"Art is about asking questions that may not be answerable."
This was a quote from a John Maeda, the president of RISD. I was browsing TED Talks seeing which ones jumped out at me and decided to watch his talk. The subject was how art, technology and design are shaping leaders. There were a number of things I enjoyed in the talk, beginning with his description of how his teachers would say he was good at math and art but his father would tell people he was just good at math. My father never did that to me but I had a girlfriend who did that (as an economics major in college, I was also good at math). At any rate, one of the many reasons I refer to my relationship with her as past tense but I digress.
Also amusing was his discussion of the Apple II computer. We had one growing up and my dad (who has a side fascination with computers and technology) still has it, actually. I was also fascinated with it much in the same way he was. Aside from the passing amusement, I thought his analysis leadership of today as contrasted against the traditional model to be particularly interesting.
Traditional Leadership Creative leadership
One-Way Interactive
Bring right Being real
Orchestra model Jazz Ensemble
Community in Harmony Community in Conversation
One of them I thought was also intriguing is how he categorizes Traditional Leadership as being open to limited feedback with Creative Leadership being open to unlimited critique. It's not that I always viewed the words "critique" and "feedback" as exact synonyms but I've never viewed them as being so different as this particular context.
At any rate, as I try to look at how society's views are being shaped and changed in general (society's views change and evolve of time; it's inevitable and the question is never "if" but "how"), Maeda talks about one of the places where a definite shift is occurring. It's a short watch but an interesting one. Plus, the opening quote stuck with me, especially as we often seem to expect to either "get" art or have art that is this complete box that answers all the questions or whatever. Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it's confusing or we just won't get it. That's okay, we don't have to "get" everything just like not everyone will "get" everything we do. Hopefully we create something that gets us talking even if we don't get all the answers in the end.
I saw a performance art piece at Whitespace once that I felt taxed by my patience and my ability to be open-minded and appreciative of art in general. I was frustrated by it and didn't have pleasant things to say about it for the most part. But an hour or so after it was over, my friends and I were still discussing it. One has to consider it successful if it so affects a group of people. The last thing I want from my own work is for it to be forgettable.
I saw a performance art piece at Whitespace once that I felt taxed by my patience and my ability to be open-minded and appreciative of art in general. I was frustrated by it and didn't have pleasant things to say about it for the most part. But an hour or so after it was over, my friends and I were still discussing it. One has to consider it successful if it so affects a group of people. The last thing I want from my own work is for it to be forgettable.
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