#21 Senti-mentally

School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City was founded in 1947 as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School, with 35 students and three instructors. Today, SVA is one of the leading visual arts colleges in the U.S., with a student body of over 3,000 undergraduates, 400 graduate students and 2,200 continuing education students from almost every stat...

Design starts with sensation. The senses, both visceral and intuitive, play a major role in the process of making a designed environment. Whether the result is order or chaos, the designer must think and feel using every part of the mind and body. Graphic design is not about following templates or formats (though so much of it is), rather it’s mo...

Many years ago while visiting the Picasso Museum in Barcelona I was struck by the comment of a young graduate friend who was later to become an art historian. After having discussed with me the salient features of cubism she rather abruptly concluded: «And to think that this idea that went into the making of the most sign...

“What the hell is it?”. American historian and writer Paul Collins’ literary travels, published in Italy by Adelphi, usually start from this question, which struck him when he came across some oddity found in an old book. A cultured, meticulous curiosity rooted in the need to understand what has been buried in and by history. To mark a passio...

Let’s take a closer look at a work by Sol LeWitt, a great artist who has just left us, whose legacy to the world was the idea of art as a concept. But a concept in what sense? For example, you take a point and slide it towards the end of a given quadrangle. Another point, sliding in the opposite direction, will define a partly closed space w...

illy will be present at the international art exhibition of the Venice Biennale for the fourth time. THINK WITH YOUR SENSES, FEEL WITH YOUR MIND. ART IN THE PRESENT. Is the title of the 52nd International Art Exhibition curated by Robert Storr and organised by the Venice Biennale chaired by Davide Croff. Installed at the Arsenale and Giardini, it...

After graduating in architecture from Turin Polytechnic, in 1947 Ettore Sottsass jr. (Innsbruck, 1917) began working in Milan, where he opened his first design studio. Son of an architect and an architect himself, from the start he backed up his formal education and training with practical experiences in the visual arts field, trying out his ar...

In front a cup of coffee. “I learnt to paint like Raphael, now I have to learn to draw like a child.” Pablo Picasso I’ve often wondered whether art and life are really related. Some artists have indeed turned their lives into their best work of art. But what a price some have had to pay for their commitment and approach to life! Oscar...

Over the years, I’ve developed the firm belief that there are similarities between the purpose of a company’s life and that of an individual. They both aspire to that kind of happiness which Aristotle called “eudaimonia”, the perfect union between physical and intellectual pleasures. I think that if this idea can apply to all businesses, it...

Odifreddi, you’re known to be a scientist with a strong penchant for art and music. Is there any room for intuition in the scientific profession? In any field it takes time for intellectual capacities to grow and develop fully. I’d say it’s the usual ninety percent perspiration and ten percent inspiration, but in science that ten percent is...

In front a cup of coffee. For me, the expression of emotion is never calculated. I’ll wager that emotion is always there if the work is motivated by pleasure and desire. Since I often have too many ideas or desires, I usually start each project with endless lists, which I then cut into little strips and arrange in order of preference to make ...