird is somehow that the embodiment of a long [garbled at 4:28] We [00:04:30] look at a bird, we think of birds, we listen to birds. You know, it's just about survival. They go around trying to find something to eat. There is no, no Romanticism in this view of birds, which is fine. I mean, I think it's a great exception, because usually as soon as you . . . You know, the other day, I was talking to . . . having a beer with these poets, a poet from Turkey and a poet from New Zealand and [00:05:00] they asked me, "What do you think about Trump?" And I told him what I believe, which is that Trump has no place in my reality. I don't care. And then, as soon as I mentioned birds, they told me all kinds of fantastic stories about their own relationship with birds. And about 45 minutes into the conversation, I say, "See, that's why I don't think about Trump." ANDREW: Right. ENRIQUE: I mean, there are better things to talk about, your, your mind. [00:05:30] Yes, so I think that that that's how, birds account for that common longing we have, for some sort of transcendence that I don't want to, I don't want to put a name to it. But then when you actually make a bird sound, you realize that you are, you are enacting this form that is at once transparent and opaque, you know, because you're not really saying anything, and even so, everybody understands you. ANDREW: Mmm. ENRIQUE: So I end up realizing [00:06:00] that I like to speak like a bird, and that basically means that since the beginning of this summer I started actually recording myself using all these bird calls, like these wooden artifacts or metal artifacts that imitate the sound of birds, and then sending my friends bird messages instead of text or voice messages, right? And by speaking like a bird, what I actually accomplish is, I avoid misunderstandings. ANDREW: Mmm. ENRIQUE: Everybody [00:06:31] seems to understand the form of a bird sound. ANDREW: I like it. I feel like we must have talked about this on the podcast previously. You know, in the Orisha tradition, Osain, who is . . . He's responsible for all the knowledge of all the plants and all the magic that comes from that. He's sort of the wizard who lives in the forest, who's been . . . ENRIQUE: Beautiful. ANDREW: Broken down and, you know, scarred [00:07:01] by various conflicts and battles he's had over the years, and Osain speaks like a bird. And you know, when we . . . when we do certain ceremonies and we sing, there are . . . There are these parts where we sing, where we're singing not any words, but just to imitate the sound of the birds and to acknowledge the way in which Osain speaks to us, right? ENRIQUE: Ah, that's fantastic. ANDREW: Yeah, so, you know ... You're in [00:07:31] good company. ENRIQUE: Yes, of course, and, no, it's amazing when you start looking into it, that the amount of effort and time that people have put into trying to imitate birds or talk like birds or understand birds, through history. And there is a, just as you say, there was a sort of pre-Koranic poetry that was all based on imitating the cooing of a mourning dove. And then you have the same in New Guinea. There is a tribe there that all their poetry is [00:08:01] based on the idea of imitating the cooing of a mourning dove, that wailing sound. But, I mean, there are countless examples and, of course, thousands of poems about birds, but I guess I . . . Something clicked or shifted this summer. So, I started working with that because I understood that the moment I started sending these bird sounds to people, I went from somebody who could interpret signs [00:08:31] to somebody who was just delivering signs, so they became the interpreters, they were the ones telling me: "Yes. Thank you. I really needed this today." Or, like happened the other day with this, this man. He sent me a recording of a bird that he hears out of the window and then I just mimicked it. I just imitated the same . . . I sent him back the same thing, but I made it and then he say, "Oh, I love yours because I can hear my own name in it." ANDREW: (chuckling) ENRIQUE: And [00:09:01] you know. And that, like a friend from Finland who say, you know, "Birds are only quiet when there are earthquakes or tsunamis or something horrible is about to happen." ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: "So whenever I hear your bird voice, I just feel that everything is okay." And to me that's . . . I mean in a sense, yeah, something shifted, because I think that, in a sense, turning the other person into the auger, into the interpreter, it [00:09:31] has something to do with the idea of an oracle as something that should poetize life instead of giving answers. ANDREW: Well, and I think that, you know, let's be honest about, you know . . . I mean, I won't even bring my clients into this, about myself. There are times where I go to the oracle, hoping that the oracle will tell me that everything's going to be okay. And, you know, the prospect of thinking that well, as long as . . . as long as I can hear the birdsong, [00:10:01] or as long as I can go into my, my messenger and find a note of you playing, and play that song, the answer is the birds are singing, there's no tsunami. There's no earthquake. ENRIQUE: Exactly. ANDREW: There's no predator here, right? You're good. Take it easy. (laughs) ENRIQUE: Exactly. That's exactly one of the ways of seeing it, yes. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: And, so, yeah, it has been a really, you know, at some point I started to suspect or to . . . Or maybe I decided [00:10:31] to start acting as if all these enterprises of divination, as if we already got it backwards. . . ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: You know, and usually we have this idea of this image of the person, the reader, the diviner, who's sitting waiting for the client or the, you know, consultant to come. And then I decided, no, it should be the other way around, right? Because in . . . I was reading The Iliad, you know, and there is this moment, which is a rather irrelevant moment, [00:11:01] when it is said that when a person arrives to the city, he fills everybody with excitement because of course, there is still the potential of what this person may be bringing, you know, news, things, a weird fruit, something, right? ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: And then I thought about that in relationship with angels, and the idea of the angel. And of course, angel is a word that comes from a Greek word for messenger, [00:11:31] right? So, the idea of the messenger. The messenger brings news, like the birds that come and, as you say, everything is okay. The birds are singing. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: Or look over there, because the bird, you know, flew that way. So, I decided, I think it's better to become the angel, or to imitate, you know, dreams and angels, which are the only oracles that actually visit people. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: And obliterate the reading on the table and just be . . . appear on people's lives and [00:12:01] then disappear, which is something you can now do, thanks to all these little gadgets we have, and social media, and all that, so you can really become, or have, a virtual presence. So that's where I am at now. ANDREW: You've become the psychopomp, right? ENRIQUE: Yeah, somehow, yeah in a sense. It's this idea of . . . I mean, I . . . You know, I am a witness, and I look at things, you [00:12:31] know, and, at some point, I guess I . . . what I understand is that I, in terms of giving answers to people, solving people's problems, giving them solutions, healing, all that stuff. I don't do that. I don't know how to do that. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: But I know how to pay attention. I know how to be a witness. So, at some point it may be that I find a place and form. Right? I look at something that is worth [garbled] or worth sharing and then [00:13:01] maybe that sound, that word, that form could be the answer to somebody's question or the solution to somebody's problem. It could even bring some sort of healing to them, but it's not me. It's not me doing it. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: It's . . . They are the ones interpreting the sign. ANDREW: Well, and I think that . . . You know, I think that one of the things that's really interesting and that, you know, I certainly appreciate about you and about all of our dialogues because, [00:13:31] you know, I think that the delivering of more concrete messages is also great and it's a thing that I certainly enjoy. But I'm also really interested in this space where, where we, revoke the expectation of meaning in a concrete way. You know? And like, I made this deck earlier in the year, which I shared with you when I was in New York, you know, the Land of the Sacred Self Oracle. ENRIQUE: Yes. ANDREW: And you know, I created . . . [00:14:02] I initially wanted to say nothing about it. And like, I was like, I just want to make it and put it out there. But everybody, almost everybody that I talked to was like, "I don't know what I'm . . . I don't know what to do with this. So, I need you to tell me stuff." And I was like, "All right." So, I created this course for it and . . . which is, which is now, it's just basically a PDF. And the first lesson is, these images are nothing but ink on paper, [00:14:32] they don't mean anything. They have no concrete meaning in and of themselves. What do you actually see? You know? Because I think that leading people back to themselves is so profound and so powerful. ENRIQUE: Yes. ANDREW: And so, against the nature of our culture, right? The nature of . . . ENRIQUE: Yes. ANDREW: . . . the Modern Age, right? ENRIQUE: Well, but that . . . What is interesting about that is that, that is exactly what contemporary art brought about. ANDREW: Right. [00:15:02] ENRIQUE: You know? All . . . today, beginning of the 20th century, art basically showcased a common narrative and that could be . . . You know, you go to Italy to see all these paintings of the Virgin Mary or Christ, or the, the, you know, the Book of Genesis or whatever. You have this idea of okay, we all understand what we are seeing because we share these references. