Last week I was updating my itunes and remembered that I never uploaded Gorecki’s Symphony #3. In re-listening I realized there was some similarity to Sigur Ros. Something about the vastness of the music and the repetition. Sort of a lush modernist sound. Visually I imagine it like Le Corbusier’s Monastery of Sainte-Marie de La Tourette.
Doing a little Internet research I came across an interview with Gorecki about how he works:
Bruce Duffie: Thank you so much for taking time from your busy schedule.
Henryk Górecki: It’s a shame the day doesn’t have more hours.
BD: Do you always feel that you would want more hours to write?
HG: When I write, I don’t receive anyone. I don’t take calls. I have only peace and quiet. I have a one-track mind.
BD: Do all your ideas come from you mind, or are there times when the pencil controls your hand across the page?
HG: I don’t think there’s ever been a hand that writes or a pen that writes by itself. Even the great Bach or the great Mozart, although I’m not sure which one is the greatest, the hand doesn’t do it itself. It does what the head tells it.
BD: Well, are you creating the ideas or are you discovering the ideas?
HG: I don’t know. I write. I sit. I work hard. I work. It’s hard work. Really.
BD: Too hard?
HG: Very. Very hard. It’s very hard. It’s not an easy task at all.
BD: Everyone asks you for new pieces of music. How do you decide which commissions you’ll accept and which commissions you’ll turn aside?
HG: I’ve turned down a lot of commissions, and I continue to turn them down. I write only what I want. For example, there are some things you can’t turn down, like the Kronos Quartet. They asked me to write a quartet so I’m writing a quartet. Of course, they didn’t ask for a symphony. I’ve had many commissions for an opera, and also several for ballet. So far, I’ve never written a ballet nor an opera.
BD: Why not?
HG: Maybe it’s too hard for me. I don’t know.
You can read the rest of the interview here
I always love reading about how difficult it is to create. It is very validating. I come across a lot of creatives and I am baffled by those who make art because it makes them happy or something. For me, making art is difficult, with only small moments of reward. The execution is always very challenging and can be incredibly tedious. The outcome always leaves me feeling vulnerable.
I have a new installation up at the 301 Gallery at the Montserrat School of Art in Beverly, MA.
301 Cabot St.
Beverly, MA
Also accessible by commuter rail!
It is in the window, so check it out whenever you can. No need to worry about gallery hours or the like. Opening party to be determined…
Sadly this is the best picture I could take. The sun was setting in such a way that mucked up every shot. I will try to go back when it is darker to get a better shot. This is the shortest amount of time I have ever taken to do an installation. Usually I take a couple days to set everything up. This time I showed up a little before 10am, and I was done at around 2pm. Of course my superstitious brain is going overdrive and is convinced the whole thing is going to collapse on itself overnight. Since my work uses ad-hoc electronics I always live in fear that it will “break” or just stop working. It has been suggested to me that I should create a future artwork about this fear…
There were a few incidents that prevented it from coming together too smoothly. I pulled a couple muscles because a) I am really out of shape, and b) the space itself is only about a foot wide, so I constantly had to position myself in weird and uncomfortable angles. I also ran into some trouble with the staple gun I was using to put the piece together, and it was soon realized that my quarter inch staples were not big enough. So a last minute trip home depot was in order, which I hate doing in the middle of a project as it makes me feel really unprepared.
But! While installing the piece, a Guatemalan man came up to the window and I had a nice chat with him. It was nice to talk to someone in who actually understood what most of the text meant, and I felt hopeful about perhaps reaching out to the Spanish speaking community in Beverly.
Edit: I forgot to mention that this installtion is best viewed when it is darker out.
This semester I had the opportunity to teach a continuing education course for Tufts Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. I have two more classes to go until the end. The class is called The Architecture of Fashion. Here is my description:
Initially the study of dress or fashion is met with apprehension. Dress is considered too ornamental, having no real purpose other than to satisfy vanities. However, upon closer inspection, dress is deep surface. Dress lends a hand in creating physical, philosophical and social boundaries, all of which must be negotiated on a daily basis. In this course we will explore the nature and philosophies of clothing via an architectural lens, looking deeply into their parallels. We will begin by exploring the foundations of materials and shape and how ultimately these configurations contribute to our overall sense of identity and place.
This has been my first time teaching, and I almost feel sorry for my students as I personally feel so green! Every week I have a bit of anxiety planning for my upcoming class. I am happy that I may get the chance to teach the class again in the Spring. I think it will be much better and more fun since I have already laid down a lot of the foundational work, ie comprehensive lecture notes, slides, etc. I also have a better sense of who my students are and what they are looking for in the class. I definitely wont be requiring them to read the entirety of Mark Wrigley’s White Walls Designer Dresses, and I may reconsider the Heidegger piece on dwelling. I think both these readings are excellent, but I think my students prefer contextual historical information to theoretical and philosophical information. I personally love theory but I know it’s not everybody’s cup of tea.
One thing my students love is the documentaries I show and my slides. I feel somewhat conflicted over documentaries. On the one hand they are great and really show more insight into the fashion designer or architect than perhaps I can, on the other hand I don’t want to just rely on the documentaries to do my teaching for me. I really liked this little short doc on LeCorbusier. It was just what I needed. We were doing a lot of reading about him and this film really summed up his philosophies nicely and was only 26 minutes. I do wish there were more docs on fashion designers though. So far I have showed Yves St. Laurent: His Life and Times, which is fabulous. And Notebook on Cities and Clothes, which is about Yohji Yamamoto, which is very good, although Wim Wendell, the director, is a little self-indulgent when it comes to the way it was shot. I know there is a doc on Issac Mizarhi and I caught a little bit of it on cable, but I really didn’t like it. I am excited about the new one on Karl Lagerfeld. Hopefully it will be on DVD soon, or show in Boston.
