Thursday, January 27, 2005
"DESIGN AS RELIGION"
That's the title of Nick Currie's article. He is amazing. I don't think I agree with him, but am never sure because I don't know if I speak the same language as him. I don't think we even live in the same world. That's probably why I find his writing so seductive and fascinating. From Design As Religion:
It's especially interesting to me because I'm constantly trying to have art fit within a framework of belief in God while Momus seems to constantly be pitting them against each other. Good design is great. Art can be awesome. To borrow from him, I think that beauty is elevating and human achievement is praiseworthy, but I don't see why it can't also be (by extension) an accomplishment of a Creator.
This all reminds me of the recent post and comment discussion in Evangelical Outpost on Athiesm.
Well, here's my credo. I'm not a designer, but I love design. I love stores like Analogue, Magma, and Zakka. I enter them as reverently as Philip Larkin entered a church, removing his bicycle clips and doffing his hat. To me they're temples to human creativity, places dedicated to higher values, yes, even spiritual values. In a world that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing, these stores and the curated, inspirational printed matter they contain reaffirm my belief that beauty really is elevating and that every 'creator' is a kind of god.His livejournal is even better. Read this post, called Otto gets thrown to the Christians (Otto is his new album). He contrasts art and religion, atheist Japan with religious America, and spoofs a Christian review of Otto. Here's a tidbit.
I am, after all, an atheist. That is, someone who seeks to locate spiritual value everywhere except in a monotheistic god.These quotes don't do him justice. If you have gotten this far into my post, I highly recommend you reading his livejournal and article.
Well, yesterday my new album came out in America. My new album – an album of radical paganism and fertility worship, an album advocating lostness rather than salvation and art rather than religion
It's especially interesting to me because I'm constantly trying to have art fit within a framework of belief in God while Momus seems to constantly be pitting them against each other. Good design is great. Art can be awesome. To borrow from him, I think that beauty is elevating and human achievement is praiseworthy, but I don't see why it can't also be (by extension) an accomplishment of a Creator.
This all reminds me of the recent post and comment discussion in Evangelical Outpost on Athiesm.