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: And then came, you know, Malevich or Kandinsky [00:15:32] or even Donald Judd or all these people and say, "No, now you have the possibility to understand that thing before you on your own terms." ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: And that's exactly what you're saying. Forget about what that is for the other person standing next to you. What is that to you? And of course, we still abhor that, I mean, most people put a lot of resistance to that, because they want to be told what it is. One is . . . like the other day, I had this, you know, I had [00:16:02] been reading the cards this woman finds out on the sidewalk. I have talked to you about this. For more than 10 years. And I stopped the other day because she, she sent me a card, and I told her about Nikolai Gogol, the Russian writer, and I . . . There is this wonderful little book a friend gave me about the dreams of Joseph Cornell. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: So, this woman pulled out all the dreams of Joseph Cornell [00:16:32] from his diary. And the amazing thing is that when you read his dreams you realize that they are not extraordinary in any way, right? ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: Which is beautiful, because you realize the dreams are these material things available to all of us and a plumber can have dreams that are as extraordinary as the dreams of a fantastic artist as Joseph Cornell. But what was really interesting is at the end . . . She also wrote about all these people that Cornell was influenced by. [00:17:02] Not in terms of his work, but in terms of his relationship to dreams. And that I found fascinating. He had like the lineage of others like Blaise Pascal or you know, Freud. And then he spoke, or he took notice of Nikolai Gogol, and there was this rich lady who wrote to Gogol, saying, "Can you please interpret this dream for me?" Right? ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: And Gogol wrote back and say, "Only your soul can tell you what the dream means." ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: "Don't [00:17:32] ask any wise man, because they won't tell you. They are not able to. They won't be able to say what it means. You have to find a quiet space. You have to. Within yourself you will find the meaning of the dream." So, I said that to this woman, right, who had sent me a little card she found somewhere. And she got enraged. She told me, "No, you have the obligation of telling me what it means." Because of course, we don't want to be within ourself. That's a . . . [00:18:02] It's a . . . it's a very tall order. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: And, in theory, we don't have time, right? We are always under this imaginary constraint of time. And she said that "You have the obligation of telling me." Of course, I dropped communication immediately because I feel I have no obligation. I have two kids, that's obligations enough. ANDREW: Yeah. ENRIQUE: Other than that, you know. But in a sense, I understand, there is a . . . what you're saying, in terms [00:18:32] of your own deck. I mean, people have an extraordinary resistance of coming to terms with their own experience, because actually, most people are looking for mythology, not for experience. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: You know. They want a little story. They don't want an experience. ANDREW: Well, and exactly. You know, and I . . . a friend of mine who I was sharing the art with as I was making it, you know, they would have this reaction where they would be obviously fascinated by it, and then . . . But they'd be like, [00:19:02] "But I don't know what it means." And I'm like, "Well, just look at it. Do you have a feeling?" And they're like, "Yeah. I really have a feeling when I look at this." I'm like, "Great, then it's perfect. Go with that feeling!" You know? And even if their reactions were not, not articulatable, right? They would . . . I might have, you know, had I known then, I might have been like, "Just sing me a bird song about it. And we'll see what it says," you know? ENRIQUE: Yeah. Well because if something [00:19:32] is really hitting home, the only possible responses are either laughter or silence. ANDREW: Yes. ENRIQUE: You know, that's the moment when we are completely impacted by something. We laugh, which is almost like a defense mechanism or we are quiet, because of this, we are taking it deep, you know. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: So, and of course, we still think that we have to feel special and important when we are having an experience. ANDREW: Yeah. Yeah. Because people aren't comfortable sitting in [00:20:02] that. So, I was at this conference and, as the culmination of the workshop that we were doing, we were to sit and gaze into the other person's eyes, and sort of allow all that had been exchanged between us to sort of settle in. And the person that I was sitting with was uncomfortable with this and started to laugh every time we looked and tried to look away a bit or whatever. And so, I just sort of sat there and said to myself, "Well, I [00:20:32] can laugh with them, we can laugh together." And so, so I started to laugh and as soon as I started to laugh, they continued, but were able to sort of sit with me with it. And so, we sat there, you know, in the midst of several hundred people. Everyone else dead silent and gazing solemnly into everybody else's eyes and having their own experience. And the two of us laughing so hard the tears were rolling down our face, because it just kept escalating, the longer we did it, the funnier [00:21:02] it got, right? And you know, I mean . . . ENRIQUE: That's brilliant. ANDREW: One of the . . . one of the more magical experiences of it, you know, and I don't remember what the rest of the reading was. I have no idea what we said to each other. I mean, I might . . . I think I made some notes, I could go and look, but for me, the real significance was that we both changed something in that moment through our engagement and our laughter, right? ENRIQUE: Yes, and that's actually . . . That was an actual communication, you know, where you had your communication, [00:21:32] communicating through laughter, which is in a way communicating through form. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: And not through words. I mean words are wonderful. And I love words, but words are also overrated. You know, there is a whole field of experience that exists outside of words. ANDREW: Sure. Yeah. ENRIQUE: And, and when you really have a profound experience, you are usually in the space outside of language, then comes the problem of sharing it, right? And then you have to find the right words, which is a whole other thing. But with the actual experience is not in the space mediated by language. [00:22:03] ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: No matter what the French say. ANDREW: Yeah. I completely agree with you. I think that that that sort of moment where you're just engaged with something beyond words is . . . is really where, where things are wonderful. Right? ENRIQUE: Yes. Absolutely. ANDREW: I mean, it's, it's an experience that I'm always seeking out, you know, in one way or another right? In my relationships. In my relationship with nature, through the art that I make, even, even through my hobbies, like going rock climbing. One of the things I like about rock climbing is [00:22:33] that, you know, when you're 25 feet off the ground, and you know, working on a climbing problem, there's no . . . There's nothing but the sort of sense of trying to figure out how to move in space in relationship with the wall and it's not . . . it's not words. ENRIQUE: Exactly. ANDREW: It's not anything. It's just . . . it's just a feeling and it's the feeling of being in that relationship with the wall itself and the puzzle, you know? ENRIQUE: Yeah, I mean that's, that's actually a beautiful example because the wall is there, [00:23:03] speaking in stone. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: And then . . . and your body has to reply in your negative space for the stone. ANDREW: Yeah. ENRIQUE: Otherwise, you basically fall and die. ANDREW: Right. ENRIQUE: So, you have to become endowed with that form and that's a . . . yeah, that's an excellent example. ANDREW: Yeah, and it's definitely one of those things where you know, you can make your mind up. You know, I mean, especially, you know, like I'm not the world's best climber by any means, but you know, I climb [00:23:33] sort of relatively challenging, for most people, kind of things. You can decide all sorts of things before you start the climb, but once you put your hand or your foot or you know, whatever on the, on the hold then it tells you, if you're listening, what it wants you to do or needs you to do. ENRIQUE: Yes. ANDREW: And everything that you thought ahead of time kind of can go completely out the window where you're like, "Oh. I thought I'd be able to hold it from that angle. But in fact, I have to hold it from the other side now," or "I have to do this [00:24:03] or that," or "Oh, wow. That space is so much broader than I thought it was. I don't know how to, how to cross that gap now." And then you . . . then you have to sort of feel it and feel the motion and it really becomes a process of . . . Most of the problem-solving comes not so much from even thinking about it, but from being there and saying, "Okay, where do I feel the most settled in this position? And where do I feel like I can move from?" ENRIQUE: Yes. ANDREW: And then you're like, "Okay, now, now, now I [00:24:33] can see my way forward." ENRIQUE: Yeah, any embodied knowledge that you have, that we all have, and of course you acquire with experience the more you speak or you are in dialogue with the rock and the mountain, but at the same time, somehow, that's also dream. That's some sort of thing which, just letting the symbolic world, meaning the world of forms, guide you upwards. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. For sure. Well, [00:25:03] I mean, I feel like this this brings us into something that you and I have been, you know, discussing, you know, kind of . . . I mean over the last, last year or so, over the last six months, you know, this question of what does it mean to live with the oracle versus to sort of learn and work the oracle. I'm not sure if I'm articulating it quite right in those words, but it's a good starting point, right? ENRIQUE: Yes, and I think [00:25:33--a little garbled here] that that's extraordinary. It's really an important question, I think. Then . . . I mean, for example, there are ways to tackle it, but this year, I finally managed to stop doing tarot readings for . . . which means that I finally managed to say no, which is really hard because usually what you want to say, "Yes," but I decided that it had no, I mean, I decided that there is a . . . You [00:26:04] know, honesty is prophecy. And then, when you actually give an honest look at anything, you know the future. And it's only when we fool ourselves, you know, we say, "Yeah, let me invite my alcoholic friend to the party. I'm sure this time he's going to be okay." ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: That's when we, you know, get derailed and then we get surprised by something that in theory, we say [00:26:34] is unexpected, but it isn't, you know, we are just fooling ourselves. But so, I decided okay, if you really remove things from the table, the only thing you can do is be present, you know, and pay attention. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: But of course, I can only accept that because whatever effect extended exposure to the tarot had on me, [00:27:04] allows me now to see that way, you know, and for . . . I see it. At some point you realize that the reason why we place two cards and put a space in between them, right, and at some point, then, we realize that we think of that in terms of space only because we are very slow, but it's not really space, it's time. And then we [00:27:34] realize, oh, that time is equivalent to the time that exceeds between the two, [garbled, some words may be lost] somehow you realize, you discover, and you inhabit the space in between. You live, we live in the world all the time, cards or no cards, right? And I think that the, the, I mean the ultimate effect, I guess, is to be able to have a beautiful life and I think [00:28:04] that has to do a lot with being able to be present and to contemplate what is around and then you let . . . I find myself in a very strange position, because I now work with all these people who are interested in language of the birds. So, we work with, you know, words, fundamentally, we break words apart and we turn them into little clouds, and we are actually looking for the void [00:28:34] within the words, right? And the letters become pegs that are holding the void in place. So, we go beyond meaning into form and then I will feel that it's almost like, sometimes, it's almost like seeing an angel. Like seeing a, you know, you see this beautiful thing that you know you found it when you see it, but you can't even define it, right? And it has been one thing to do that for years and years on my own and another very [00:29:04] different one to . . . to share that work with other people and then to see the effect that work has on them. Right? And one of the beautiful things, of course, is that people feel very grounded, very centered, when they do this work, but then you have it. So, these are the people that . . . (ringing phone) ANDREW: I'm sorry. Let's pause for a second, Enrique, until my phone stops ringing. ENRIQUE: And we can see that could be . . . Absolutely. ANDREW: All right. [00:29:34] Apparently, I can't make the phone stop either. (laughing) Oh, boy. ENRIQUE: Yes. You don't have superpowers. ANDREW: I don't have superpowers. Yeah, okay. ENRIQUE: So yeah, so, in any case, when you start sharing the work with other people, and they start doing that work, and you realize, oh, now people are talking about how their dreams change, right? And they have all these different beautiful [00:30:04] dreams that somehow follow the forms they are putting on the paper, right? Or, or people who feel grounded. And then you realize well, this is what living with the oracle is. It finds expression in anything you arrange . . . ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: Around you. And, you know, Gaston Bachelard, the French writer, talks about poetic [00:30:34] reverie, right? And he says, literally that, he says, we can't actually . . . We have to discount dreams because we don't have control over them. But then, if you submerge yourself in a constant state of poetic reverie, you change your own dreams. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: Because you are learning to be beautifully in the world, to think beautifully, right? And in a form . . . in a way form begets form. So, if you learn to move in a certain way, then that can [00:31:04] raise an echo, right? And all that . . . I know that all this may sound very abstract and probably useless, but it all accounts for basically being in the world in a beautiful way and living a beautiful life. Eventually, you can share those things with other people. And . . . For example, the other day I was talking to this very young woman. Her name was Natasha. And I showed her how her name . . . You know that if you separate the variables, which are the soul of a word [00:31:34] from the body, which is the consonants. She basically . . . the three As on Natasha form a triangle, right? With them . . . like an inverted triangle. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: And then the consonants form a square. So, when I show her that as forms, we saw how her soul, the triangle, was a little bit off-center to the square, the body, and she was really concerned about appearing or being too [00:32:04] predictable. So that gave her great comfort. Because of course, having an off-center soul is not being predictable. And, in a sense, I had to explain that. I just saw something. I say, "Oh, well, this makes me feel better." And I don't know what that is. And again, I never know what that can do for anybody. But I also think that there is some comfort for me [00:32:34] in thinking that something so abstract cannot be named, right? Because if you cannot really name it, then you probably cannot trivialize it. ANDREW: Hmm. I think it's . . . I think it's . . . You know, my . . . So many things. All my thoughts are colliding now! (laughing) And it's like, how do I put all this into words that make any sense to anybody else? Right? It's just . . . ENRIQUE: Yes. ANDREW: So, [00:33:04] we talked about how . . . you know, being . . . we need to, we need to sort of see things as they are, right? And that when we're surprised by circumstance in readings, possibly, probably, we've been fooling ourselves on some level, you know? Because I think that, I think that that's certainly my experience, right? There are . . . there are surprises, life is surprising at times, but most of the things that people ask [00:33:34] questions about aren't really surprising and people generally have a notion about what's going on. They just don't like it, don't want to say it, don't want to face it, or whatever. You know, and for me, you know this sort of Stoic idea of it's always better to know what's real then to sort of live in any other kind of version of reality, you know, or to cover it up. I think that that's something that I sort [00:34:04] of really have valued over a long time. And I think that the kind of Stoic notions, if you can kind of work with them outside of the macho bullshit, that's so much stuff that gets layered on them today, I think that they really can be helpful. And then I think that once we know what's real or what's, you know, closest to what's real, for whatever we want to say about that. That's a whole other episode, but . . . ENRIQUE: Yes. ANDREW: Then we can start to understand [00:34:34] and engage with this other world that doesn't need to have concreteness attached to it per se, right? And I think about my walk in the woods talking to the birds. I think about . . . People always ask me, you know, like, "Well, do you do daily readings? What do you . . . How do you read the cards for yourself?" And you know, these days, a lot of what I do is, I just sit with the cards. And I put out some Marseilles cards and then I put out my, you [00:35:04] know, my Sacred Self Oracle, and I look for, look for the patterns that emerge between those. And especially because I'm often taking notes on my iPad, I'll take a picture of that card, and then I'll draw on top of it. And I've moved outside of the notion of reading in any sense that anybody means by that. And . . . ENRIQUE: Yes. ANDREW: And it is so grounding, and so centering, and sometimes there's a message that emerges, [00:35:34] sometimes it filters back down into language or words or whatever. And often the words that come out don't even really matter. They don't even necessarily make sense in any sort of overt way, but the flow of them, the practice of making them or arranging them, the practice of thinking them, is the message and is the oracle. ENRIQUE: Yes. ANDREW: And the consequence of that oracle is not tangible and direct in an overt way, but [00:36:04] it somehow modifies myself and my relationship to the world, my day, whatever it is that's going on, in ways that allow me to move forward in a different manner. ENRIQUE: Yes. That's the dialogue in the day. The hand and the wall rock, you know, when your hand gets caught, to match the rock wall, your climb, it's the same thing. It's form speaking to form. And that in itself is [00:36:34] the message. And of course, that doesn't have an intellectual effect, because you can't just even talk about it. It has an emotional effect . . . ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: Which is something that a lot of people miss. When you are in contact with an oracle, you're basically exposing yourself to, to have, to that, for that thing to have an emotional impact on you. And, and maybe, there is something also, that may be very silly, you know, but oracle is a word that basically accounts [00:37:05] originally, at least, for an opaque or oblique utterance, right? A phrase, a bunch of words that don't have a clearer meaning. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: So, it requires thought and, and in the way I see it, there is an experience that let's say, is a little common still. A person, any person, opens a poetry book, finds a line in the poem, and thinks, "Ah, this [00:37:35] speaks to my condition right now." Right? ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: And we know that that poet didn't write that for her, or not even about, it's not even about that, that the person is experiencing. But the person can see how that speaks to her. You know, "Yes, this accounts for this experience I'm having." ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: And that's an experience that most people feel or know, understand, and even our culture at large values [00:38:05] it, that. We respond to it, we pride ourselves on being a culture that generates that kind of experience. So, we can take that one step further, and say, well this is a . . . Fal'e Hafiz, you know, the divination with a poet by Hafiz, the Iranian poet, which is basically the same thing, only that it's not any book of poetry, but only a book of poetry by Hafiz. You think about a problem you have, you open it up, the [00:38:35] first line you read, that's the answer . . . ANDREW: Mm. ENRIQUE: To your problem. And the thing is, that Hafiz was a very very obscure poet. So, it's never like, "come back on Tuesday," or, you know, play the 36." ANDREW: Right! ENRIQUE: So, it's a really really contrived sentence. So, you have to meditate upon it. It is the same as meditating upon form. And then eventually say "Yes, I understand how this is speaking to my condition." [00:39:06] And we can take that one step further and say the I Ching, right? Which is still a book and still full of lines, literally and metaphorically. But then, now, we don't say, "Okay, open it in any page and the first thing you see, that will be it." We say, "No, we're actually engaging with chance." So, we take all these sticks or the coins and we start going through a process that renders this idea of the odd and the even. [00:39:36] So we, you know, we get to the hexagrams. And then from the hexagrams to some sort of commentary on the hexagrams. So, we are again left with some sort of obscure phrase that in theory is responding to our situation, right? ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: And then the next step, of course, is get rid of the book. ANDREW: Yeah. ENRIQUE: And keep the sticks. And right there, we have all the divination [00:40:06] systems we know, right? We have the shells with the bones, throw the cards, or the coffee stains or grinds or the clouds. And the funny thing is in our culture, the moment we get rid of the book, we step into what people define as superstition, right? ANDREW: Mm-hmm. Yeah. ENRIQUE: It's no longer this poetica pursuit, basically, because we have this very old-fashioned idea of poetry as something that is anchored on the word, words, and [00:40:36] not on form. But of course, every time you look at an oracle you're reading, and that reading is a poetic reading. It's as opaque and obscure as the poetry by Hafiz or the I Ching commentary or the poem that you read and . . . ANDREW: Well in the . . . ENRIQUE: You know, I was talking about this with . . . yeah, yes, go ahead. ANDREW: In a sense, you know, when we . . . You know, not in a literal sense, because from within the tradition, we have a different dialogue [00:41:06] about it, but from the point of view of our conversation, when we are divining with the cowrie shells and we say that the, the Odu has arrived, right? Like the living energy of the Orisha that is the sign that came out in this divination. And the belief is that the arrival of that Odu changes the person's life. It is . . . it is just that process of invoking that energy through [00:41:36] the shells, and looking at it and seeing it and it being there, and then afterwards the diviner's job is more so to manage that dialogue and make sure that the person understands enough of what has been said so they can go away and think about it, right? I mean and there are other sort of literal pieces too but, but that idea of the energy of the oracle arriving, and us receiving it, and that being the thing that changes our life . . . You know, it comes with the notion that we don't understand [00:42:06] what that is, exactly. We can't articulate it clearly. And even, even when we're interpreting the Odu in a traditional way, we can't necessarily, on any level, understand all of the implications and so on of that. We are merely just making sure that we've, you know, read the appropriate lines that are relevant to it and marked the right things. And after that, it's up to the person to sit with it and allow that to unfold with them and through them and so on, in a way that [00:42:36] is certainly energetic and otherwise, but also definitely poetic, and goes back to that sort of obtuseness of Hafiz, or other things, the I Ching, where it's like, "Huh? What does this really mean? How does this apply? How does this apply today? How does this apply while I'm at the butcher's? How does this apply when I pick my kids up from school? You know? It's that living with it that is the . . . that is where we get the most out of it and where it is the most transformational. You know? ENRIQUE: Yes. Yeah, and [00:43:06] I mean, I was talking about this with my wife the other day, and she say that the problem, really, the moment you get rid of the book or the moment that you step into the oracle is the other person, the interpreter, you know? There is this, the moment you need the other person to tell you how to relate to the oracle. And I thought that was really interesting because again, it's brought me back to the woman who say, "You are in the obligation of telling me because I'm not going to do any thinking." ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: And [00:43:36] of course, I mean, again, it is really interesting to, for me at the moment to think again that by delivering an open object, turn the other person into the interpreter. They have to come to terms with forms and understand what those forms are saying to them. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: Because at least I don't know. I don't know what, who they are. I don't know what they are, you know, feeling, and I must certainly have no, [00:44:06] nothing to say about anybody's life, but they know. I think they always know. And you say, also a few minutes ago, they have an idea of what's going on. And basically, they may not like it. So, they're trying to find almost like a second opinion. That's why . . . I mean the other day, somebody was asking me about the ethics of readings and divination and I told her, well, there is an ethical problem, because in my experience [00:44:36] most clients are dishonest. They want to hear what they want to hear. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: And they will twist your words. They will, you know, re-ask the question again and again until they get what they want, and even if you don't give it to them, they will hear every word you say as if you say what they want to hear. So, of course, there is a lot of dishonesty in the profession, but it mostly come from the clients. Of course, [00:45:06] there are dishonest readers. But even the honest reader has to put up with that person who has decided beforehand what they want to hear. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: And I see that as way more . . . I mean, and again, it's really . . . Do you know, I think that there is a love for the majority for example of the cards or any oracle, at some point you want to really share that beauty with other people. And that takes you so far. It [00:45:37] comes to a point at which you understand: "Yes, but I'm speaking of a beauty and this woman's still speaking about this [garbled] on Thanksgiving. You know? ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: I really don't care. It's not really my problem. