Stefan Chwin talking about his book Freedom to write after Yalta Uses the phrase "architecture of fear". Literaryly nice, thanks to well-setched words immediately catchy and clear. Unfortunately, it is not entirely adequate for the fear that is splaying in our heads. Powerful snowmen swirl in them, deep swirls pull down towards the disaster, dark water approaches the mouth, flooding the throat. There is no trace of architecture in this boil, it would be necessary (for the reader's use) to clear these fears trembling from every news. But how? Thicken, drain, cut with a sudden ultimate horror? Specs from aggregates, assembly foams, silicones, reinforcements, concrete like steel will not help here. And even specialists in marketing and election campaigns. Architecture of fear It is a vision
Eight billion. Certainly well over a billion glances glued to the ball. A lot. Football statisticians are not enough, we need anthropologists and historians of civilization who can observe the changes lasting decades to guess where the symbolic chain will lead us, on which the whole spectacular ritual in Qatar dangles like a keychain. One day it will be listed as one of the symptoms of the solstice, shifting attention beyond the horizons established in the 20th century. Not only the ice shelves in the far north are crumbling and starting to drift, they are sailing to unknown centres of attention anchored since the 19th century in Europe. In addition to the "global supply chains" that we are so worried about, there are also chains of meaning. The latter decide the former, they form the key
For some reason, from the perspective of authoritarian governments, the gradation of the word student proceeds in exactly the same way—not only in the Western world and not only long, long ago (in 1968, for example), but also today in places beyond the reach of Erasmus (such as Iran and Chile): student kid, student, students, lots of students, a problem, a serious problem . It makes no difference whether the gradation comes from bearded ayatollahs, smiling experts who lend companies on Wall Street their solid academic knowledge, or generals of the Citizens’ Militia concerned with stabilising the climate of martial law. We need not like hippies or the naivety of popular culture from half a century ago. We should support the next generation of student kids who suddenly stop behaving and
Bar-do thos-grol , the Tibetan book of the dead is read aloud to the deceased (from the end) for a number of days to save him from reincarnation and birth. The world in which we live in this perspective is nothing more than a vast illusion. It can happen, it can dazzle and stun, but it's not worth going back to it. The end-different sensitivity formed the idea of the universal resurrection of all who have ever lived. To bring this to this with scientific, rational methods, in some Promethean surge of all united humanity, in order to stop the biological injustice of using the achievements of previous generations without revenge. To free yourself from the violence of the "blind forces of nature", but also from the believing faith in a transcendent, supernatural resurrection that takes away
Such cheerful tweets of research institutions circle the globe in hundreds of repetitions carried by thousands of comments. They cause sudden flashes in the network. We know artifacts from several tens of thousands of years ago (The Ishango Bone; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishango_bone ) suggesting that at least from such a time the heavenly bodies can turn our heads around. All the cultures we know have been closely watching what is happening in the sky, far beyond our natural environment. We know that a certain autonomy of the spindle turn is responsible for the spontaneous recognition of the "face" in the system of spots and contours in the image (FFA Fusiform face area ) in the brain. Apparently, it is more evolutionaryly profitable to see a face where it is not, than to omiss even
Some time has passed. No one can pretend that the war knows the limits, is going on "somewhere", using "certain" means, and during the weekend its intensity fades. It's time to consider what, for example, numerous faculties, institutes, and departments of Slavic studies in the Western world (especially in the United States) have done so far. The official name is most often Slavic studies Or Slavic studies , De facto For decades, these have been places focused on the study of the Russian language and culture and dominated by researchers dealing with Russia and often coming from it. There is nothing wrong with this, except that it is quite difficult to initiate a discussion about the imperial essence of Russia in this opinion-forming environment. This was the case when Czesław Miłosz was
