beauty changes everything
Alva Noë’s book, The Entanglement: How Art and Philosophy Make Us What We Are, has garnered attention in both philosophical and art-critical circles. But rather than offer a review or summary here, I want to focus on a single idea that stood out—one that, I believe, reveals something vital about the power of aesthetics today. … Continue reading Reorienting Through Aesthetics
When we think about politics, we often focus on laws, institutions, or debates. But philosopher Crispin Sartwell, in his book Political Aesthetics, invites us to reconsider this narrow view. Politics, he argues, is inseparable from its sensory and visual dimension—the images, styles, symbols, and rituals that shape how power is experienced and understood. Not all … Continue reading The Look of Power: Exploring Political Aesthetics
On the IMDb website, the highest rated film is The Shawshank Redemption (1994). Audiences rally behind Andy Dufresne (played by Tim Robbins) and Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding (played by Morgan Freeman). When it comes to real prisoners, however, a stark difference seems more normal, as people adopt an out of sight and out of mind … Continue reading Aesthetics as Necessary for Prison Reform
The title of this essay is admittedly a mouthful. It's because I want to introduce a technical term in philosophy that goes back to the medieval theologian and philosopher, Thomas Aquinas. It is useful in understanding the beauty of performance, in both artistic and non-artistic contexts. When someone is well-trained on an instrument or tool, … Continue reading Performative Beauty and Knowledge by Connaturality
As the founder of Artful Banyan Tree, Bella Zhang stands as a pioneering force in the convergence of art and well-being promotion. With degrees in Psychology from the University of Edinburgh and Business Psychology from Hochschule für Medien, Kommunikation und Wirtschaft, Bella combines academic excellence with creative innovation. Bella, a certified Expressive Arts Facilitator, employs … Continue reading Bringing Beauty to Business: An Interview with Bella Zhang
Every year, thousands of people flock to the first public beach in America, Revere Beach (est. 1896) for the International Sand-Sculpting Festival. These are wonderfully complicated works that sculptors create in a short time, and they don't last very long. Shortly after the festival is over, the sand sculptures disappear. “SHELLter" by Jonathan (Jobi) Bouchard … Continue reading Fleeting Beauty
In 1961, the Sursock Museum opened, according to the will of Nicolas Ibrahim Sursock. He wanted to leave his estate as a museum to help define the public taste in Lebanon. Maru Pabón reviews a recent exhibition titled Ten Stories from the Sursock Museum Collection 1923 – 2016. It is set up as ten stories (or … Continue reading Lebanon’s Sursock Museum
The Urbano Project in Jamaica Plain (Boston) has a wonderful show by artist Constanza Aguirre, on view from November 9, 2018 through January 11, 2019. Her art explores the relationship that people have with work. What happens when displaced people are thereby prevented from working? Do they become less human? In my art review (see … Continue reading Review of Wandering in the Land of Oblivion
Here is my review of Temple of Mnemon, a sculpture by Anne Lilly that was installed on the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston from the summer to October of 2018. This review was published in Big Red & Shiny, Boston's contemporary art journal online. The opening paragraph of the review: Part of what makes us … Continue reading Review of Temple of Mnemon
Here is my review of Anna Schuleit Haber's exhibit Scientific Purposes (In which a murderous hairdresser donates his head to science, with one restriction) in Boston (March 2 - April 15, 2018). This is part one of a series for Big, Red & Shiny. For these essays, I review a show through the lens of a particular … Continue reading Review of Scientific Purposes