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think, yeah. I think too, like, somebody . . . Somebody was asking me if . . . Somebody was . . . I was posting about my . . . So, my journey for, with [00:46:07] rock climbing. You know, I was, I set myself a goal for the year. This is the only resolution I made for 2018. And my resolution for 2018 was to still be climbing at the end of the year. That was my, my entire goal. No achievement attached to it. No, you know, anything else, just still be going and doing it. Just keep returning if you go away, and be, and still be there at the end of the year. Because [00:46:37] I think that, you know, like the oracle, you know, if we, if we promise to keep showing up, you know, the oracle reveals things to us over time. ENRIQUE: Yes. ANDREW: We don't know when or how that comes, and so if we endeavor to be with it, then, then we will hear what we need to hear as we go, to a large extent. And somebody, somebody was posting . . . somebody posted in response to that, that if they, they wondered if the universe challenged us whenever we set an intention, you [00:47:07] know, if it deliberately brought stuff up, you know. And I think that for me, and I'll let you answer for yourself. But for me, living with the oracle in this open-ended way and living, in a, for lack of a better term, kind of more Stoic way with a real sort of working to, to see things as clearly as possible all the time and face the things that I might rather put in the closet or leave [00:47:37] for another day. I don't . . . I don't feel like the universe has a lot of agency in the way that that question implies, you know? There are surprises that are . . . that happen, you know? You know, in relationship to me climbing this year, there were two surprises: One, I dislocated my collarbone in the winter, tobogganing with my daughter. And that took like [00:48:07] four months to really fix. It's horrible. I don't recommend it to anybody. And two, you know, I'm getting divorced this year and, you know, although that is amicable and, and going well, relatively speaking, it takes a lot of time and attention and doesn't always leave energy for other things. But I don't think that any of those have any relationship to . . . to my intention or my desire to climb or do other things. I think that those are, those [00:48:37] are just the inevitable stories of being alive, right? We are alive, and things happen and we get sick and . . . ENRIQUE: Yes. ANDREW: Life comes up and things change and so on and we don't need to, or I never need to, arrange a narrative around that in a bigger way. So, I'm curious. I'm curious for you. Do you . . . What agency do you feel comes back from the universe? Do you think that there is something organizing it or testing us or . . . ENRIQUE: No, I actually, no, I always say the same thing. I think that [00:49:07] the universe doesn't care about us. Or maybe I will say it doesn't care about me. And I know that people want to be, to feel otherwise, you know, but you know when I was a kid . . . and this image has been coming back a lot recently. I watched this documentary about Africa, right? And there was this method of catching monkeys, which consisted of filling up a hollow tree with grain. ANDREW: Uh huh. ENRIQUE: And then, you know, the monkey will stick his hand into the hollow [00:49:37] tree, grab the grain, but then couldn't take the handful, the fistful out. The hole was only big enough for the empty hand to come in. But if he had grain in his hand, in his hand, he couldn't take it out. ANDREW: Yeah. ENRIQUE: And basically, these guys just will walk up to the monkey and grab it because the monkey will never let go of the grain. ANDREW: Yes. ENRIQUE: And I mean, it's insane, right? But I think that in terms of daily life, we are all monkeys with our hand [00:50:07] stuck in a hollow tree. ANDREW: Yes. ENRIQUE: And most of the time, you realize, yeah, but can you just open the hand and let go? ANDREW: Yeah. ENRIQUE: Life works the way it works. And in that sense, there is no mystery, even if it takes you by surprise all the time, basically because we think that there is a mystery there. And yes, sometimes we catch a cold and sometimes we get divorced and sometimes we, you know, we're surprised by somebody giving us a loaf of bread. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: I . . . I [00:50:38] don't think that actually, at least I understand that that's not the way people think, but I never thought of any kind of oracular work where oracles had any dealings with daily life in that sense, of letting me know if I should change the oil of my car today or next week, you know? ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: I think it's more about transcending daily life and finding some sort of center, true beauty [00:51:08] through some sort of . . . ANDREW: Yeah. ENRIQUE: Through some sort of sublime condition in life. ANDREW: For sure. ENRIQUE: Yeah, but all day, even the other day I was talking about, you know, people, people talk about sigils, and then I realized, first, the first mistake you make when you make a sigil is wanting something? ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: And then you realize when you make a sigil to, I don't know, lose weight. Let's [00:51:38] say. And another sigil to get a red car. You're basically making the same operation, right? You make, you take the words, you eliminate certain letters, and you consolidate everything into one small or smaller emblem. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: And then you realize, oh, but what you're doing there, it doesn't matter what you want. What you're doing again and again and again is a reduction. That's what then . . . In the world of forms, [00:52:08] what you are actually spelling is a reduction. Which means that in time, it doesn't matter how many things you wanted, you end up with your mind drinking. ANDREW: Hmm. ENRIQUE: And of course, people don't like that, because, besides you can't sell a book saying this stuff, right? You can't sell any books and don't want stuff. They only want books that say, I'm sorry, I want to say you're entitled [00:52:38] to want everything, and I can tell you how to get it. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: But you realize there is something really silly about trying to control daily life, especially because daily life is not even that interesting, you know, and it takes care of itself. ANDREW: Mm. Yeah. I think that . . . I mean it's kind of why, over the years, I've sort of moved to . . . My [00:53:08] magic that I do tends to tends to be most often orientated towards what I, what I kind of now often call as identity magic, which is how do I, how do I change myself so that I can be more like more like what seems fruitful, more like what, you know, remove those obstacles in myself to doing the things that I need, you know, it's not so much about changing the world as it is about [00:53:38] shifting myself in relationship to it so that . . . If there's desire attached to it, so that what I desire is more accessible, or so that I'm more, more at ease and more in the flow around whatever it is that I need to work on and change, you know? ENRIQUE: Yes. ANDREW: Yeah. ENRIQUE: Yeah, I don't know. I think it's a song. At some point, I understood or I [00:54:08] have been made to understand that presence is meaning . . . ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: And presence is also performance. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: Whatever you are, you're performing, you're enacting, you are projecting something, and causing an effect. And I'm at the moment more interested in just being, you know, and be present and play along with the fact that causes. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: It's like when this woman started laughing, looking at [00:54:38] your eyes, and you laughed with her, you know, you said that's a reaction in the moment and that's what there, you know? ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: And trying to make her chop or, I don't know, levitate, will be useless. So, yeah, it's . . . I'm finding a lot of pleasure in walking around by with my pockets empty. And of course, I don't know what magic is. I think that, in other words, I think that magic or [00:55:08] some experience of mystery that I actually pursue or often feel works best when you don't want anything, when you don't want it, and it appears and surprises you, gives you something. It's like a gift, you know, but it's not something you pursue in terms of how can I command for this to happen at will. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: And again, I understand that when you say that magic . . . When . . . the moment I speak [00:55:38] of magic without will, I'm almost like undefining magic in terms of what people think magic is, right? They all seem to be convinced it's about will, exerting our will, and I think it's more about stepping aside, letting things happen. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. Well, I think it's definitely about . . . for me, it's definitely about making space so that [00:56:08] I can be engaged and present with the subject of the magic in a way that it allows it to unfold, to some extent without control, to a large extent without control, because I think that the idea of, you know, "Oh, I really want this person to fall in love with me." I mean, I think the minute that you're fixated on, on one person is the minute that you've already kind of drifted into a problematic territory and should go back to . . . ENRIQUE: Yes. ANDREW: Why that person? [00:56:38] Why do you want them when they are not reciprocating? What is it you're looking for? What is it you could do without magic to make this . . . ? You know, I mean, many questions, right? But, but rather, what could I . . . What could I do to have more, more romance in my life? What could I do to have better connections? And is there a magical act that, that feeds and supports that in an open-ended and sort of allowing the universe to show us, allowing ourselves to witness and notice it in an open, open [00:57:08] and present way as the opportunities float around us, rather than sort of exerting a massive amount of control, which I think is, which is very rarely fruitful, you know. ENRIQUE: Yes. Well, you know, my . . . This year, one of my favorite moments is . . . I have this friend, who about 12 years ago, he was named the godfather of a child, right? And he decided beautifully that his gift to this kid will be the gift of language. