Athanasius Kircher

Athanasius Kircher (1601 or 1602 – 1680) (sometimes erroneously spelled Kirchner) was a 17th century German Jesuit scholar who published around 40 works, most notably in the fields of oriental studies, geology, and medicine. Kircher has been compared to fellow Jesuit Roger Boscovich and to Leonardo da Vinci for his enormous range of interests, and has been honoured with the title "master of a hundred arts".[2]

Kircher was the most famous "decipherer" of hieroglyphs of his day, although most of his assumptions and "translations" in this field have since been disproved as nonsensical. However, he did make an early study of Egyptian hieroglyphs, correctly establishing the link between the ancient Egyptian language and the Coptic language, for which he has been considered the founder of Egyptology. He was also fascinated with Sinology, and wrote an encyclopedia of China, in which he noted the early presence of Nestorian Christians but also attempted to establish more tenuous links with Egypt and Christianity. 

Kircher's work with geology included studies of volcanos and fossils. One of the first people to observe microbes through a microscope, he was thus ahead of his time in proposing that the plague was caused by an infectious microorganism and in suggesting effective measures to prevent the spread of the disease. Kircher also displayed a keen interest in technology and mechanical inventions, and inventions attributed to him include a magnetic clock, various automatons and the firstmegaphone. The invention of the magic lantern is often misattributed to Kircher, although he did conduct a study of the principles involved in his Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae. 

A scientific star in his day, towards the end of his life he was eclipsed by the rationalism of René Descartes and others. In the late 20th century, however, the aestheticqualities of his work again began to be appreciated. One modern scholar, Alan Cutler, described Kircher as "a giant among seventeenth-century scholars", and "one of the last thinkers who could rightfully claim all knowledge as his domain".[3] Another scholar, Edward W. Schmidt, referred to Kircher as "the last Renaissance man".

BARTLETT GAD SHOW 2011

Gregory Crewdson

http://www.aperture.org/crewdson/

Gregory Crewdson received a B.A. from the State University of New York at Purchase in 1985 and an M.F.A. in photography from Yale in 1988. He has exhibited widely in the United States and Europe and is represented by Gagosian Gallery in New York City. He is Professor Adjunct in Graduate Photography at the Yale University School of Art. Crewdson's work has been included in many public collections, most notably the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. A retrospective of his work, spanning his career, from 1985-2005, was shown as a traveling exhibition from 2005-2008, at major museums around Europe. Another traveling exhibition of his work is scheduled to open at the Kulturhuset Museum, Stockholm, in February 2011, followed by Sorte Diamant, Copenhagen and c/o Berlin, Berlin, among others. Crewdson has received numerous awards including the Skowhegan Medal for Photography, the National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artists Fellowship and the Aaron Siskind Fellowship. Crewdson has published several books of his photographs including Hover with ArtSpace Books, Dream of Life with the University of Salamanca, Spain, Twilight and Beneath the Roseswith Abrams and a Retrospective book of his work, entitledGregory Crewdson from 1985 to 2005, published by Hatje Cantz. Crewdson’s newest body of work, Sanctuary, premiered at Gagosian Gallery in New York in 2010, it then traveled to White Cube in London and Gagosian Gallery in Rome. Abrams published a book featuring this new work also in 2010.

Marc Silva is a Revisionist Historian

On occasion, I feel the need to take the various themes that I am developing in my paintings and weave them neatly together under a single all-encompassing rubric. However, I was not having much success with my latest attempts at a "Grand Unification Artist's Statement" and was even considering the possibility of adopting an additional personality to take credit -- or perhaps defend -- those stubborn dangling tangents that refused to fit neatly into the "nutshell" I was attempting to craft.

Then recently I had an epiphany, triggered by a very unexpected source. This source, a voice I usually associate with mangled syntax and fugitive meaning, managed to lift my prolonged mind fog with just two words:"revisionist history." And yes, while thrilled that I have finally discovered a unifying principle to integrate my seemingly disparate interests, I do find the circumstances leading to my breakthrough a bit embarrassing. I mean, should I credit the master of this voice for bringing order to my world, this man who, along with his entourage, seems exceedingly gifted at mucking things up? (Perhaps they are like the trickster gods of mythology, slapping us all repeatedly in the face until we wake up…or die from severe head trauma). 

The exciting part is that this breakthrough requires me to adopt a new identity, one that may be more relevant than that of painter. So please allow me to introduce myself:my name is Marc Silva, and I am a Revisionist Historian. Welcome to my web home. And visit often, because things, you know, change.

By Marc Silva

http://www.marcsilva.com/index.html

BODY AS ARCHITECTURE CONTENT

1. INTRODUCTION


1.1 Body and Environment


1.2 The Tactics


2. Research and Theory


2.1 Utility and body sculpting


2.2 Unfolding Technology of dancing


2.3 Gaps between people and artifices


2.3.1 Dance, space and choreography


2.3.2 The Artifice


3. Design Project


3.1 The projective cast of shoes


3.1.1 Second artifice of Shoes


3.1.2 The Floating space:


3.2 Air protocell


3.2.1 body and Air


3.2.2 Emissive space


3.3 Dancing Venus


3.3.1 Light Sculpting


3.3.2 light Restroration


Conclusion