In cinematic Łódź, together with Atlas Sztuki, we carefully follow Homer and Bond. Long, long ago, in the age of the supposedly blind Homer, the word skopos ( σκοπός ) meant ‘a guard, scout, watchful overseer’ (Iliad, 2.792), or an archer’s target (Odyssey, 22.6). Later, in philosophical reflection, it became a term for the aim of an action (Plato, Republic , 452e). A few thousand years have passed and little has changed. We remain ocularcentric animals. The cult of sharp sight and the accurate eye defines our behaviour and fascinations. To be ‘on target’, to be ‘accurate’, means exactly the same as to be effective, to be powerful. This is precisely why someone who is to guide others, a leader, is called an epi-skopos. Although it is truly difficult to say what otherworldly trophy might
Waldemar Malicki, a Polish pianist (living) and the host of an excellent music programme every Saturday on Polish Radio 2, developed the idea of the autonomous car in his customarily interesting way. He did so while reflecting on pianists who play boogie-woogie with perfect rhythm and dynamics. Malicki predicts that an improved digital player piano 2.0 will soon replace such pianists, and perhaps even those who play Chopin lyrically and Debussy chromatically. Malicki is right: why should the limit of our imagination in the twenty-first century always be the ‘autonomous car’? Why not the ‘autonomous artist’? Such bold visions of the technological future should nevertheless have limits. Try to imagine a completely ‘autonomous prime minister’ or president in a medium-sized country—thirty-odd
October is a month of deliberations and debates. Let's debate. Maybe we will finally be able to distinguish the Łódź, endemic genre of architectural deconstruction? Deconstruction carried out by the forces of nature. Some of us remember that Piotrkowski discourse In the city of Łódź has been going on continuously since at least the mid-1990s. It is as old as the Polish self-governing democracy. What, in addition to intellectual vaguity directs those who want to discuss "around Piotrkowska" remains a mystery. A short walk lasting for any two blocks on the street. Piotrkowska in Łódź provides a lot of arguments in favor of the thesis that it is a street of marginal-sentimental importance. Of course, sentiment is a private matter, and private property is supposedly sacred. The strength of
The same vortex carries them through the centuries, knotted many times more intricately than the Möbius strip of a school lesson. Trotting after images, we constantly find ourselves on the other side, somewhere other than where we wanted to be. Sometimes this circulation becomes as effective and efficient as a bone mill; at other times it turns so slowly that we cease to notice the change. We do so with relief, because aimless spinning spoils the spirited tale of well-directed progress accelerating along a straight line. Every few revolutions, a sequence of images appears that reminds us directly where our strenuous progressive labour is leading. We look at it as though it were a fairy tale. We rejoice at recognising the same little animals. We stand on our heads, prick up our ears and
Doroszewski's old dictionary as an example of the use of the word Kipełe Gives a sentence from Nikodem Dyzma's Careers Tadeusz Dołęga-Mostowicz. Have you already checked where the yachts of Russian oligarchs are moored today? No? You have to monitor the situation on a regular basis! Fortunately, there are several places on the net that will show, inform, monitor non-stop. Can you guess who will rule Russia? No? Well, they say that the Russians themselves do not know. They sit in silence in the subway in Pitr, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, they look at each other research in the marshrutki and still do not know. Sometimes, however, they will talk about this and that. About what, about whom? You won't learn this from Western non-governmental, open and secret agencies. This can be
What are we willing to pay dearly for during a multidimensional crisis? Unfortunately, at least three equally good answers must be taken into account. For light, for time (especially in the form of a short moment), for beauty in its abstract form. A 1969 painting by David Hockney was sold in Christies in London Early Morning, Sainte-Maxime. The painting was privately owned for over thirty years. The estimate provided for a price of 7-10 million pounds, the auction lasted six minutes, the buyer is also a private person. Hockney is the author of the most expensively sold painting of a living artist ( Pool with Two Figures For £70 million in 2018). Hockney's Early Morning, Sainte-Maxime at Christie's in London. Photograph: James Manning/PA Early Morning, Sainte-Maxime He painted from a