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: So, he set up an account, a bank account and he has [00:57:38] been putting money there for years, assuming that at some point, maybe this kid will want to learn, you know, Italian so he can go to Rome and live there and learn the language. But then this summer, he spent a morning with me by the river and we were playing with all these bird voices, you know, and talking like birds and the birds will come and all this and that. So, and he went, he bought a box full of birdcallers and sent it to this kid. Yeah, so there is something extraordinarily beautiful in [00:58:08] inspiring a person to complete this crazy act of gifting a kid a set of birdcallers, and then he wrote this note, saying, "I believe this is a good first language for you to learn. And, and then for that gesture not to fall flat, you know, and for the kid to actually embrace this, and then this is a kid I don't know, I probably will never see in my life, but somehow, it's beautiful to think that there [00:58:38] is some residual effect of what I do that is part of that kid's life, and I don't know. I'm . . . The other day, for example, this woman wrote to me and she said that she wanted to speak like a hawk. And it's beautiful. We saw this at [Brawn's?] we saw that actually allows her to do so. And she say, "Well, I have a problem, and the problem I have is that I'm surrounded by [00:59:08] sparrows." So, I told her, "Well, you know, the problem is that the only way you have for you to know if you are actually doing it right is that all those sparrows are going to fly away, because you've become a predator, right? ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: And she say, "Oh, but, I mean, I love the sparrows. Do you think they were going to trust me?" I said, "Yes. I mean, they are going to trust you as much as a sparrow trusts a hawk." Okay. So yeah, it's fantastic to think you can . . . A, this faith [00:59:38] when a person can ask you that question, can talk about this [garbled] bird's nest to still be close to the birds. And at the same time, like a little bit . . . We are really not just talking about talking like a hawk, or talking about voice, we are talking about the consequences of having a certain voice and being responsible for what we say, what we put out in the world. And I . . . being full of all of the [garbled] but I can [01:00:08] see the poetry or of living a poetic life through embracing the form of a bird voice and the bird language. So yeah. ANDREW: That's wonderful. Well, maybe we should wrap up the us talking part of the conversation here, and there were definitely some questions that came through, through Facebook. And I think at this point, I'd love to, I'd love to hear you give like a one word [01:00:38] or a one phrase answer to them, rather than us sort of go into a big long conversation or . . . kind of like we did in one of them where . . . ENRIQUE: Yes. ANDREW: I did the rapid-fire questions at you. Let's look at these rapid fire . . . ENRIQUE: Yes. ANDREW: And see what comes, okay? So, one person asks . . . ENRIQUE: Okay. ANDREW: So, with your children, are they interested, would you teach them these things about card reading? What are your thoughts on children and cards? [01:01:08] ENRIQUE: Well, I have three kids. The middle kid already asked me to teach him and I did so. And then yesterday, my daughter told me that, and she's 10. One of his friends, his classmates, actually asked: Did your father ever taught you, told you how to read tarot and [garbled] in the French way, in such a beautiful way, that I think she already knows everything she needs to know. ANDREW: Yeah, my [01:01:38] youngest got a Sibilla deck and reads that for me sometimes . . . ENRIQUE: I have Sibilla, yes. ANDREW: And it's just, you know, she's so great at it. It's just, she's like, "Oh, look at this. Somebody's going to do something you don't like, but this is going to happen. But there you go. It's so wonderful," right? They have a sense of it, I think, which is great and . . . ENRIQUE: Yes. ANDREW: It's less about teaching and more about just . . . ENRIQUE: Yeah. I mean my son, when I explained . . . Yeah, when I explained [01:02:08] it to my son in after 15 minutes, he told me, "Oh, I understand. This is all about transformations." And I realized, "Oh, it took you 15 minutes, it took me 15 years." ANDREW: Right? ENRIQUE: Okay. ANDREW: Yeah. ENRIQUE: You know, that's that. Yeah. ANDREW: All right. Next question. What is the poem that the world needs in these times? ENRIQUE: I don't know. I mean, I guess my [01:02:38] issue is that I don't have any faith in the poem. ANDREW: Mm. ENRIQUE: As you know, in the actual poem. I guess there's poetry, and poetry's everywhere in a sense. But I will say in terms of poetry, yes, yes, you just need to listen to the sparrows. You know, the sparrows have this beautiful thing, that is, they are like Zen monks. A sparrow only makes a, like a little sound, you know, over and over and over, so it says everything it needs to say in one syllable. It's [01:03:08] almost like tasting water, you know. So . . . ANDREW: Yeah, yeah. ENRIQUE: Yeah, the voice of the sparrow. ANDREW: What has surprised you regarding tarot in the last couple of years? ENRIQUE: You know, the tarot world is like that movie, Groundhog Day. ANDREW: (bursts out laughing) ENRIQUE: It's the same day again, over and over. ANDREW: (still laughing) Yes, Bill Murray. ENRIQUE: So, we're all Bill [01:03:38] Murray. ANDREW: Perfect. Yeah. ENRIQUE: And that's . . . Every day the same deck is being published, the same book is being published, the same conversation about the origin of tarot is being published, the same theory about the secret behind it is being discussed. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: And that's how we go, you know, it never ends. ANDREW: Perfect. Do you consider tarot magic? And do you practice any forms of magic? ENRIQUE: Oh, every morning, [01:04:08] I sit at a café, in the same place next to a window. I look at words in my notebook. And if something appears [garbled--black?], in terms of form, I share it with some people and then that snowballs into something. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: And that's the magic I do. And, yeah, I mean, everything can be, I guess, magic, but I do feel that for something to be magical, there has to be an otherness. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: Meaning it has to take you to another [01:04:38] place. It's, I don't know. It's hard to imagine doing magic with something that is completely like a daily thing, you know, but it could be. I mean, I think that, yeah. In any case, I don't know if magic. I think that the world has a poetic influence, meaning that forms speak to each other through analogy. Maybe that's magic. I don't know if magic is an intelligence. I don't [01:05:08] know again, if there's an agency, like a big finger that is invisible and it's swirling things behind. I don't know. ANDREW: Yeah. Fair. And last question: What would, what would it take for you to put your tarot deck again right now? Given that you're not really doing readings and such any more. ENRIQUE: Every time I make an exception. ANDREW: Yes. Yeah. ENRIQUE: Every time I make an exception, [01:05:38] I end up confirming that it's pointless. ANDREW: Hmm. ENRIQUE: So, no, I don't think so. I'm not, you know, I have nothing to sell, and I'm not in a crusade for people, not to do readings or to any kind of ideas I may have, I'm just trying to get by finding my own language. I will do all these things, which is a way of saying to find my own. You know, I think that that's what the philosopher's stone is. To find your own language. ANDREW: Right. ENRIQUE: And your own language is not English or Spanish or Italian. It's how [01:06:08] you organize forms around you. And that's why they . . . you know, the, the alchemists say, that's a great work, you know, and they say the philosopher's stone cannot be handed down, you know, passed to another person. You have to find it yourself. It's because of that. You have to find your own language. ANDREW: Mm-hmm. ENRIQUE: Otherwise you're just living in the shadow of another person's language. ANDREW: Right. Perfect. ENRIQUE: And yeah, so, so and well. Yeah. Okay. ANDREW: I think that's a great place [01:06:38] to leave it. Go find your language, everybody! ENRIQUE: Perfect. ANDREW: Perfect. And if it sounds like birds, let us know. (laughs) ENRIQUE: Exactly. ANDREW: Perfect. Well, thank you so much for hanging out with me this morning and especially for fighting through all the Skype up and downs. It's what I get for recording during Mercury retrograde. ENRIQUE: Oh, it's okay. It's always great. ANDREW: Perfect. ENRIQUE: Thank you. It's always great to talk to you. ANDREW: Thank you, you too. ENRIQUE: I hope to soon. [music] ANDREW: [01:07:09] I hope you love this conversation, as always, I hope that. Enrique did all the Patreons the pleasure of recording a bird song just for them. So if you are a supporter of the Patreon in the $5 and up category, you can go find that recording now at Patreon.com/TheHermitsLamp, and if you're not a supporter: Well, what are you waiting for? The birds are waiting to speak to you. Talk to you next time.
