Yes, Saul does express his own thoughts but you, Mr. Berg, only pass on what harried journalists have written to meet a deadline. They earned their few bucks writing to the most general and least informed audiences -- to spark some wows or grunts and I respect that but why do you copy them to us? The folks who actually contribute to this list are able to chew tough meat. Everyone on the list would deeply appreciate reading your own ideas and words.
wc ________________________________ From: saulostrow <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Wed, February 6, 2013 3:54:55 PM Subject: Re: "...Being taught something instead of exploring it for oneself discourages exploration that can lead to new conclusions..." and there's a good reason for that - though my thoughts at time may be garbled they are my thoughts On Wed, Feb 6, 2013 at 2:46 PM, joseph berg <[email protected]> wrote: > On Wed, Feb 6, 2013 at 4:11 AM, William Conger <[email protected] > >wrote: > > > After the first sentence or so I was so bored by the article Berg points > > to that > > I gave up. I thought that this is only a redux of John Dewey's > > "progressive > > education" philosophy, or learn by doing idea. That was of course a good > > idea > > that was more or less the concept that later undergirded the Bauhaus > > curriculum > > and still inform the curricula of many schools world-wide. > > > > There are always several sides to any issue, including anything to do > with > > art. > > For instance, I like much of Jed Perl's writing because he is so good at > > getting to the heart of the decadence of contemporary art while holding > to > > the > > enduring ideals of high art. But I also like a lot of what his exact > > counterpart, Jerry Saltz, writes as the reigning champion of low art and > > popular > > culture, the cutting rawness of vulgarity and of all things profane. > > Somewhere, > > mixing the two together helps to locate the real condition of art -- and > > of our > > times. > > The same dialectic is true when it comes to creativity. The > > free-experimentation with an eye on a goal or problem to solve is surely > an > > important aspect of creativity as is the intelligent and practiced use of > > materials, tools, and rule-based methodologies. That's really quite > > elementary, > > isn't it? > > > > Berg's insistent desire to raise one side up -- always the most > > conservative > > tradition-bound side -- and to push the other side down -- always the > > irreverent tradition-bashing side -- reveals his aversion to the use of > > dialectic which is necessary to any intellectual search for truth. > > > > Saul's idea that seems to claim many 'discourses about art' each one > > embracing a > > tradition and each one at some great or small odds with the others is > > really a > > plea for a highly developed dialectic and, to me, offers the best albeit > > very > > complex access to what the art of our times is really about. It's a > > multi-faceted dialectic. I'd like to see Berg pay more attention to that > > level > > of thinking and much less attention to the daily deluge of journalistic > > dumbed-down re-hashing of well known ideas, like John Dewey's. > > > > Let's go to the thick soup, not the watered down soup of the soup. > > wc > > > > You always like HIM better than ME. > > -- S a u l O s t r o w *Critical Voices* 21STREETPROJECTS La Table Ronde 162 West 21 Street NYC, NY 10011 [email protected] www.21stprojects.org
