What Science Can Learn From Art

Outsider Thinking: What Science Can Learn From Art | Think Tank | Big Think: " . . . Raghava wants the spectator to be an active participant, he also says that doctors need "to leave the white spaces" for their patients to "take ownership of their health, take ownership of their wellbeing." Just as Raghava and other artists are using technology to enable participation, he says doctors need to do that too. This is a prime example of outsider thinking, or the idea that "the outside is also the inside," as Raghava puts it. While the various professions have an ingrained habit of constructing boundaries around themselves, an "outsider" point of view can not only break down these barriers but also pave the way for innovation across seemingly unrelated fields that are actually trying to accomplish the same thing. . . ."

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How the Brain Responds to Ambiguity in Art

"The images in art, like all images, represent not so much reality as the viewer's perceptions, imaginations, expectations, and knowledge of other images--images recalled from memory." --neuropsychiatrist Eric Kandel

The Beholder's Response: How the Brain Responds to Ambiguity in Art | Think Tank | Big Think: " . . . the creative process of the artist parallels the creative operations of the human brain in everyday life, a subject that Kandel explores in depth in The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present. Art evolved, and found ways to more deeply engage the beholder . . .This is a significant break from early Renaissance art that is directed inward. . . The Austrian psychoanalyst Ernst Kris studied the idea of the beholder's response very rigorously. Kris concluded that great works are great "because they are ambiguous." In other words, they allow for alternative readings. . . so while the artist exercises creativity in producing the image, "you, yourself, generate a fair amount of creativity in reconstructing it in your head and reconstructing it in a way that is unique for you and it’s slightly different for me," Kandel says. "This was a remarkable insight and has really given rise to the sort of the current understanding of what goes on in our head." For instance, what is the meaning of Mona Lisa's expression? The great ambiguity in the portrait lends itself to different interpretations, and that is what makes it a masterful work. "If you focus on it with central vision, which sees detail, you don’t see the smile," Kandel points out. And yet, "if you focus on peripheral vision, which sees the broad outlines, you do better at seeing the smile."" (more at link above)

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Knight Foundation names Carol Coletta VP

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has chosen Carol Coletta to serve as vice president/community and national initiatives, a new position. Coletta, former president and CEO of CEOs for Cities and current director of ArtPlace, will start the new job at the Miami-based foundation on May 6. She has also worked as executive director of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design and host and producer of the radio show “Smart City.”. . . Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/28/3311820/knight-foundation-names-carol.html#emlnl=Business#storylink=cpy

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Art Basel Hong Kong May 23-26

New-look art fair to draw on world canvas - The Standard: "Art HK, the annual art fair founded in 2007, becomes Art Basel in Hong Kong starting this year. The Swiss company behind Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach took a 60 percent stake in Art HK organizer Asian Art Fairs in 2011. The deal represents a vote of confidence in Hong Kong's continued development as a market place for art. The fair itself takes place from May 23 to 26. As with Art HK, it will be held at the convention and exhibition center. And, as in the past, the fair will bring with it a wide range of other events, such as panel discussions and interviews. The organizers are also planning a special kids' program. . . ." (read more at link above)

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Miami’s Locust Projects Spring Fling April 27

Miami’s Locust Projects at 15 years: new home, same mission - Visual Arts - MiamiHerald.com: " . . . The New York-based collaborators used the river of grass, an unmistakable Florida landmark, as their muse for the recently opened show at Locust Projects.The result: a collaborative installation of immersive three-dimensional drawings, intended to evoke the enigmatic nature of the swamp itself. Drawn from the Everglades will be on display through April 26. . . A decade and a half of projects that have made a mark on the community will culminate April 27 in a Spring Fling event that will bring artists and the community of art lovers and supporters together — the same mission that birthed the project in 1998. . . ." read more at link above

LOCUST PROJECTS 3852 N. Miami Ave., Miami; Hours: 10-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Exhibitions and many events are free; 11th annual Spring Fling is slated for April 27 at 1111 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach; tickets are $150.  305-576-8570 or www.locustprojects.org

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Love: South Beach in the 80's - Howard Greenberg Gallery

Howard Greenberg Gallery: "Exhibition in Howard Greenberg Gallery Two
Gay Block - Love: South Beach in the 80's
March 29, 2013 - April 27, 2013"

Snapshot: 'Untitled (Four on the Beach)' by Gay Block
Financial Times
This week LOVE: South Beach in the 80s, a show of more than 20 prints of Block's photographs from that period, opened at the Howard Greenberg Gallery in New York, where it runs until April 27. Houston-born Block, who began her career with portraits of ...

Colorful personalities from '80s Miami Beach
CBS News
Colorful personalities from '80s Miami Beach. Photographer Gay Block traveled to Miami's South Beach in the 1980s to document the lives of the sunny city's elderly residents. The resulting portraits capture the colorful personalities of Miami's ...

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Danny Boyle: Art, Memory and Multitasking

Danny Boyle: Art, Memory and Multitasking - WSJ.com:
In the fall of 2011, while director Danny Boyle was preparing his patriotic, family-oriented vision for the London Olympics opening ceremony, he was simultaneously shooting his latest movie, a noir-ish psychological thriller about an art heist gone horribly wrong, with a creepy subplot involving body hair. The unusual mix "allowed us to keep the dark side of our minds active while we did the public, responsible job in the Olympic park," says Mr. Boyle, known for his Oscar-winning film "Slumdog Millionaire."
Sinuhe Xavier

Forging Ahead With a Goya Classic
"Trance," which opens April 5, stars James McAvoy as Simon, an auction-house employee who, after getting whacked on the head during the theft of a £27.5 million ($41.8 million) painting, wakes up in the hospital and can't remember where he put it. Rosario Dawson co-stars as an alluring hypnotherapist who attempts to unlock Simon's memories of the painting's hiding place.In real life, the painting in question, Francisco Goya's "Witches in the Air," isn't missing. It's safely ensconced at the Prado Museum in Madrid. Mr. Boyle chose it for the film because he thought the figure in the painting's foreground—a man with a blanket over his head—reminded him of Simon, in that "he could only partially see what was around him." . . . 

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