Have you ever heard of Flow Learning™? It’s a technique that Joseph Cornell from the Sharing Nature Foundation developed to help children channel their natural tendencies and curiosities into focused learning. A fellow Sparkler, Chandi Holliman, shared this approach with me and I was immediately intrigued. In this episode of Art Made Easy, Chandi shares how she used this approach with her pre-school and young Kinders in the art room. Chandi is a brand new Sparkler and is our featured Sparkler Spotlight for May. What I love about Chandi is her calm, intentional approach to children’s art making and her vigorous passion for arts, children and creating new opportunities. This episode is for anyone who is interested in how meditation, yoga and calming practices help children grow into keen observers and makers. Here are the basic tenets of Flow Learning ™: 1. Awakening Enthusiasm: how to introduce a lesson through warm-up exercises, reading a story, or playing a game. 2. Focused Attention: Using details from the warm-up to concentrate their focus. 3. Direct Experience: Handing out materials, pairing the right set of children together, playing music, moving from a silent flow into the main art lesson, or by asking for a calmer classroom. 4. Shared Inspiration: Asking students to share their experience and asking questions. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - How Chandi went from being a Nanny to building her own school - Why she incorporates yoga and meditation with her children - How awakening enthusiasm builds engagement - The reasons why literature can be a main source of inspiration - How business decisions are easier to make when guided by a powerful mission LISTEN TO THE SHOW LINKS & RESOURCES Joseph Cornell, Sharing Nature Best Practices for Acrylic Paints: AME 091 Charge What You're Worth: AME 093 Ananda Sangha The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life I Am Yoga You can visit Patty through Deep Space Sparkle on Facebook and Instagram Facebook Instagram support@deepspacesparkle.com
Legendary composer, performer, and sound artist Joan La Barbara has had an undeniable impact on the course of contemporary vocal music. Her work with composers John Cage, Morton Feldman, Robert Ashley, and dozens of others—as well as her own work as a composer and vocal explorer— make her an icon in the contemporary vocal music world. She joins us this year on night two of Resonant Bodies Festival, on September 6th, at Roulette. In this interview we discuss her new opera about Virginia Wolf and Joseph Cornell, her compositional process, her work with Cage, Berio, and Feldman, and about her experience as a woman in the music world.
We do love our lists at Mr B's. In this episode, the books we chat about are themselves made up of lists. Nic, Sam and Jess discuss the why's and why not's of anthologies of all kinds, and we also hear about a true labour of love, the creation of an anthology of contemporary Venezuelan writing. As always, listen out for Bath's unavoidable background-gulls... Hosted by Jessica Johannesson Music by The Bookshop Band Books mentioned in this episode: A Convergence of Birds, Ed. by Jonathan Safran Foer (Penguin Books) Invisible Planets: 13 Visions of the Future, Ed. by Ken Liu (Head of Zeus) The Moth: all these Wonders (Profile Books) True Tales of American Life, Ed. by Paul Auster (Faber & Faber) Litmus: Short Stories from Modern Science, Ed. by Ra Page (Comma Press) The New Granta Book of Travel, Ed. by Liz Jobey (Granta books) Best American Sports Writing of the Century, Ed. by David Halberstam (Houghton Mifflin) Lunatics, Lovers and Poets: Twelve Stories after Cervantes and Shakespeare, Ed. by Daniel Hahn, Margarita Valencia (And Other Stories) Dime-store Alchemy: The Art of Joseph Cornell by Charles Simic (New York Review of Books) In Sunlight or in Shadow: stories inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper, Ed. by Lawrence Block (Pegasus Books) Crude Words: Contemporary Writing from Venezuela, Ed. by Katie Brown, Montague Kobbe, Tim Girven (Ragpicker Press) Other anthologies we love: A kind of compass: stories on distance, Ed. by Belinda McKeon (Tramp Press) Refugee Tales, Ed. by David Herd & Anna Pincus (Comma Press) New American Stories, Ed. by Ben Marcus (Granta Books) Sisters of the Revolution, Ed. by Anna and Jeff Vandermeer (PM Press)
Arte e gioco sono in dialogo da sempre, dalle imprese figurate del Rinascimento agli enigmi verbo-visivi del Novecento; dai dipinti con altalene, girotondi e aquiloni, alle giostre inquiete proposte di recente nei musei; dai quadri di maschere del Settecento ai travestimenti e alle simulazioni attuali. Il gioco – con le sue regole – può essere matrice dell’opera d’arte così come l’arte può trasportare – come il gioco – in realtà separate, dove valgono l’immedesimazione, il piacere e la sfida. In questo percorso la storica dell’arte Antonella Sbrilli prende avvio dalla serie di opere Medici Slot-machine dell’artista statunitense Joseph Cornell: piccole scatole azionabili che accostano due mondi, la Firenze medicea e le macchinette delle sale da gioco americane, avvicinando alto e basso, infanzia ed età adulta, creazione e fortuna. E prosegue per grandi esempi nel mondo dell’arte, fra passato e presente.
Peter Blake is recognised as one of the founders of British Pop Art and today continues to make work that spans media including collage, sculpture, printmaking, as well as commercial art in the form of graphics and, notably, album covers. He was recently included in the Barbican’s exhibition 'Magnificent Obsessions: The Artist as Collector' and has created an artistic style that undoubtedly parallels Joseph Cornell’s own. During this event we find out why Cornell’s work has made such an impact on Blake’s own approach to art and what motivated him to create a series of direct homages to work by Joseph Cornell.
Joseph Cornell is one of the most famous yet mystifying characters in modern American art. Cornell scholar Lynda Roscoe Hartigan explores what recent studies in creativity and cognition have contributed to understanding his distinctive constructions, collages and films.
American assemblage artist Joseph Cornell (1903–1972) has been described as one of modern art’s best-kept secrets. In this podcast, join RA curator Sarah Lea to explore the life and work of this enigmatic artist, including a biographical overview, a discussion of Cornell’s working processes and a detailed look at the key collages, box constructions and films presented in the exhibition. The curator considers in particular Cornell’s interest in fields as diverse as natural history to ballet, which fed his long distance love affair with Europe, a place he visited only in his imagination.
Joseph Cornell has often been referred to as an ‘outsider’ but he was accepted into the art market as a partial Surrealist at a time when the art of the self-taught had no name or definition. If he had been defined as an outsider, would he have had difficulty being accepted into the canon of 20th century art history? How would this definition change our approach to the display, interpretation and market for his work? This panel discussion considers what the new spaces are for outsider art and what the responsibilities are for those involved in the interpretation, collection, curation and sale of these works within the context of today’s art world.
Art historian Professor Dawn Ades discusses Joseph Cornell’s relationship with Surrealism – one of the most influential movements of the 20th century – and explains how the collages of Max Ernst influenced him to find his own voice in the assemblage of diverse materials, found objects and images, which prompted a plethora of imaginative and imaginary narratives and associations. Ades also compares the constructions by Cornell that contain kinetic elements with other works by Surrealist artists that incorporate movement, and therefore the notion of duration. Duration is one aspect of our experience of time. Considering his sand fountains, collage-books and other unclassifiable constructions, this talk will address Cornell’s preoccupation with the workings of time as a fundamental theme in his work.