There is still a belief that art is an area where what is unique, original, unique most often appears. We hope that as a community we are not lazy enough to expect and demand that our ideals and aspirations be at your fingertips like products on store shelves. We began to follow the culture in our city more carefully many years ago in the Atlas Sztuki gallery, understanding it quite traditionally. As something rather antinomical towards the supermarket. As an area that demands the activity of individuals, even the simplest - physical like a circle with his hand, just as Leonardo told his man to do. And if not circles, then even a square. Why around art? Often on the eastern edges of Europe there is a tendency towards fideism, a surplus of living faith that is said to have already melted
"Marketing strategy", and maybe even an election campaign. You can take it at will, all you need is a suitable mobile app and the habit of showering every situation you pass with stars straight from the heart. Such a phrase, once it grows and recognizes it as a key word by the administration and local producers of law, can take on a serious meaning. Then even a large city in broad daylight can be dragged to the side of the day. It sounds strange, but have you seen the tractor pulling the tank? No? Be sure to like! You can park the whole city on this kind of side of the side (side?) What the one who currently clicks on the app likes. Of course, because of Rodo You can't expect the clicker to have to reveal personal data as directly as their own taste or imagination. It would be oppressive
Should people’s worlds be connected or rather slightly disconnected? Let’s look at an old etching. Allegory of Tolerance by Daniel Chodowiecki from 1792. Straight out of an epidemic of religious conflicts. Can you see this long lance by Minerva’s side (a personification of Wisdom and Reason)? Presumably it was a tool for determining the minimum safe distance. Is it time to get used to walking around with a hussar copy? No, it’s time to take tolerance seriously as the only sufficiently productive medium of any kind. This can be much more difficult than the martial art with a copy. An online tutorial by, let’s say, Don Quixote would be a great help. Body exercises can be extremely useful. Racial prejudice may lie in corporality, for example. Then “such unconscious affective intersomatic
At least in Polish cities everyone rides electric scooters this days. The weather remains Italy, it’s warm and the technology became cheaper. Young and old ones have discovered the charm of speeding. This is already a cultural shift. Law experts, according to their baroque nature, begins to write the bloated volumes of lex scooter . It’s time to embed this theme in the history of imagination. Where to start? From Ramesses II on a light chariot? From Hector and Achilles drifting to their deaths beneath the walls of Troy? Hollywood Ben Hur had a virtue so great that even Harley could hardly handle it. More like Eos in the pale dawn with a milk can bubbling across the still darkening horizon. Among the vestiges of the twentieth century ragazzi futuristi reign supreme. “At this point, the
Zbigniew Makowski is not only a painter, but also an artist many times more important for Polish culture than Tadeusz Kantor, who explains the world more deeply, more broadly, and what to hide here, much more interesting, for years he played with books from his brother USSR printed in giant editions. Makowski's books look like space after a big party, or the alphabet that just fell out of the air conditioning. What is slightly frightening about them is that after a while it turns out that nothing is a coincidence. Like any cosmos, they arrange themselves (of course only in the heads) into a logical whole. All his life Makowski struggled to maintain his own separateness and remind him of his free will. He draw signs that are not associated with anything, and in a moment they are acutely
May this be Putin’s last birthday as a figure who attracts attention or matters to anyone. Although, unfortunately, it is certain that more than one author will make a good living from royalties on analytical biographies. Their print runs will be substantial—perhaps a little smaller than those devoted to Adolf H., but possibly comparable with biographies of Joseph S. Let us hope that Europe quickly becomes a continent so dull and predictable that it will make business sense to produce a multi-season series about the nuances of the difficult life of an ambitious teenage thug from Leningrad, in an atmosphere as dark and fantastical as HBO’s 2019 Chernobyl . Each day, entangled in the media, we shall sit before the television. After work, before sleep, relaxed. We live amid dense
