NEu Tymes Vol.51

SPRING MARCH VOL.51

2015

A Free Online publication about humans and their achievemEnts

>

E D I T O R I A L

I

t needs a lot of work to turn from winter into spring, to turn the sun by your side. But NEu Tymes are for everyone and that makes it a good deal for each that relaxing noons and hangouts is a way of living or feeder.

Long, comfy with all the proper material about art, design and photography specials.

Really landed on the right editing. Circles are mde to be drawn at their whole and NEu Tymes from this issue starts an other one till the end.

Everybody loves the sunshine after all. It's how you work to reach the result not just the end of it.

Enjoy & have a nice read!

CONTRIBUTORS Pygmalion Karatzas Archit ect Phot ographer Phot o edit or

>

Nassia Kapa

Phot ographer Phot o Edit or

>

Petros Vasiadis

NEU TYMES'

Design & Publishing

I N S I D E Vol.51 Read about Candyfall by Cat Madeira, How Noowit is changing the way we get informed and inform others, Pollock by a ma, Nรกdia Maria's

Photography,

24hrs

Protection by Andre Peixoto and Pygmalion Karatzas' Zen & Photography

a ma Voxel Gonzo Berlin, Germany

www.andreasmartini.com

Pollock

Art Direction, Digital Art, Typography "New needs need new techniques. And the modern artists have found new ways and new means of making their statements... the modern painter cannot express this age, the airplane, the atom bomb, the radio, in the old forms of the Renaissance or of any other past culture."

-J. Pollock "I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image... because the painting has a life of its own."

- Jackson Pollock Source Copyright Info

M edia

M ade

How Noowit is changin we get informed and inf

S mar Τ

ng the way form others

T

he Mass Media we are

to the transition from Mass Media

accustomed

ignore

to truly Personalized Social Media.

us. They use a vertical

Its goal is to develop technologies

model

and offer services that facilitate

their

to

to

communicate

message.

In

the

the

creation

know

of content is delivered to everyone

is core lies an innovative Artificial

at

Intelligence

time

Newspapers

indiscriminately.

package

the

same

learning

us

that

us

same

respect

media

case of television, a single stream the

and

of

personally.

core,

what

each

At

capable

of

individual

(or

collection of articles into a single

group of individuals) likes. Content

common issue for all readers. What

is

is

is

multiple and evolving interests of

editors

each one of us and is presented

to

be

decided with

a

broadcast

by

or

managers

single

goal,

printed

and

to

appeal

to

then

filtered

appropriately

so

according

we

to

can

the

easily

the masses and attract advertisers

discover the content that matters.

and

their

money.

They

who

each

of

is.

us

don’t

They

do

care not

Information

Web’s

most

overload

inherent

is

the

problem.

The

take into account our interests and

Web has liberated the creation and

information needs. In most cases the

dissemination

information they deliver does not

in doing so it has created a bulk.

help us improve our lives, become

Most

better at our work, or our hobby,

online via email, blogs, tweets and

discover creations (paintings, music,

facebook

photos, designs etc.) that will inspire

our personal interests and in many

us and prompt our creativity.

cases of bad taste. In our effort

to

Noowit

wants

to

contribute

of

distill

the

of

content

posts

the

information,

is

cool

we

but

receive

irrelevant

content

to

from

the rest we consume valuable time

its

and mental effort. As a result we

and its effort to make us smarter

end up consuming only fast food

by

content

anything

that is relevant to our interests and

basically

information needs. Content that helps

losing out on the positive premise

us become better at our work or our

of the web as a new medium that

hobbies.

could

educates.

more

and

we

elaborate.

help

avoid

We

are

us become individually

Artificial Intelligence (AI) core providing

us

with

Content

that

the

content

informs

and

and collectively smarter. Instead we

All

that

are creating a hyper-mass culture

you

is

to

where anything light, funny, extreme

sources of information (i.e., the sites

or shocking goes viral and takes

and blogs you like to read), or your

over the cyberspace.

favorite

Noowit

choose

requires

your

from

favorite

#hashtags (i.e., the topics you

like to read about). Noowit aggregates Media that Knows You

all related articles in real-time and

Now imagine οnline Media that somehow

evaluates

knows us.

multiple

cut the noise and tackle

them and

according evolving

to

your

interests.

information overload on our behalf.

