Thursday, February 25, 2010

The Art of Noise


The Art of Noise by Luigi Russolo: "To convince ourselves of the amazing variety of noises, it is enough to think of the rumble of thunder, the whistle of the wind, the roar of a waterfall, the gurgling of a brook, the rustling of leaves, the clatter of a trotting horse as it draws into the distance, the lurching jolts of a cart on pavings, and of the generous, solemn, white breathing of a nocturnal city; of all the noises made by wild and domestic animals, and of all those that can be made by the mouth of man without resorting to speaking or singing.
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Let us cross a great modern capital with our ears more alert than our eyes, and we will get enjoyment from distinguishing the eddying of water, air and gas in metal pipes, the grumbling of noises that breathe and pulse with indisputable animality, the palpitation of valves, the coming and going of pistons, the howl of mechanical saws, the jolting of a tram on its rails, the cracking of whips, the flapping of curtains and flags. We enjoy creating mental orchestrations of the crashing down of metal shop blinds, slamming doors, the hubbub and shuffling of crowds, the variety of din, from stations, railways, iron foundries, spinning wheels, printing works, electric power stations and underground railways.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Your turn #5


Here is the post for comments. Again, I wanted to stress the unique phenomenon of Art Nouveau as a unique fin-de-siecle style and how it mutates and comes back in different incarnations, first as Surrealism, then back in the 1960's as Psychedelia. 

Also, I just posted an big piece at m.bourbaki on Darby Bannard's 20 year retrospective at CVC in Wynwood, entitled Darby Bannard and the curse of abstract painting. I'd like you to pass by and if you feel like it, leave a comment. Darby is a professor of painting at the University of Miami.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Your turn #4

We are tapping on this moment of explosion of design in the history of Industrial Capitalism, which produces an insatiable demand for information: quickly-packaged, digestible, consumable, easy, optimistic. Meanwhile, the market forces competing between modes of production, are negotiating new technologies, all of which makes for a diversification of the printed form. At this point the media deals with all possible economic and social needs: news, fashion, propaganda, advertising, education, sports, special interests, erotica, yellow journalism, art, literature. What's your take?

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Your turn #3

How about the privilege of commenting on 300 years of graphic design history? What a gamble!