Recent remarks by Western politicians—Angela Merkel in Munich—confirm that counting on their understanding of how the Russian world functions may be a poor calculation. Let us look at old icons. They are patterns of behaviour, attitudes and actions repeated almost unchanged over the centuries, entrenching the fatalistic power of the stereotype of passively observing miraculous events blessed by the entire cosmos. Faced with such a vision of history, one’s own activity and opinion are unimaginably alien, even hostile to the sacred cause. All that remains is to keep our fingers firmly crossed that the next russkiy saviour and defender does not decide that the time has come to mount a white horse straight from the Apocalypse and pose as St George the Victorious ( Георгий Победоносец ) with
In Poronin in 1913, a surprised Volodya realised that he understood Ukrainian poorly. After yesterday’s bombardments, this Bolshevik failure to understand has been entrenched for decades to come. There will be no agreement. ‘Many kisses, dear Mummy, and greetings to everyone. (…) We went to a Ukrainian evening in honour of Shevchenko. I understand Ukrainian very poorly. We live as before. A warm embrace and best wishes for your health. Your V. U.’ A letter dated 16 February 1913, sent from Kraków to Vologda. More precisely, it is a postscript to a letter addressed to ‘Maria Alexandrovna’, signed ‘Your Nadya’, reporting on the inconveniences of life in Kraków. ‘Here in Kraków it is damp, while in Poronin everything will certainly pass very quickly. Volodya likes Poronin very much
The decision of the Nobel Committee on such a reasonable award this year Peace Prize Can be a great opportunity for architects, designers, declaring a professional interest in beauty to better understand the problem with using symmetry, looking for balance and harmony. The Łódź conference has just ended The beauty of architecture Dedicated. All the aforementioned qualities traditionally combined with beauty can be seen in the decision to "Salomon" reward the Belarusian, one organisation from Ukraine and one from Russia. Aleś Bialacki suffered and is a brave man, merits Memorial For Russian historical consciousness, it is impossible to overestimate and Ukrainian Centre for Civil Liberties Over several years of its activity, it has also done a lot. The problem stems from the fact that these
Neither we Polanie nor Wiślanie. Neither Roman Catholics nor Pastafarians with sprinkles. This can be clearly seen in the rather encouraging phenomenon of everyday language. Under the influence of atavistic fear fed by a drop in the average daily temperature, our native language unexpectedly regained flexibility. The wave of vocalization goes and sinks more and more new commentators, experts, journalists, media mists. These people are eloquent by birth, bright, endowed with a sharp wit, with irony snaped next to the microphone, even in their pajamas, one by one can not control their own larynx and voice apparatus and say with clear contenting this season's fashionable word: Wyngiel . What people living on the upper floors of glass-transparent and insulated social hierarchy, occasionally
Klein "drawed out all the parabolic lines on the sculpture of Apollo Belvedere, whose features are characterized by a high degree of classical beauty. These curves, however, do not have a simple shape and it was impossible to find a general law to which they would be subject" (D. Hilbert and S. Cohn-Vossen Illustrative geometry , trans. A. Dawidowicz, Warsaw 1956, p. 183-184). The authors also write that: "The invariance of the Gaussian curvature during bending therefore follows that it is impossible to apply a flat piece of paper to a slap of a surface with a positive or negative curvature. Experience teaches that in the first case the paper folds, in the second it tears". Man is physically bounded by a surface that "contains both points of positive curvature and points of negative
Most of us don't like to talk about the city in public. It's even understandable. We live in a city that counts on us. To talk about the city is to talk about us. But we don't want to... Maybe we should finally be told. Let's invite those who can tell us in the city. Urban sociology stops providing new data. Guessing the results of subsequent statistical studies on cities and life in cities is not difficult. The rankings of the "best" and "worst" cities change slightly, but the topics about which their residents are asked remain the same. Complementing the phrase: Slick house It is as difficult as predicting what the interviewers will ask. It is even more fascinating why the results of subsequent studies, carried out with considerable effort (