According

to

Media that make sense out of web’s

evaluation

Noowit

information glut and suggest the best

highlight the best articles for you.

content for us, without necessarily

You can teach Noowit what you like

making us narrow minded.

by clicking on the love icon whenever

The

name

"Noowit"

the

results can

of

this

choose

and

combines

you find something interesting or by

the Greek word “noo” which means mind

just sharing those interesting articles.

and the word “wit”, to account both for

Noowit’s Editions Noowit uses his unique AI core, combined with innovative page editing algorithms to produce online

publications

edited

specifically

for

you. So far there are two such publications and more are coming soon.

The Stream is essentially a personalized news aggregator. All the content from your favorite sources is presented in the form of a magazine with pages ordered chronologically from the newest to the older articles. All articles are presented indiscriminately, but within

each

page

each

article

occupies

space proportional to its relevance to the reader’s

interests.

What

is

important

for

the reader becomes large and everything else small, so you can easily focus on the content that matters and avoid the noise that accompanies it. If you wish you can even activate The Stream’s

content

filter

and only receive a percentage of the most interesting articles.

The Daily is a

for

surrogate of the best articles

you, out of those published the last

All those fluid, self-organizing programs tracking our tastes and interests, and measuring them against the behavior of larger populations, these programs are the beginning of a progression that will, in a matter of years, lead to a world where we regularly interact with media that seems to know us in some fundamental way. Software will recognise our habits, anticipate our needs, adapt to our changing moods. The first generation of emergent software displayed a captivatingly organic quality; they seemed more like life-forms than the sterile instruction sets and command lines of early code. The next generation will take that organic feel one step further: the new software will use the tools of self-organisation to build models of our own mental states. These programs won't be self-aware, and they won't pass any Turing tests, but they will make the media experience we've grown accustomed to seem autistic in comparison. They will be mind readers.

Steven Jonson "Emergence" (2002)

twenty four hours by your favorite

or be assigned your private URL. You

sources, or about your favorite topics

can use it privately to save articles

(hashtags). Out of possibly hundreds

you wish to read later at your spear

of

and

time or publicly to share your passion

chooses the most interesting so you

or expertise with friends, colleagues,

never miss anything out.

customer and employees.

Become a Noowit Editor

Noowit’s History & Future

articles,

You

can

Noowit

use

evaluates

Noowit

both

as

a

Noowit

is

based

on

ten

years

of

reader, but also as a content creator

research, but its development started

or

curator.

blogger,

in September 2011 by Nikolaos Nanas

a

journalist,

even

a

and

company, you can use Noowit to easily

the

publish your own personal magazine

despite the difficulties and the lack

with content you collect or produce.

of funding they still move forward

Use the Magit button and bookmarklet

towards

If

you

an

are

a

expert

or

Christos

team

has

a

Spiliopoulos. five

new

Today

members

media

and

landscape.

add anything you find on the web

They are working hard to make you a

to your personal Noowit magazine.

happy reader, blogger and publisher.

to

With

Noowit’s

Authoring

recently

released

Tool, you can also write

your own original articles with all the necessary formating and ingredients (images, slideshows, video and music).

Your personal magazine has a unique address and if required it can be

embedded

in

your

personal

site,

Cat Madeira Designer Nottingham, United Kingdom

catmadeira.wix.com/design

Candyfall

Furniture Design, Product Design, Sculpting Winning entry for the Nottingham City Council competition to design an artefact or sculpture for John Farr rest garden. Inspired by everyday objects and kistch culture i designed the giant liquorice allsorts made of fibreglass. People are able to sit and enjoy them. A fun colour splash was added to this small grass patch in the city centre.

Source Copyright Ιnfο

Nรกdia Maria

Nadia is a poetic soul in the body of a talented photographer.

