Babel

A beautiful, colorful, animated tribute to Krishna created by K. KRISHNA DAS. Sweet and light filled. A lovely, masterful creative work. Enjoy the unfoldment.

You can view more at http://www.youtube.com/user/romapada

~Bonnee Klein Gilligan

by Rossitza Ohridska-Olson (more about me in the end of the article)

In less than a day, two news affecting the Bulgarian cultural heritage hit the world wires: a sensational discovery of a completely preserved Thracian chariot by Dr. Daniala Agre, (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/07/AR2008080700825.html) and almost complete loss of an ancient ship, thanks to the criminal indifference of the Bulgarian government to preserve the underwater cultural heritage left by the great civilizations inhabiting our territory - http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/ancient-sunken-ship-near-varna-savaged-by-fishing-boats/id_30993/catid_70.

What is the moral of both stories? That Bulgaria has incredible cultural heritage, hidden under earth and water (third in Europe after Italy and Greece by number of cultural heritage sites and artifacts in museums and galleries) and little is done to preserve it or to promote it as part of the cultural tourism. Another example are the Thracian gold treasures hidden in the National Museum of History, and other regional museums, which, in spite of the huge article in National Geographic, are not serving as a magnet for attracting people with cultural interests.

Why? Because from the 40,000 cultural monuments in Bulgaria, only a handful dozens are known to the public and adapted for visiting and none of them is marketed on a worldwide level, even these which are part of the UNESCO list of cultural heritage. As Mr. Roumen Draganov says: “the Bulgarian cultural heritage is one of the best-kept secrets” from tourists and visitors. In spite of big words, a legislation and good intention, the marketing of culture is still non-existing.

The country doesn’t brand itself properly, the uniqueness is not visible to the visitors and year after year the Bulgarian businesses (developers, local governments, and hotel owners) does everything possible to destroy nature, traditions and authenticity of the culture. Infrastructure and other technical problems prevent easy access to the tourism product – lack of real time direct reservations, ticket buying, information obscurity regarding some of the most beautiful micro-destinations, and inexistent Internet advertising in foreign languages.

And most of all, thanks to the non-professional approach by touroperators and travel agencies on both sides of the deal – Bulgarian and foreign ones – the product of the cultural tourism, in spite the marvelous possibilities of the living and past cultures of the country, becomes a distorted and incomplete McDonalds version of a real cultural experience.

Many other surrounding countries – Macedonia, Serbia, Georgia, Armenia, Kosovo, Albania and even Romania, are going the same way – trying to kill the proverbial hen with the golden eggs.

About me and my blog on Tour of Babel

My name is Rossitza Ohridska-Olson. As a consultant, I provide a unique blend of tourism marketing, communications design and social computing expertise. Culture discovery is the passion of my life. Over the last 20 years I discovered and immersed myself in the cultures of Bulgaria, Spain, Portugal, and the United States. A global nomad, I live in Florida (USA) and Bulgaria (EU), dedicating my entire time to the fast-evolving business of cultural tourism. I consult tour operators, cultural institutions, government agencies, regional development centers, NGOs and private companies in Europe and the USA. I also find time to work on my Ph.D. thesis, a history triller and a book, Imaginary Reality, for the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture

My blog will deal with the vastly unknown cultural destinations of South and Eastern Europe, the cultural discoveries and the business of tourism related to the past and living cultures. As a macro-strategist in that field, and a professional writer on cultural issues, I will do everything possible to use the Internet as a platform to deliver my view on how we all can benefit of knowing more about this region.

My perspective comes from both sides of the Atlantic – from the USA, where I live, and from Europe, where I pass months researching, photographing and “testing” destinations. This way in I help my US and Western Europe clients to better design, market and profit from cultural tourism.

With this blog I will try to share my experience – cultural and business one – of how to market this part of the world as an exiting cultural destination. I am welcoming all comments and questions from the members of Tour of Babel and from everyone interested in multicultural exchanges and promotion of unknown cultures. You can communicate with me in English, Bulgarian, Russian, French or Spanish. I also can read in Italian, Serbian, Portuguese and Macedonian, but please don’t expect from me to respond in these languages – I am still in the dog phase of learning them – I understand, but I cannot speak.

For more in-depth analyses and specialized themes, such as tourism branding, museums and galleries as element of the cultural tourism product creation and marketing, and many others, as well as for my bio and ways to contact me, you can also visit my personal blog at http://culturalrealms.typepad.com.

“The Codex Sinaiticus Project is an international collaboration to reunite the entire manuscript in digital form and make it accessible to a global audience for the first time.”

