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Home » Ways of Seeing: the Iconoclast John Berger at the Confluence of Art & Commerce

Ways of Seeing: the Iconoclast John Berger at the Confluence of Art & Commerce

by Pier Marton | Apr 26, 2012 | Art, Highlights, History, Humor, Ideas, KeyFilm, KeyText, Media, Politics, Teach, Women

The 1972 classic BBC four hour series
– 40 years ago, still with a punch –
Impossible to purchase, except in book form which is like trying to ingest the freeze-dried ingredients for a soup…
This is a sound and visual event, a must see for anyone wanting to see behind the so-called high and low culture surrounding us.

See them all!
Dessert: Berger at 85 around his latest book, “Bento’s Sketchbook” (Spinoza’s lost drawings).

News & Olds

BREAK THE SURFACE
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To ride the unbalance* between:
1. excellence and a kind, singular and porous identity that contains some of the scruples, humor, humility, musicality & the beauty of a harsh and confusing, yet benign and rich reality – away from distractions.
2. the stupidity and blindness of complacency, violence, injustice, pretense, egos, short-term… wishful… and group “thinking,” and empty talk – in all of their surprising embodiments. And the false sense of fullness all of this provides.
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An appeal for a world NOT so caught up in anthropo/ego/euro/ethno/oculo/esthetico -CENTRISM.
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1. Beware of those who claim to be strong – they are often dangerous.
2. Unmask the hoax of “centrality” – ask an “EX-centric” for assistance?
3. Perceive the arrogance of normalcy: everybody, in one way or another, is handicapped… which brings us back to 1.
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*Not unrelated to “There is beauty and there are the humiliated. Whatever difficulties the enterprise may present, I should like never to be unfaithful either to the second or the first.” — Albert Camus