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Semi-recent frequency illusion: Hannah Arendt

Hannah Arendt has been the subject of a months-long frequency illusion.

  1. A new friend described her research on biopolitics w/ a focus on Hannah Arendt’s work, was surprised when she realised I haven’t heard of The Human Condition and said I should check it out. Wanted to, but of course it slipped to the back of my mind.
  2. Months later, started reading essays and books by Joan Didion. Was reminded to read Arendt while reading Didion’s Miami where she dissects the language used by U.S. politicians and media during the Cuban Revolution.

    When someone speaks of Orlando Letelier as “murdered by his own masters,” […] that person is not arguing a case, but counting instead on the willingness of the listener to enter what Hannah Arendt called, in a discussion of propaganda, “the gruesome quiet of an entirely imaginary world.”

    Managed to at least purchase The Human Condition, got sidetracked again.

  3. Started reading Walter Benjamin’s Illuminations after coming across Carol Bove’s contribution to AKADEMIE X. The introduction to my edition is excellent. Lo and behold, it’s written by Arendt.
  4. Sam came across the origin of Life of the Mind as a name earlier this week, then this morning he mentioned a ditigized Arendt collection amassed by Bard College and currently making the rounds online.

Time to devote some time to her work.

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On dead writer besties, from the Hairpin

On Dead Writer Besties, by Alexandra Molotkow from The Hairpin

It’s like realizing that there’s a garden when you’d only been shown one rose.

See also: Hazlitt Magazine, “a home for writers and artists to tell the best stories about the things that matter most to them” (Molotkow is a senior editor); The Female Quixote by Charlotte Lennox (free on Google Books and Girlebooks); Those Who Write for Immortality by Heather Jackson (available via Yale University Press).

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Judd essay on function v. art

I’ll be your interface* is a recently-closed (shame!) exhibition organised by Roxana Fabius at the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. The exhibition featured recent work by Dexter Sinister and objects from the Marieluise Hessel Collection.

There was a talk in March at the Judd Foundation (NYC) about work that doesn’t make a “crisp distinction” between function and art, sounded interesting (see more on Dexter Sinister).

Required further reading since I missed the talk: Donald Judd, It’s Hard to Find a Good Lamp, 1993.

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Carol Bove on being an artist, excerpt from AKADEMIE X

One question is, how do you create a way of being in the world that allows new things (ideas, information, people, places) into your life without letting everything in?

Carol Bove’s work is currently part of the Carol Bove / Carlo Scarpa exhibition at the Henry Moore Institute. Sam pointed out a recent tweet from the Institute sharing the article linked above, v. glad to come across it and that Artspace was able to publish the extract in full.

Hope to get my hands on this book. In the meantime, see further extracts from AKADEMIE X on Artspace (links at bottom of Bove’s excerpt).

Incidentally, the exhibition is excellent, revisit it when it’s not quite as busy.

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The Fermi Paradox, explained by Wait But Why

The Fermi Paradox, explained by Wait But Why

Scientists estimate that there are over 100,000 intelligent alien civilizations in our galaxy—but we never see evidence of anyone. Here are 13 reasons why.

This is a fantastic explanation of the Fermi Paradox. The Great Filter concept is fascinating, but the optimist in me wants to agree with explanation group 2 because the possibility of us being completely alone in the universe is too much. I’d hope for possibilities 9 or 10. Possibility 5 is just scary…

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Ken Garland, First Things First

Look in to Ken Garland’s First Things First manifesto, particularly his reflection on its impact over the years, how it has or hasn’t been misinterpreted, the original signatories I’m not familiar with. I think there’s a bit of information about this around page 40 of Ken Garland: Structure and Substance by Adrian Shaughnessy. Haven’t yet had the pleasure of reading the book, but read a few extracts last night after Garland’s (great) talk and book launch last night at Sheffield Hallam. The Garland exhibition in the Cantor Building gallery is on until 9 November. 

Incidentally, the electric doors at the main entrance to the Cantor building sound like dubstep. Cannot be unheard…