mere description

This act of “really looking” is deceptive. It requires an almost “unlooking” to see closely, a kind of defocusing. Because: We tend to see in groups, not details. We scan an image or scene for the gist, but miss a richness of particulars. I suspect this has only gotten worse in recent years as our Daily Processed Information density has increased, ... See more
Craig Mod • Looking Closely Is Everything
... See moreTaste is an abstract, ineffable, unstable thing. A listener to music or reader cannot truly tell if they will enjoy something before they experience it; pleasure in a piece of art is never guaranteed. So when encountering an artwork, we immediately evaluate it by some set of mental principles, and, hopefully, find the beauty in it, feel affirmed, e
What Eno likes about 77 Million Paintings is that he has no idea what will appear on screen, nor what aesthetic effects will be produced. "That's pretty interesting. But what interests me more is the way people experience them. My shows are not narratives. Nothing much happens yet people come and stay for hours in a contemplative state. I thought, ... See more
Stuart Jeffries • Surrender. It's Brian Eno
So the first one is this Japanese novelist, Junichiro Tanizaki’s 1933 essay, “In Praise of Shadows.” And this is a very small book, or a very long essay, in which Tanizaki kind of muses on his own taste, and why he designed his house in a certain way, and why he chooses food in a certain way or installs lamps in a certain way. And the point at whic... See more