Her work embodies elements of another world, her figures come out fairy land and poems written

by Silvia Plath and sounds of Coco Rosie.

Bio/About Nádia

Maria,

born

photographer She

started

in

living to

1984, in

is

a

Bauru,

photograph

Brazilian

São as

Paulo.

a

child.

She can be dark and

Over the years she explored and studied

colourful, sweet and

photography, having studied Photography

rough, embracing

at Senac – Brazil. Her’s relationship with

human morality in

the camera and the images she captures

an eternal world of stardust, silent angels and flowery patterns.

Nadia is a photographer who experiments with wordless communication and she has a lot to share and say.

were

also

born

in

her

childhood,

but

it

became stronger in the youth, becoming her

personal

journal

transformations

that

of she

feelings went

and

through

in her life. The focus of her inspiration is

at

poetry,

music,

her

unconscious.

And is her writing, her intimate feelings, the

darkness

and

the

light

of

her

life.

Nassia Kapa pages: http://www.nadiamaria.com https://www.facebook.com/nmphoto.fotografia http://transparessencia.tumblr.com/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/transparessencia

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Ze &

photo

en

ography

+ Rock gardens I, Diakofto Greece, 2012

+ Rock gardens II, Diakofto Greece, 2012

"I

n a society that assures us that more is better, it’s not always easy to trust that we have enough, that we are enough.

We have to cut through the illusion that abundance is security, and trust that we don’t have to buffer ourselves against reality. If we have learned to trust abundance, we can learn to trust simplicity."

- John Daido Loori, ‘The Zen of creativity’ "What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral. Become a light bulb instead of a laser beam.

Striving for excellence usually entails the sacrifice of everything in the background for the sake of attending to the all-important foreground. Find the meaning of everything around, instead of just what you are directly facing."

- John Maeda, ‘The laws of simplicity’ Many past and present photographers have talked about and shown a connection between photography and Zen. From past masters, Ralph Eugene Meatyard is such an example. Contemporary photographers who show a zen aesthetic in their work include: Gregory Colbert, Michael Kenna, Michael Levin, David Burdeny, Nathan Wirth, John Kosmopoulos, Andy Ilachinski, Marc Citret - to name but a few. Some more directly through their own study and intuition and others

indirectly through the impression their work has on viewers.

Two sides can be considered in this regard: the perspective of the artist’s approach towards a zen aesthetic and - the perspective of Zen’s approach towards the photographic act.

This article tries to bring some light to the latter and by doing so, initiate a deeper dialogue among the two.

During Meatyard's time Zen was just beginning to enter into the west. Since then considerable steps have been made in further understanding this tradition and it’s relationship with the arts. One of the books that captures this is John Daido Loori’s ‘The Zen of creativity: cultivating your artistic life’. Loori studied chemistry but then became a student of Minor White. He received shido from Taizan Maezumi and became a Zen Buddhist roshi. He founded the Zen Mountain Monastery in New York. He has written 14 books on Zen and it’s relationship with the arts and his photographs have been exhibited in many galleries and media like NBC, CBS, CNN, Time, Newsweek.

In his book Loori explains the basic principles of the Zen aesthetic as they relate to the artistic expression:

1. The role of the ‘still point’ in the creative process: The still point is at the heart of the creative process. In Zen we access it through zazen meditation. To be still is to create a state of consciousness that is open and receptive.

It is very natural and uncomplicated. It’s not ‘esoteric’ in any way. Yet it’s incredibly profound. The first step to access the still point is through single-pointedness of mind which builds our concentration (in Japanese Zen called ‘joriki’, the power of concentration). Joriki taps into our physical, mental and emotional reserves and opens our spiritual capacities. One way that our spiritual power begins to manifest is through the emergence of the intuitive aspect of our consciousness.

Single-pointed concentration develops our intuition. We become more directly aware of the world. It’s a fruition that comes after discipline and repetitive practice just like any other learning process. It’s a way of being. All our senses become open, alert, free of tension and receptive. If this state can be cultivated in your being and in your life, then it will be present in your art.

