Without You My Life Would Be Boring

The photograph is an edited version of a film photo I took at Wilderness, 2011.

Art is perhaps the embodying of different ways of seeing, and without things to look at and interpret for myself, my field of vision would be much diminished. So thank you, art and artists, for  helping me see.

Passive

I can't remember where this photograph was taken, guessing Berlin 2010. 

I wonder what this means.

Paperbag Writer

To remember specific information during exam-time, I make colourful mind-maps with little drawings. On the one hand, they make me feel like I am preparing, and on the other hand I remember the information by associating it with specific colours and images. But mostly the information does not stay for very long, and now I have no idea what all the mind-maps in stored files and folders are meant to summarize. Sure, there are situations and specific info that we commit to memory, but mostly, we tend to forget.

Not this man though: Stephen Wiltshire is an artist from GB who draws skylines (amongst other things) after having seen them only once. In the video/ad, his sister says she would "love to be in his mind in order to actually see how he sees things". I assume it is because he is autistic and his mind works in ways we are not used to, but is that not a true statement for any being? I would also like to climb into your mind, Being-John-Malkovich-style, and see how you see. Any 'you' would do. Autism or not, we all see and understand differently.

Smoke without Fire

via Morley's site

I'm listening to some Billie Holiday and searching for good street art as a reward for writing today. Two more exams to go. I don't really mind when my knowledge is tested(haha that sounds slightly arrogant), these exams just feel redundant after assignments and presentations and so on. I'd much prefer everyone coming prepared, sitting around a round table (we're just eight people in the group) and then discussing the theme.

One of the articles was on how our perception now is based mainly on what we see, because we equate vision with truth, reality, objectivity and reason. But throughout history, people have chosen to split the body from the mind (Cogito ergo sum and so on), to make it separate entities. This is not the thing that interested me most though. The writer, Coleman I think, stated that the belief that we can separate our consciousness from our bodies (for instance Moravec's idea that in the future our consciousness will be downloadable to some supercomputer and we'll be able to live forever) is similar to the Christian belief, or probably belief of most religions come to think of it, that after death our soul transcends its earthly bounds, leaves the body behind and can live forever in Heaven. I wonder if it is not all just a fear of death, of not living before or after this, that makes us believe in both God and technology.

Here's more Morley, check him out on his site and on FB.

via the Facebook site

via the Morley's website.