Cleaning art to make it clearer alters the work in a way some find unacceptable. “If one were to suggest that a Bach Cantata should be transposed and reconstructed to make it ‘listenable’ to a wide audience, many would find the proposition unacceptable. The same might be said of remaking T. S. Elliot’s ‘Wasteland’ so that the poem would become ‘understandable’ to neophytes and school children. The situation surrounding a painting from the past is rather different in one crucial aspect, however. Re-writing Bach’s musical score for a new redaction or Elliot’s poetic structure for another less complex one does not affect the original text. The correct, uncorrupted text is still there and can always be consulted. Such is not the case with a painting which has been made more readable. The restoration operation requires that making the object more readable be conducted on the original, unique and only text itself.”
Category: ideas
Declaration Of Dependence
Much of the history of the world has been the story of struggle against the powers that be, a fight for independence. But artists can no longer delude themselves into thinking they are independent – at least not if they want to be successful. “She and he calculate, measure and double-guess their art’s compatibility with the rigid rules of the distribution of art, which dictate that art should be packaged in novelty and product-recognition or name-recognition, regardless of the esthetics or ideology represented in it…”
The Price Is Right? Wrong? Who Knows
The price of something rarely has to do with how much it costs to make it. Setting prices is a complicated psychological game. “Anyone who sells anything knows that price is the pivot of business, the ultimate leverage. If you can raise prices – even a bit – you can increase profits dramatically. If you can’t raise prices, you feel like your business is struggling, regardless of what is happening with cost, quality, or service. Meanwhile, anyone who buys anything knows that almost nothing has a single price anymore. Want to know the price of something? Well, you get back a series of questions: Who are you? How long have you been a customer? How much are you buying? How good are you at unblinking negotiation? Did you bring your frequent-shopper card?”
Envisioning The City
No one wants their city to become a sprawling, ugly mess. So why do so many cities end up that way, and why is it so difficult to reverse the trend? A combination of economic and political factors make for a wall of resistance against “building smart,” and city zoning codes and neighborhood objections (also known as the Not-In-My-Backyard phenomenon) play a significant role in slowing responsible urban growth. As a result, only the most doggedly determined urban planners ever see their visions come to fruition in American cities.
Clamping Down On Free Speech
How does the Digital Millennium Copyright Act threaten freedom of expression? “The DMCA gives corporations the power to essentially purge from the Internet what they deem to be copyright and trademark violations, usually by forcing Internet service providers to remove offending Web sites. The act encourages such behavior because the law states that ISPs and Web host companies can avoid liability only if they comply with copyright owners’ demands to quickly remove so-called infringing materials. Search engines are also liable under the law for simply pointing users to Web sites, though they too can avoid lawsuits if they cave to the demands of overzealous copyright owners by removing certain search results. Intellectual property owners can simply make your voice disappear if they do not like what you have to say about them—whether you are liberal, conservative or neither. This is something that was much more difficult in a non-digital world.”
Venice – A Theme Park Of The Past
Venice – it looks so old, so preserved, so of another time. And it is. But it has been a battle – between those who believe it should always look the way it looked and those who wanted the city to evolve. So Venice now sits a prisoner of the past – but not really. Like all theme parks, Venice must be maintained and restored to keep the illusions alive. “In 1966 a great flood deluged Venice, and when it was repaired it looked exactly as it had done. After decades of restoration it looks as well as it ever has. Its international audience luxuriates in Venice. But the numbers of tourists rise uncontrollably and the city is flooded with monotonous regularity.”
Is Stupidity A Medical Condition?
Is low intelligence a disease? Fifty years after the discovery of DNA, one of the co-discoverers says he believes that “low intelligence is an inherited disorder and that molecular biologists have a duty to devise gene therapies or screening tests to tackle stupidity.”
What Happened To Jazz?
“What happened to Wynton Marsalis? That may be like asking What happened to jazz? For twenty years the fates of Marsalis and jazz music have appeared inextricably intertwined.” But at the age of 40 Marsalis finds himself without a recording contract, and many in jazz feel that “by leading jazz into the realm of unbending classicism, by applying the Great Man template to establish an iconography and by sanctifying a canon of their own choosing Marsalis and his adherents are said to have codified the music in a stifling orthodoxy and inhibited the revolutionary impulses that have always advanced jazz.”
Parting Company?
“Companies have become part of the furniture of our lives. Most of us work for them. They make almost everything we buy. Most of our savings are tied up in them. Yet now the furniture seems uncomfortable, broken or downright dangerous. Companies are cutting back jobs and slashing pensions. Far from proving a reliable source of future wealth, they seem to be picking the money out of our pockets. Above all, many who have worked most of their lives in companies have suddenly discovered that they are curiously impersonal things…”
A New Improved Analog Future
The recent technology revolution has been powered by digital processors. But that’s not the future. “Weird as it sounds, the road to smaller, cheaper, more energy-efficient consumer electronics may be paved with analog technology. These circuits are built from the same components as their digital counterparts but suck 90 percent less battery power. The difference? In an analog device, each transistor acts like a dial, with a wide range of readings that depend on the sinuous fluctuation of voltage, current, amplitude, and frequency. Digital circuits, on the other hand, use the same transistors as simple on-off toggle switches. Analog transistors capture far more information, so you need fewer of them.” Look for the new improved analog at a store near you.