A look at Joseph Cornell's legendary avant garde masterpiece / fanvid Rose Hobart!
A look at Joseph Cornell's legendary avant garde masterpiece / fanvid Rose Hobart!
Joseph Cornell has often been referred to as an ‘outsider' but he was accepted into the art market as a partial Surrealist at a time when the art of the self-taught had no name or definition. If he had been defined as an outsider, would he have had difficulty being accepted into the canon of 20th century art history? How would this definition change our approach to the display, interpretation and market for his work? This panel discussion considers what the new spaces are for outsider art and what the responsibilities are for those involved in the interpretation, collection, curation and sale of these works within the context of today's art world.
Joseph Cornell is one of the most famous yet mystifying characters in modern American art. Cornell scholar Lynda Roscoe Hartigan explores what recent studies in creativity and cognition have contributed to understanding his distinctive constructions, collages and films.
Art historian Professor Dawn Ades discusses Joseph Cornell's relationship with Surrealism, his engagement with the concept of time and the ongoing dialogue in his work between the ephemeral and the eternal.
In this podcast, celebrated British artist, Sir Peter Blake CBE, is in conversation with the RA's artistic director Tim Marlow, to discover why the work of Joseph Cornell has fascinated him throughout his career.
Amy is Asif Kapadia's documentary telling the story of the short life of the talented singer Amy Winehouse. We look at the launch of Apple Music - is it an exciting brand new way to explore what's out there or just another option in an already over-serviced market? Jim Shepard's novel The Book of Aron is about a young boy in wartime Poland occupied by the Nazis. Does it manage to say something new about a familiar subject? There's a revival in London of the first AIDS play: As Is. It premiered in New York in 1985 and won a TONY. What does it say about the situation today? The Joseph Cornell retrospective at London's Royal Academy allows visitors to view collages rarely seen in the UK.
Matthew Sweet on worrying - Joseph Cornell - Spy Fiction and the First film.
Allegra Kent, legendary ballerina and muse of George Balanchine and Joseph Cornell, started studying ballet at 11, with Bronislava Nijinska and Carmelita Maracci, in Los Angeles. At 14, she came to New York as a scholarship student at The School of American Ballet. The following year, George Balanchine invited her to join the New York City Ballet, where she danced for the next 30 years. Allegra is the author of several critically acclaimed books, including her autobiography, Once a Dancer. . .and her first book for children, Ballerina Swan, which has recently leapt from the page onto the stage, courtesy of Making Books Sing. In 2009, she was a recipient of a Dance Magazine Award. She writes frequently for Dance and has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, Vogue, and Allure. Most recently, she has contributed an essay to The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage. She lives in New York City.
Collectors' Roundtable with Robert Lehrman. This annual series provides insight and invaluable advice on collecting art from museum directors, curators, collectors, art dealers, and consultants. Collector Robert Lehrman (Washington, D.C.) presents "Secrets of the Art World." Robert Lehrman, since 1979, has been collecting works by contemporary American and European artists, including William Christenberry, Damien Hirst, Agnes Martin, Gerhard Richter, and Andy Warhol. He also has one of the most comprehensive private collections of works by Joseph Cornell. Lehrman is founder and president of the not-for-profit Voyager Foundation and has lectured on contemporary art appreciation at museums, universities, and art schools across America. He believes that in addition to being personally rewarding, collecting art and supporting art organizations and their related activities is an important civic responsibility. He is on the Board of Trustees of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, where he served as chairman from 1998 to 2003.
"The Spring 2008 Sidney Harman Writer-in-Residence at Baruch College features Charles Simic, U.S. Poet Laureate, the author of numerous collections of poems, including My Noiseless Entourage; Selected Poems: 1963-2003, for which he received the 2005 International Griffin Poetry Prize; The Voice at 3:00 AM: Selected Late and New Poems; The World Doesn't End: Prose Poems, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; Classic Ballroom Dances, which won the University of Chicago's Harriet Monroe Award and the Poetry Society of America's Di Castagnola Award. His books of prose include Memory Piano, Metaphysician in the Dark, A Fly in My Soup, Orphan Factory, The Unemployed Fortune-Teller: Essays and Memoirs, Dime-Store Alchemy: The Art of Joseph Cornell, as well as several translations of poets from the former Yugoslavia. Simic has received two PEN Awards for his work as a translator, and a MacArthur Fellowship. He is a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books and the poetry editor of The Paris Review. His new book of poems, That Little Something, will be published in Spring 2008. The event takes place on March 18, 2008, at the Newman Conference Center, 7th floor."
"The Spring 2008 Sidney Harman Writer-in-Residence at Baruch College features Charles Simic, U.S. Poet Laureate, the author of numerous collections of poems, including My Noiseless Entourage; Selected Poems: 1963-2003, for which he received the 2005 International Griffin Poetry Prize; The Voice at 3:00 AM: Selected Late and New Poems; The World Doesn’t End: Prose Poems, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; Classic Ballroom Dances, which won the University of Chicago’s Harriet Monroe Award and the Poetry Society of America’s Di Castagnola Award. His books of prose include Memory Piano, Metaphysician in the Dark, A Fly in My Soup, Orphan Factory, The Unemployed Fortune-Teller: Essays and Memoirs, Dime-Store Alchemy: The Art of Joseph Cornell, as well as several translations of poets from the former Yugoslavia. Simic has received two PEN Awards for his work as a translator, and a MacArthur Fellowship. He is a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books and the poetry editor of The Paris Review. His new book of poems, That Little Something, will be published in Spring 2008. The event takes place on March 18, 2008, at the Newman Conference Center, 7th floor."
Michael Dinges, inspired by the scrimshaw tradition, inscribes pithy commentary and figured imagery on pure white surfaces. Dead laptops, PVC, plastic buckets, and lawn chairs take on new meaning through his social commentary and satirical critique. In this lecture, Dinges discusses the impact of Cornell's assemblages on his own work. This podcast is brought to you by the Ancient Art Podcast. Explore more at ancientartpodcast.org.
Joseph Cornell's assemblage The Admiral's Game
La Fundación Juan March es sede, desde el día 2 de abril y hasta el 27 de mayo, de la exposición del norteamericano Joseph Comell. Compuesta por 74 obras, entre las que hay collages y construcciones en cajas, por las que fundamentalmente Cornell es conocido en el mundo del arte. La muestra constituye una novedad expositiva en Madrid. En el acto inaugural pronunciará una conferencia el crítico de arte Fernando Huici, sobre «Joseph Comell y el no lugar de la utopía». Esta exposición cuenta con obras realizac;las a lo largo de 36 años y ha sido posible gracias a la colaboración prestada por la Fundación Joseph y Robert Cornell, las galerías Castelli, Feigen y Córcoran; los señores Richard Ader, Burton Kanter y Linda Olin, así como al Museo de Arte Moderno de San Francisco y a otros coleccionistas e instituciones. Las obras contenidas en esta exposición se agrupan en construcciones (aviarios, cosmologías, palacios, palomares, príncipes de Médici, cajas de arena, estuches, objetos, cajas de recuerdos, misceláneas y cajas de sonido) y collages. Se inauguró la exposición de collages y construcciones en cajas, de Joseph Cornell (1903-1972), con una conferencia del crítico de arte Fernando Huici sobre el pintor y cineasta norteamericano, a la que tituló Joseph Cornell y el no lugar de la utopía.Más información de este acto