*‘Zoombombing’* info are now on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoombombing
On Fri, 3 Apr 2020 at 16:31, Max Herman via NetBehaviour < netbehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org> wrote: > > Hi Danielle, > > These sound fun, I will try to check one out! > > I think the relevance of Leonardo da Vinci and his fabulous integration of > art and science, indeed of all the arts and all the sciences, couldn't be > more essential for the crisis of Covid-19 (a virus appearing during the > year of Leonardo's 500th anniversary celebrations which I was fortunately > able to visit in Florence last June). > > How we build on and continue Leonardo's legacy may be crucial to how well > the planet will cope with the pandemic. > > Last July I got the strange idea, after reading a lot of Calvino's *Six > Memos*, Giunti's "Decoding Leonardo" edition of the Codex Leicester > (bought in Florence at the Galileo Museum's Leonardo exhibit), and a book > on Leonardo's library, that the Mona Lisa is itself best understood as a > work of network art, specifically, as a mindfulness network map of human > and planetary history. > > How did this viewing arise? It occurred to me on the airplane while > returning from a vacation in California, and was perhaps prompted by > Calvino's mention in *Six Memos for the Next Millennium*, in Exactitude > pp. 77-80, of Leonardo's highly poetic and visual description of a > sea-going dinosaur in the Codex Atlanticus, which Calvino felt Leonardo > used as "a symbol of the solemn force of nature." > > For whatever reason, either the Calvino, or my recent visit to Florence, > or my inability (on the same trip!) to visit the actual Mona Lisa at the > Louvre because we visited on the day of the 1-day strike to protest the > excessive number of tourists, I was really trying to engage with the Mona > Lisa on that flight home from California. I had realized that I thought > about the ML more than I actually looked at it, and should look at it some > more (if only out of respect for the artist on his 500th anniversary year). > > What I saw in my mind's eye, looking at the ML in reproduction, was an > interactive temporal and cognitive map. This was partly prompted by my > attempt to "meet the gaze" of the painting, not a quick glance but a > sustained engagement. To do this, I used a bit of mindfulness meditation > while viewing it. I tried to just look, without analyzing, for a sustained > time, say five minutes or so. I appreciated and felt how the ML's facial > expression changed along with my internal mental state or attitude, > "responding" in a kindly, admonishing, or neutral depending on my inner > sense of my own viewing agency. I saw this as a kind of mute dialogue, the > image being designed by Leonardo so that an intelligence or knowledge of > his own could greet and engage with something similar in myself. This I > felt to be a cycle, like breathing, not a one-and-done; what in yoga > sometimes is called the namaste or mutual recognition. > > This way of viewing the painting felt very rich and real to me, in an > almost shocking way. It seemed like a true step forward. So, I looked to > the background of the painting for clues. I saw the bleak and empty > landscape on the left background, showing the tectonic erosion as mentioned > in the Giunti Codex Leicester pp. 58-59, and a river flow as on p. 14 > (detail of the ML) and pp. 32-34. This of course also elicited images of > vortices of water, described in the Giunti thus: "The spiral is one of the > shapes of water that most attracts Leonardo (fig. 10), in his eyes it > represents one of the greatest manifestations of the power of water, > because the vortices can dig the bottom of the rivers like augers" (p.19). > > I'd known for a while that the horizon line in the ML background is > disjunct on the left and the right, but why? It appeared to me that the > main difference was that the right side was a bit more complex, but most > strikingly, it had a human-built structure: a bridge. This had to be a > major factor -- it was practically the only object in the whole background, > other than mists, flowing water, and primordial rocks. Then the visual > "shock" or rupture hit me, that the bridge flowed seamlessly into a vortex, > a twisting braid of the sitter's shawl, bringing me back instantly from the > mists of geologic time to the sitter's garment, then body, then face. > > This struck me as consequential. The sitter's garment is dignified, but > far from gaudy or splendid. It serves mainly to accent the hands (for me > the most lush and gorgeous part of the picture apart from the eyes), the > heart (simple and meditative), and the face. I couldn't have imagined a > more shocking and indeed blasting return to the gaze from an > almost-infinite distance in time and space. I cannot but confess this > changed my life forever. I scribbled on a piece of paper so I wouldn't > forget, and showed it to my wife who was watching a movie on the airplane > video system: "I figured out what the Mona Lisa means!" Whatever this tale > might mean to anyone else, it changed me irreversibly. In that moment I > came to love Leonardo and Florence, Galileo and the Arno, in an entirely > new and complete way. A friend and true kindred spirit, a colleague, a > companion, a teacher. Something like the sun setting behind the Duomo as > viewed from Michelangelo's piazzale, completely overcrowded yes but still > there. Both a haunting question and a generous gift. > > But I wax too poetical. The epiphany was beautiful yes, and with memories > of Cinque Terre truly helped me bond with the land where Calvino lived. > But like all epiphanies do and should, it faded and settled to something > more quiet. Was it real, at all, and if so, how? Was it a major load of > BS? > > I've tried to research this, to ask others if they can see these visuals, > or sense this interactive gaze. So far no luck, but the hypothesis still > interests me. I have found references by Leonardo in his notebooks to > science and learning as garments however, which to me is a fairly exact > corroboration. The bridge represents the works of art and science, which > clothe humanity, but are not to be dominating or prescriptive over > experience, which Leonardo called his mistress, witness, judge, and > champion, and which I believe to be instantiated in the intersubjective > gaze we can share in real time with the painting. To see it though depends > on our being present. This relates to mindfulness and present-moment > awareness, based on the cycle of breathing, a relatively new frontier in > neuroscience which I believe must inform our approach to aesthetics and to > history, the history of both art and science, if we are to truly progress. > After all, how could we possible progress without being present? 🙂 > > This is my speculative hypothesis on the nature of the Mona Lisa: a map of > evolutionary and geologic time; of the history of art, engineering, > science, and technology; an ethos balancing the human with the built; and a > directive for each of us to simply be present as our starting point, goal, > and locus of individuality capable of connective unity. This is a map > designed to help us balance, to understand, to help, indeed to heal. > > Therefore I see this map as a human one, a transformative > network-aesthetic process tailor made as it were for this moment of > anthropocene crisis that bridges the medical, scientific, economic, and > aesthetic realms. > > Very best regards and thank you for all the great work Leonardo does, > > Max > > Notes: > Calvino, Italo. Six Memos for the Next Millennium. Vintage, 1996. > Laurenza, Domenico. The Codex Leceister: Leonardo da Vinci. Giunti: > Decoding Leonardo. 2018. > > ------------------------------ > *From:* NetBehaviour <netbehaviour-boun...@lists.netbehaviour.org> on > behalf of Danielle Siembieda via NetBehaviour < > netbehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org> > *Sent:* Friday, April 3, 2020 1:57 AM > *Cc:* Danielle Siembieda <dsiembi...@hotmail.com> > *Subject:* [NetBehaviour] Invitation to join in dialogue, COVID Net Art > discussion > > > Hi there, I wanted to share a couple of important things Leonardo is doing > in the next week. I thought you'd like to join us. > > *Coffee and Cocktails - A Social Connecting Space in your timezone.* > > > They are on Mondays and Thursdays.* Here is a link with details about > times, <https://www.leonardo.info/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=489>* when > you register it will email you the private Zoom room information. Our next > one is Thursday morning at 9:00 AM San Francisco time hosted by Leonardo's > Managing Editor Erica Hruby. > > > I also wanted to make sure you know about and are able to attend a special > panel discussion for a net art exhibition sponsored by the Chronos Art > Center and Rhizome at the New Museum in response to COVID-19. We=Link: > Ten Easy Pieces press release and ten partner organizations can be found > here <https://www.leonardo.info/welink-ten-easy-pieces>. The artworks are > currently on the Chronus site here <http://we-link.chronusartcenter.org/>and > will soon be on the Leonardo site archived. > > > We hope you will join us for an interactive panel on Monday, April 6 at > 5:00 San Francisco time. *Details are and RSVP here > <https://www.leonardo.info/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=490>. We will also > share this live on Facebook > <https://www.facebook.com/events/643544219757375/>.* > > > One last thing, we are in the midst of collaborating with our LASER Hosts > around the world for a global LASER Event. We will announce more soon. > > > Best, > > Danielle Siembieda > Managing Director > Leonardo/ISAST > > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > NetBehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org > https://lists.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >
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