🔊 I don’t want to set the world on fire…
Artwork by Atomoil aka adamhoyleceramics.tumblr.com
Red Things
Lecturing at university commenced last week, and the title of my first lesson was Social Dilemmas. The required reading included Immanuel Kant’s notion of ‘the unsocial sociability of man’ as outlined in Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View, and Clifford Geertz’s Art as a Cultural System. Two passages worth weaving together are:
Each, according to their own inclination, follows his own purpose, often in opposition to others; yet each individual and people, as if following some guiding thread, go toward a natural but to each of them unknown goal: all work toward furthering it… (Kant)
Works of art are elaborate mechanisms for defining social relationships, sustaining social rules, and strengthening social values. (Geertz)
Each student brought with them a ball of red wool/yarn, and they were encouraged to mingle whilst entangling themselves in strings, as a physical representation of The Red Thread of Fate. Other tangents include playing The Red Strings Club, looking at room installations by Beili Liu and Chiharu Shiota, and the performance art of Bea Camacho. We also discussed ‘that dress’ from the Met Gala, as an example of how an event can have multiple perspectives and interpretations.
Meanwhile, my charming nephew recently celebrated his third birthday. He likes roleplaying as firefighter at the moment, or at least playing with a fire engine, thanks in part to the Paw Patrol series. Observing a small child imitating a grown-up working in the rescue services, is rather poignant these days, and it was quite a relief that the boy was not as interested in being a policeman in blue, not because it isn’t politically popular, but simply because red is his favourite colour right now. Out of all the gifts he received, it was beautiful to witness the nephew particularly enjoy one small red marble, and a handful of red balloons on strings.
Scribing, Scheming, Sketching…
I’m still refining what a useful newsletter might be about. Like so many others during the first global lockdown in 2020, I felt compelled to spend my time writing rather than baking. I was inspired by Nick Cave’s Red Hand Files, and fancied initiating a craft project, where I commission creative friends of mine to make a unique artwork for each edition. Instead of participating in daily outrages and fratricide wars here and there, I thought it might be more productive to focus on cultural germination.
Here’s a summary of projects I’ve been involved in, that may be of interest:
NOAH’S ARKHIVE — These x5 podcast episodes have been curated from the contemplative, creative and conversational contributions of Host, a faith-based community, with roots from Jersey Island. Also called ‘A Digital Archive of Apocalyptic Memories for the New Future’, you can hear my voice, as well as a couple of personal contributions.
SCUFF THE AIR — My first published poem, which was playfully co-written (by using Metaphor Dice) with Rishi Dastidar, and featured in the Magma 78 ‘Collaborations’ edition.
YOHO JOURNALS — I wrote a couple of ‘letters to the editor’, which are included in HierAnarchy and Black Magic. You can purchase copies with Unfold Media, who also produced the ArkHive podcasts. However, you can peek at what I wrote here, albeit without the essays that contextualise my response.
HOT BANANAS — Full disclosure, my sound production skills are very amateur as I just used Zoom on my laptop, pressed record and then uploaded it on YouTube. However, if you ignore my dorky intros + outros, you might enjoy x12 themed episodes of a ‘Show & Tell’ that I curated as part of my wicked job teaching History & Context at Kingston School of Art.
CARDSTOCK — I cohost this monthly meetup for anyone who uses cards in their work, whether working with their own ideas, facilitating for others, making connections in complex information, or just playing games.
HOW TO COUNTER FUTURE — I delivered a seminar at Central Saint Martins, which is recorded via Microsoft Teams. The main takeaway is understanding how different conceptions of time and space connect with future forecasting. Basically how to be more of a Time Lord if we want to counter-culture through the ongoing complexities of here and now.
THE GALLERY COMPANION — I will soon be hosting events and seminar sessions for the paying public. Like a book club, but with art. Please tell your friends who are interested in learning more about visual culture.
IN REAL LIFE FAIRYTALES — I submitted a sketchbook, which is now available to borrow at The Brooklyn Art Library in New York! It can be found on their shelves with the call number 434.03-10. They are still digitising it, so will share that when it’s available.
Two big topics I’d really love to have more conversations about (pretty please) over coffee and/or whisky are:
METAMODERNISM — Here is an abbreviated, yet long read essay by former chess grandmaster Jonathan Rowson to start with. Check out these other brainy books by Perspectiva Press that I’d love to really digest with friends (‘soul food for expert generalists’).
UNSEE THE FUTURE — Timo Peach: “Wouldn’t it be great if we had the creative courage to imagine something a little more interesting and a lot more resilient than another boring dystopia. What if thinking like an artist could change the world…” / Welcome to MoMo!
Hi, I’m Rina. I teach a History & Context module for art students at Kingston University and I’m also a polymath problem solver for hire. I enjoy untangling situations by synthesising the strategic with the scholarly and sacrilegiously spiritual. [Here is my LinkTree, and I am on instagram as @rinabelle]