+ Reflections I, Selianitika Greece, 2012

2. Seeing with the whole body-mind: Whole body-mind seeing is the total merging of subject and object, of seer and seen, of self and other. In that state ‘form is no other than emptiness and emptiness no other that form’. It also means the ability to experience things directly without evaluation, interpretation, intellectualization, labeling, judging, criticizing. It also means paying full attention to any activity, being in the moment. It means mindfulness in the daily activities.

+ Reflections II, Doxa Greece, 2013

3. The basic elements of the creative process: Each artist expresses through art his unique way of experiencing life. Before engaging the creative process it is helpful to understand some of the basic elements that are functioning in it: a. Inspiration and intuition - that inside us which wants to be expressed. b. Hara - the place within us that is still and grounded. This still point allows our inspiration and intuition to clarify itself and develop into creativity. Zazen cultivates exactly this. c. Chi or energy - the energy contained both in us and in the subject. Out of this connection emerges the resonance between artist and subject. Chi is the vital energy that gives life to all our creations in every sense. Chi is the communicative link between artist and subject. d. The act of expression. e. Editing (and ‘letting go’ by moving on)

+ Shinning through I, Akoli Greece, 2013

4. ‘Jeweled mirror’ (loving-sight and creative feedback): Creative feedback helps us find out the impression that our work has on the audience and evaluate the extend that it relates to our intentions. But as we have seen that there is a particular state of consciousness for seeing the subject and creating art, it is emphasized here that the same is valid for the act of perception of art. Perception coming from the still point. Look with undivided manner. Let the object become your contemplation. Concentrate your whole attention on this one act of loving-sight. Exclude all other objects from your conscious field. Do not intellectualize for a while what you see. Pour out your personality towards it. Let your soul be in your eyes. Merge with the subject in an act of true and unobstructed communion. This kind of feedback requires a deep sense of trust between the giver and the receiver. When established it acts as a doorway to insight. Anything we create in life can be a powerful teacher and a key element that enables this to happen is creative feedback. It is important to express feelings and not ideas, criticisms or opinions. But there is another important step after the feedback which again has to do with our own state of consciousness. We need to train ourselves to draw out the information the audience is giving us. Creative feedback is like a guided meditative way of experiencing art.

+ Shinning through II, Patra Greece, 2013

5. Barriers:

One crucial barrier in artistic expression is that of originality.

There is difference between trying to be different and being original. The first is more goal and ego oriented and ultimately sets us apart from each other. The second is a deeper and honest commitment in discovering our inner selves and ultimately brings us closer to each other. Also the difference in this process brings the extraordinary out of the ordinary. In Zen arts and practice this is achieved by repetitive practice of simple tasks. You may be asked to photograph leaves or trees or rocks. You do that again and again many times and with this process the student develops skills, freedom and trust in themselves and without any conscious effort on their part, their own uniqueness or originality begins to appear by itself.

You don’t ‘try’ to shout differently just for the sake of not being trivial. You keep on shouting until you feel your inner being has been expressed gently in this simple task. When we look at such art we immediately notice the ordinariness and the extraordinariness at the same time and this is what makes it special and unique. Another barrier can be: knowing too much / too little, our attachment to our own creations, being too affected by our teachers or the great photographers that we have studied and love. In order to work with a barrier you have to become intimate with it. But usually these barriers are our blind spots and that’s why creative feedback is valuable.

Art koans are a unique way of addressing our barriers. We can actively take up our barriers as art koans.

+ Enso games, Patra Greece, 2013

6. The ‘Artless arts’ (the Zen aesthetic): Since the 60ies when Zen started to become popular in the West, art historians other commentators have given various definitions to this particular aesthetic. The basic working experience of people doing Zen is that as meditation deepens, a particular kind of energy and awareness develops which ultimately leads to the state called ‘no-mind’ or ‘pure self’ or ‘the empty witness’. The point here, as it has been stressed by many contemporary teachers, is not to remain in the ‘absolute samadhi’ state, but to practice functioning in the ‘working samadhi’. ‘No-mind’ in this case means no intent. Any activity is neither forced or strained. It happens effortlessly.

