A very cute video: Leon Christian

This, one of the most watched videos on Youtube, shows the meeting of a lion and his owners. The story goes back to the 60s, and it set within British culture. A couple of friends tries to adopt a lion as their mascot and raise him in a city environment for as long as they can. The life conditions for the lion were not the best, besides there was always the risk of the lion acting violently towards another human being, as he is a wild animal. Considering this, his owners opted to move it to a place in which he could have a better life, an African reserve, where he would be able to live on his natural habitat and also relate to animals of his and other species. The video is very moving, as it demonstrates the link that the feline has created with his owners, something that casts doubts in many of the theories that state that animal are not capable of creating lasting affective bonds. It is a cute video to watch over and over again!

Environment

In recent times we have been able to perceive a greater “awareness” about environmental issues. Global warming has more and more become a topic of discussion in the past years, not only by experts on the subject, but by society in general. People have started generating changes in their lifestyles, trying to take care of their surroundings and the planet's resources. Personally, it has been some time since we started a recycling system at home. We separate garbage in different recipients, some of them for plastic waste, others for glass, cardboard, etc. We also choose to buy products that come in organic packaging, leaving as a last resort those who come in plastic. Another alternative we take is buying products in glass containers, as these can be easily reused.

Another way to contribute to the environment has been giving a greater use to the bicycle. I try to make as many trips as possible daily in my bicycle, thus not only preventing the air pollution that a car makes, but also giving greater importance to my physical condition and times and rhythm of displacement through the city. It is very important to make even the most minimal of changes, as they end up affecting our environment and creating a change for good. 

A Darwinin theory?

Denis Dutton is a philosopher and writes for the “Arts & Letters Daily” magazine. He presents the problem of the “experiencing beauty”. From his perspective, what is considering beautiful will have different appreciations depending on the culture in which it is appreciated, as will do the numerous objects, people or things that can be catalogued within this category (a movie, a baby, a painting, etc.)

The theory of beauty does not come, as one may have expected from a formulation of an expert in art or a critic, but from the Charles Darwin himself, who proposed culture as a determinant of aesthetic taste. The aesthetic experience belongs to the evolved human psychology.

This video is a good source for investigation on the beginning of aesthetic practices, as well as a good precedent for the coming philosophers and critics who researched this practice. Other, more contemporary authors that deal with this subject are Kant, Hegel, Danto, who focused mainly on artistic practices and their development.

In this page there can be found other videos about a variety ot topics, not just beauty. It is a good option to practice the listening of the English language as well! www.ted.com.

The last exhibition I went to.

Very recently, at the beginning of the week, the inauguration of Cristián Rodríguez's exposition at the Facultad de Artes de la Universidad de Chile (Las Encinas campus) took place. This exposition is set within the frame of the cycle “Tesis 11”, which corresponds to a circuit of shows set in the Egenau room of our Faculty by all the artists which graduated during the current year. The main characteristic of this shows is that they are both the showcase and culmination of the creative proyect that allows them to obtain their bachelor's degree in Arts.

This time it was Rodríguez's turn, with his work “Obra en construcción”. The objective of his work is to set in scene the processing condition of every work currently under construction and suspend through it the function of each one of the work tools that compose every scene. In aesthetic terms, Rodriguez's work seeks to retrieve the objective nature of objects, by using the "play dough" technique, a process which transforms the surface of objects by distancing from its referent only material terms. In this way cement bags, security helmets and mallets, amongst others, lay in exhibition at the Juan Egenau room.

The exposition open on Monady January the 30th and will end this Friday February the 3rd. 

About a news article in The Guardian

The Tate Britain art gallery is holding a very interesting exposition on the migration art of the British culture. According to the experts, British art is formed almost entirely by currents which come from neighbor countries, which have contributed to the constitution of various artistic topics such as its landscape, marine art, religious art, fowl and animal portraits, etc.

The typical landscape in Constable's depictions do not refer to the British outdoor, but to the Netherlands' landscape. The development of the show centers around the 500 years of British art and the argument that during its process it has been influenced by this fact, directly linked to the political conflicts in Europe. Most of the migrations towards the United Kingdom are related with portions of the population in France, Netherlands and England, which sought in different regions of Britain a place to establish themselves fleeing some war or conflict. The show is composed of various paintings that deal with the subject of immigration not only through landscapes, but through its typical characters.

The website is really good. It allows you to find out not only about the latest in the art world, but also in almost every topic. Check it out!  www.guardian.co.uk