Category: Art

Art and Science

book-cover

The last few days Ive been working on a series of blog posts for OvationTv.Com. Theyve got me framing some really interesting video clips related to Bill Iveys new book, Arts, Inc. The book raises some excellent questions about how we understand art.

At the same time, Ive been celebrating publication of my book. (For some excerpts find the Somatic Ecology page on Facebook.) I got a copy in the mail from the publisher today, and found a footnote in my presentation of the Galileo material that I always really liked. The quotation in the footnote is from Galileos father, who was a professional musician. For me his thoughts highlight that Science and Art share an ethos of clarity.

The sentence in the book is, “Galileo, who would spend his entire lifetime fighting for objectivity, was born to a family which supported questioning and intellectual rigor over faith in tradition.” The footnote is:

“Galileos father in particular clearly influenced his intellectual bent. Consider the following from his fathers Dialogue of Ancient and Modern Music which was published at the time that Galileo was in University. It appears to me that they, who in proof of any assertion rely simply on the weight of authority, without adducing any argument in support of it, act very absurdly. I on the contrary, wish to be allowed freely to question and freely to answer you without any sort of adulation as well becomes those who are in search of truth. [in Fermi, Laura and Bernardini, Gilberto Galileo and the Scientific Revolution (New York: Basic Books, 1961) 8]”

You sorta gotta understand the stranglehold that Artistotelian philosophy had on the science of the period to really appreciate the quote, but trust that his attitude was not common.

More another time, perhaps, on connections between art and science.

More from D.C.’s Creative Economy Study

I attended another Creative Economy event yesterday afternoon at the D.C. Economic Partnership. The Partnership works to build business in D.C., and they seem to have a mature vision. They are a major partner in the District’s ongoing Creative Economy study, which is assessing the existing creative economy (artists, performers, graphic designers, chefs, film-makers, web-designers, etc.) and will conclude with a set of guidelines or recommendations for future development.

At this point they’ve gathered the data, and are now figuring out what to do about it/do with it. In motivating both private investment and government spending the Creative Economy study could have a real impact on the city for years to come. The event yesterday included presentations by five panelists, including the Director of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and residents of Sunderland, England (one of the Districts Sister Cities.) Sunderland apparently has a vibrant arts sector, and several members of that community offered their thoughts on why/how that is. The Creative Economy study is gathering facts, but it is also gathering ideas. Yesterday was an idea session.

Here (un-attributed – sorry I forgot my notebook) are some of the ideas that grabbed my attention, in no particular order, and without any endorsement.

  •   Development aiming for lots of middle class returns, middle class jobs, v. development aiming for the big score
  •   Government instigating small business/arts business development instead of funding or creating
  •   Creation of a Sponsors Club for the Arts connecting business to local artists
  •   Creation of  visual artist/poet in residence programs inside the offices of larger businesses. Providing some stipend, office space, value-added to office culture
  •   Is export of goods/services from arts community the right measure of success?
  •   Creation of a Creatives Office Park, including non-creative, creatives, and artists work space — Innovation Lab
  •    Arts as part of Small Business community, period, and the bet on creatives as a sector for investment/support
  •   Creative sector aligning with educational and community missions – example of Gallaudet and the creation of a floor that produces sound everyone could experience. Were in the same world

Finding Flow and Sharing Weight – dance workshop Sat. May 30th

Social partner dancing, including ballroom dance, has become really popular lately. It is fun to just get out on the dance floor and dance. But there are two things that I dont like about traditional partner dance styles. The male/female roles are annoyingly strict and stereotypical, and you have to memorize a whole bunch of steps in order to actually connect with your partner in motion.

Ill be teaching a free class at Artomatic this coming weekend introducing a partner dance form called Contact Improvisation. Aside from being a fun way to dance, studying Contact Improvisation can help you learn how to move with grace and pleasure in your own body. For this class Ill be teaching a set of exercises on weight sharing, and another set of exercises on flow. This is an introductory class appropriate for all levels.

Contact can get pretty acrobatic, and extreme. Here’s a video showing two of the founders of Contact Improvisation – Steve Paxton and Nancy Stark Smith.

The acrobatic stuff they’re doing – the ‘flying’ – is enabled by a real awareness of how you share weight. You can share weight with other human in many different ways. If you are facing someone like youre about to shake hands, and you both put your hands out in front of your shoulders, you can lean in and support each other like playing cards making a house of cards. You could also then clasp hands and lean out from each other, sharing weight to make the letter V (coming from your feet toward your heads.) There are many ways to share weight, and to develop sensitivity to shifts of weight. Ill be introducing just a few exercises in weight sharing. Because weight sharing exercises can lead to balance points, and lack of motion, Ill be teaching a few exercises on finding flow. With these two sets of exercises under our belt well spend the remainder of class having practice dances with each other.

I’ve been dancing Contact Improvisation for fifteen years, and have enjoyed studying with a number of visionary teachers in the field. I love Contact Improvisation, and Im really looking forward to introducing some of the skills and ideas of Contact Improvisation in this class Saturday May 30th from 2-3:30pm. I hope that youll be able to join me; please feel free to share with your friends.

The is a one-off, free workshop Im doing to help promote the shows Im having in the Fringe Festival this summer. Check out http://www.dayeight.org for more information on that.

-Rob