Take That Step #28

I spent a few days on the beach near NY and loved peeking at the houses

1) I am always after reflections on “what is art”. I collect other people’s ideas on the subject. As the question has no real answer, I like to have several references to, in a way, create a scaffolding around the concept instead of trying to define “the building”.

Art is never in the painting you see or on the surface of the sculpture. Art is within you. When the museum’s lights go out, nothing happens there, but inside you everything exists.

This sculpture featuring basketballs mysteriously levitating in the exact half of the “aquarium” was made with the advice of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Dr. Richard P. Feynman. He found a specific saline solution that caused them to float like this.

2) More than 10 years ago I took a trend course with the genius Lidewij Edelkoort. I still remember what I learned in that class. One of the things she said at the time was that the next generation of young people would love the idea of anonymity — hooded coats and social media profiles without a photo always remind me of this “prediction".”

The other day she announced a class and already in the teaser I liked what I read:

INSTINCT: A/W 2026-27 - The time has come to embrace that inner voice which defines our most intimate and primitive instincts. To be rooted and conscious of all living beings, inclusion and belonging. Fashion, colours, shapes and textiles reflect these instinctive and ritualistic rules to protect and prosper.

EVERY ROOM IS A LIVING ROOM: 2027 Interiors & Design - This trend forecast argues that all rooms will become living rooms, whether it is the walk-in cupboard or the water closet, the entrance hall or the windowsill, the hobby hub or the family room, the lounge patio or the swimming pool. Giving life to all spaces, making life an exceptional style, introducing life to new designs, colours, materials and finishes.

3) Do you know what is ornithumancy? It is a common practice from antiquity that observed the flight and the song of birds as a form of oracle.

Ornithumancy was an essential part of the classical Roman religion with its priests, called augurs. No major decisions were made in Rome without augurs (and generally chickens). Here is a curious fact: the word “inauguration” stems from the Latin “augur”.

Ornitomancy was not limited to the ancient Mediterranean. Similar practices existed in ancient China, where birds were believed to be messengers of the gods, and in many indigenous cultures around the world, where birds are still seen as powerful symbols of spiritual guidance.

As I've been super into birds, so I loved it!

I think this little bird looks like good news :)

“Giving a compliment is a habit, you get used to scanning the other person in search of something positive. It is a training of the gaze, an ability to pause and see the beautiful and the good around us. A sincere compliment is one of those acts of kindness that soften the roughness of daily life. (use without moderation.)" via @ claualaminos

“The Dreamers”, by Bertolucci

5) By minute 11, Sarah Ruhl says:

Our phones give us facts, but not stories. There are tutorial videos on YouTube, Master Class, where you can learn anything, but people make videos of them alone, there is no relationship with the “students”. Then we lost a fundamental part of the teacher-student relationship. You can learn, but you lack feedback, presence, and example in real time. We will lose almost everything that is very sacred between teacher and student.