Words from Matisse

I do not paint things, I paint only the differences between things.

Jean-Luc Godard

It’s not where you take things from-it’s where you take them to.

Does the water have to be transparent?

Equa System

A dialogue between Marco Polo and the Kublai Khan

Forse l’impero, penso Kublai, non è altro che uno zodiaco di fantasmi della mente.
“Il giorno in cui conoscerò tutti gli emblemi” chiese a Marco “riuscirò a possedere il mio impero, finalmente?”
E il veneziano: “Sire, non lo credere: quel giorno sarai tu stesso emblema tra gli emblemi.”

Da Le città invisibili di Calvino.

Digital and real

“One of the things our grandchildren will find quaintest about us is that we
distinguish the digital from the real.” —William Gibson in a Rolling Stone interview, November 7, 2007

After a lunch with a friend

He suggested that truth should be considered an emotion. Interesting thought, Francesco.

4′ 33”

Although often described as a silent piece, 4′33″ isn’t silent at all. While the performer makes as little sound as possible, Cage breaks traditional boundaries by shifting attention from the stage to the audience and even beyond the concert hall. You soon become aware of a huge amount of sound, ranging from the mundane to the profound, from the expected to the surprising, from the intimate to the cosmic –shifting in seats, riffling programs to see what in the world is going on, breathing, the air conditioning, a creaking door, passing traffic, an airplane, ringing in your ears, a recaptured memory. This is a deeply personal music, which each witness creates to his/her own reactions to life. Concerts and records standardize our responses, but no two people will ever hear 4′33″ the same way. It’s the ultimate sing-along: the audience (and the world) becomes the performer.

http://www.classicalnotes.net/columns/silence.html

There are many questions I’d like to ask you, Anita

Federico Fellini’s Intervista

Constructionism

Constructionism is based on two different senses of “construction.” It is grounded in the idea that people learn by actively constructing new knowledge, rather than having information “poured” into their heads. Moreover, constructionism asserts that people learn with particular effectiveness when they are engaged in constructing personally meaningful artifacts (such as computer programs, animations, or robots).

http://learning.media.mit.edu/projects.html

Supposedly the shortest quote in the English language delivered at a Harvard graduation.

Me, we. (Muhammad Ali-Haj)