Wednesday, January 1, 2014

In the Zone

WEEK1-DAY 1 - Making things


1. SOUNDTRACK OF THE DAY

Stalker soundtrack

2. PLACES TO KNOW


The Zone

3. PEOPLE TO DISCOVER


Russian moviemaker Andrei Tarkovsky.
A poet in the cinema - video
Eduard Artemyev - the composer
The good news about Tarkovsky's movies ost  here


4. QUESTION OF THE DAY


5. INSPIRATION


How to deal with our desires? 
How to deal with other people desires?

Movie StalkerSolaris Nostalghia

A link to watch him talking about arts, solitude and life.

Franco Albini and Franca Helg 
silver Pannocchia. 

A link to Franco Albini’s (Mr. Pannocchia) website.

A bowl is something we need. But a bowl can 
be something we desire. Probably, it is both. Desire and need. It has to function (the organic ribs, guarantee its resistance and allow to have a very thin section). But then, its functional element, can become a very precious decoration. A magical world where craftsmanship, function, decoration, need, desire... they all overlap in one simple thing. (From the Course Letter)

John Cage: 
“If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all.”

To design, does it deal with 
satisfying needs, or does it deal with satisfying desires? Excellent design deals with the invention of new desires. The politically correct answer would say that design is there to fix problems and satisfy needs.

To think about design through some conceptual glasses. 
This week we will have to make a vase. A vase can be intended as something we need (I need a vase to
hold apples). But, at the same time, a vase can be intended as something we want, without a specific need. I would like to have a vase to hold some beautiful flowers. Is it need or is it desire? Is it decoration or is it function? Where is our vase? Where are we? Why do we do this? Design is to make things with a clear idea that those things we make always carry some meaning. We have to make a vase. If we do it in paper it means something. If we do it in steel, it means something else. Materials do carry a meaning. 
The same goes for form, dimensions, formal qualities. (From the Course Letter)


“Let everything that’s been planned come true. Let them believe. And let them have a laugh at their passions. Because what they call passion actually is not some emotional energy, but just the friction between their souls and the outside
world. And most important, let them believe in themselves. Let them be helpless like children, because weakness is a great thing, and strength is nothing. When a man is just born, he is weak and flexible. When he dies, he is hard and insensitive. When a tree is growing, it’s tender and pliant. But when it’s dry and hard, it dies. Hardness and strength are death’s companions. Pliancy and weakness are expressions of the freshness of being. Because what has hardened will never win.” Tarkovsky

“For me the most interesting characters are 
outwardly static, but inwardly charged by an overriding passion”.Tarkovsky

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