That’s why it’s also called ‘the action of no-action’. This is the essence of the Taoist concept of ‘wu-wei’: a continuous stream of spontaneity that emerges from the rhythm of circumstances.

In the Zen arts there is a clear sense of the presence of this quality. Thus Zen teaching and practice is expressed very directly and without excessive ornamentation. In the West this has been experimented in various art forms with minimalism.

This quality of simplicity opens up a creative space that reflects the pure dynamics that exist in the relationship between form and space (in architecture, design, painting and the like), or between sound and silence (in music, chanting, mantras), or between light and darkness (in photography), or words and the meaning between them (poetry). Another characteristics of the Zen aesthetic is that of ‘no-rank’ or ordinariness which relates to the Zen concept of beauty, and that of limitlessness, without boundaries, open to countless possibilities, free. Despite the profundity, the Zen aesthetic also gives special emphasis in the role of playfulness.

‘Suchness’ or essentially being as it is, is the all inclusive reality that is manifested as a sense of presence. It’s the quality of being that is ultimately nondual. It is the isness of all things and of existence. Zen art ultimately expresses also this more intangible concept. + Off season, Selianitika Greece, 2012

+ V, Selianitika Greece, 2012

+ Presence, Varese Italy, 2009

+ Couples, Varese Italy, 2009

7. ‘Dancing brush’:

Zen calligraphy explores the polarity between disciple and freedom. Spontaneity in art expresses the artist’s direct experience of reality. Expressing things for what they are deepens the perception of the uniqueness of the subject and goes to the ‘isness’ of things.

+ Summer nights, Patra Greece, 2013

8. ‘Participatory’:

Zen art is open-ended. The ‘enso’ (characteristic Zen circle) is almost always left open. The missing piece is to be completed by the viewer. In doing so the viewer gets involved and experiences a sense of completion in the art.

+ Dead end, Drepano Greece, 2012

+ St. Nikolas, Georgioupoli Crete, 2013

9. ‘Endless spring’ (intimate words): Intimacy is not a Intimacy is the transmission of already has what brought to life.

matter that exists in the realm place where opposites merge. wisdom nothing is transmitted. the teacher has. It just needs to

+ Archetypes I, Rannoch Moor Scotland, 2014

of polarities.

In the Zen The student be awakened,

10. ‘Mystery’ (expressing the inexpressible): One of the ultimate challenges of Zen art is to express the inexpressible- the mystical essence of life, the transcendental nature of reality. ‘Mystical’ in Zen is the ultimate spiritual meaning that is neither apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intellect. Yet we’re somehow aware of its presence and it has a real impact on us. One artistic way Zen choices to do this is poetry- haikus and koans. Painting and photography has used written words in combination with their medium in order to assist the audience to go deeper.

+ Archetypes II, St. Margaret lake Edinburgh, 2014

+ Fan the flame, Lake Doxa Greece, 2013

+ Glen Etive falls, Scottish Highlands, 2014

+. Inland Sea I, Qatar, 2013 + Inland Sea II, Qatar, 2013

It has been said that the essence of the photographic act is a contemplative interaction with our world. By exploring the connections of Zen and artistic photography we cultivate a deeper and more tangible understanding of this relationship.

In memoriam of John Daido Loori who passed away in 2009.

Links/references: John Daido Loori: http://www.mro.org/daido/ Zen Mountain Monastery: http://zmm.mro.org ‘The Zen of Creativity’ book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Zen-Creativity-Cultivating-Artistic/ dp/0345466330 Pygmalion Karatzas Photography: http://karatzas.wix.com/photo

Andre Peixoto Brand & Design Director AVRS, Inc. Santa Rosa, CA, USA

andrepeixoto.com

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Art Direction, Creative Direction, Graphic Design Ad concept Everybody needs protection.

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