Radio Tania

'Tis the Season

WS Merwin just came out with a new book of poetry. He's 81, he lives in Hawaii, he has a gentle voice and he isn't scared of dying. What strikes me about his work is the brilliant balance and sensitivity to nature and the human emotion. These are two themes that seem potent during the "holiday season"—the dramatic weather and the changes it goes through from short days to longer ones, from colored leaves to white snow and the plethora of human emotions that come up during this time of family gatherings and suspended hopes. Here are a couple poems by Merwin and here is a review of his new book.

ANY TIME

How long ago the day is
when at last I look at it
with the time it has taken
to be there still in it
now in the transparent light
with the flight in the voices
the beginning in the leaves
everything I remember
and before it before me
present at the speed of light
in the distance that I am
who keep reaching out to it
seeing all the time faster
where it has never stirred from
before there is anything
the darkness thinking the light

LANGUAGE

Certain words now in our knowledge we will not use again, and we will never forget them. We need them. Like the back of the picture. Like our marrow, and the color in our veins. We shine the lantern of our sleep on them, to make sure, and there they are, trembling already for the day of witness. They will be buried with us and rise with the rest.

...

This week, I had several interviews all of which will be coming out in the next month. The first was with Jill D'Allessandro, associate curator of textiles at the deYoung. I interviewed her at noon about the YSL exhibition there, and the exhibit was packed. People just love fashion so much! And there were loads of kids. I wonder what they thought pf the conical breast dresses or if they could even sense a time when a woman wearing a suit was wild and socially unacceptable. I then spoke with Rudolf Frieling who is the curator of Media Arts at the SF MoMA. He put together and massive and magnificent show of participatory art, work that began in the 60s and was based on the participation of the viewer. There was a playfulness to a lot of the work and a certain humor, but much of it seemed to tap into some fundamental life lessons. One particular piece by Joseph Beuys, who believes everyone is an artist and that we have the responsibility to use art to instigate change, was an empty box and the point was that you got what you put into it. So true about life as well. Aesthetically these pieces are not traditionally beautiful but they change our perception, our life for a moment. How much more beautiful can that be. And they invite our participation and remind us of the importance to not just participate with art but with life as well. We can't just stand at the sidelines and watch life happen....we have to dive in!

 

 

Animation and its Discontents

I spoke with director Ari Folman yesterday. He made a film called Waltz with Bashir, an animated feature about the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and a particular massacre that happened at the Palestinian refugee camps there. It's up for an Academy Award and has won countless other awards. And while it is about this particular time in history, it really looks at the fluid and intangible nature of memory and observes how animation can aptly reflect that. We don't remember events or even recount events as static talking heads but they exist inside of us much like a dream does. That's what Richard Linklater was attempting to represent is Waking Life and I believe that is why he decided to make his film animated (he painted over the stills, Folman had artists recreate the stills). Folman brought up an important point in our interview which was why don't people ask the creators of Wall-E or even Bambi why they chose to use animation. Why is it ok for a seemingly light topic but when it comes to something sad, challenging, discontent it becomes another issue entirely.