Codex Sinaiticus is one of the most important books in the world. Handwritten well over 1600 years ago, the manuscript contains the Christian Bible in Greek, including the oldest complete copy of the New Testament. Its heavily corrected text is of outstanding importance for the history of the Bible and the manuscript -– the oldest substantial book to survive Antiquity –- is of supreme importance for the history of the book.

… Drawing on the expertise of leading scholars, conservators and curators, the Project gives everyone the opportunity to connect directly with this famous manuscript.

- codex-sinaiticus.net

Via Slashdot: Link.

~ Karl Jones

Houses gassing off. Carpets, insulation, paint and more. So tight and filled with chemicals they’re sick houses. Literally! The building materials are bad for us. Real bad. Have been for years now. Since the ’50s we’ve had Horrible Harmful Housing.

I remember back in the late ’70s when I was a young thing living in Pennsylvania. Me and my best beau (that’s us in the photo, weren’t we cute!) would stop for a look see at houses from time to time. Was fun… we loved it. Once we pulled into a mobile home lot and took a tour. It was hot that day. The sun was frying eggs. Walked in one home. Looked around a bit. It was really nice inside. Could imaging living there. The longer we spent ooing and awing the more our eyes burned and watered. When we both started coughing we beat it out of there fast. Talked about it as we drove away. Said to each other, "We’re protected for sure. Thank you God." Came to the conclusion it musta’ been the formaldehyde. That was the buzz word back then. The stuff in the insulation that gassed off and made folks sick. They were ripping it out of all the schools.

But it’s still used in some building materials. Read an article at ABC News dated July 9, 2008, "Makers of Katrina Trailers Grilled by Congress." The mobiles that were bought as temporary housing for hurricane Katrina victims were filled with it. Made some folks sick. Huh. Scratching my head. They were ripping it out in the early 80s why is it still used? In our modern society can’t we come up with affordable housing that is people and earth friendly???

Well that got me curious about green housing. Sustainable, affordable, earth friendly? I like words and always find it interesting to look at dictionary definitions. Here is what I found in the Oxford American Dictionary and dictionary.reference online.

The definition of the word sustain: to support; to keep alive; to endure without giving away. To keep in existence; maintain. To supply with necessities or nourishment; provide for. To support the spirits, vitality, or resolution of; encourage. Definition of sustainable: capable of being sustained or maintained. Capable of being continued with minimal long-term effect on the environment. How interesting.

So what does sustainable mean with regard to housing? Here are definitions of sustainable housing I found online:

Sustainable Housing: Affordable and comfortable. Climate appropriate design which minimizes or eliminates the need for artificial heating and cooling. Design and construction which maintain sites natural resources. Collect and efficiently manage water resources. Management of own waste on site including greywater and black water. Produce and efficiently manage electrical power. Provide food resources from a permaculture garden. The house becomes part of the local ecosystem. Use of building materials which are recycled or made from renewable resources.

I enjoy housing designs which are unique and creative. So I did I a search. Found lots of stuff on natural or recycled building materials. Lots from companies building passive solar and other things. I was looking for something more then your average home… something fun, unique, affordable, beautiful, sustainable, earth and people friendly. Here are a few of the inexpensive homes I liked a lot….

A low impact woodland home - beautiful, natural living

Located in Wales, UK. Built with maximum environmental regard by 2 people and passersby. 4 months start to finish:  1,000-1,500 man hours. Cost: about £3,000 (£60 per sq. ft., not including labor). Part of Lammas ecovillage project a carbon neutral, low impact development.

Features: Dug into hillside for low visual impact and shelter. Stone/mud at site used for retaining walls, foundations etc. Framed with oak from local woodlands. Reciprocal roof rafters. Straw bales in floor, walls and roof. Plastic sheet and mud/turf roof. Reclaimed wood floors and fittings. Reclaimed windows, burner, plumbing, wiring, etc. Lime plaster walls. Breathable and low energy to manufacture. Heat is wood burning stove - renewable and locally plentiful. Flue through thick stone/plaster. Retains heat. Slowly releases for even warmth. Fridge cooled by underground air through foundation. Skylight in roof. Solar panels for lighting, music and computing. Water gravity system from nearby spring. Composting toilet. Rainwater from roof collects in pond for garden, etc.

Building workshops available. Learn how to build a low impact woodland home.

Thanks to Pipa’s Porch for directing me to this wonderful home.

Eco Dome Earth Dwelling - a small gnome-like home

Located in California, USA.  House built by students to learn about Superadobe coil construction. Very small, 400 square foot, very low cost. Easily built by 3-5 people. Part of the Cal-Earth educational and research program.

Features: Built from local earth-filled Superadobe coils (soil-cement or lime-stabilized earth) and barbed wire. On site soil utilized, coil bags low cost. Covered with adobe. Tree free. Main dome and four niches, very low cost. Can be repeated and joined together to form larger homes and courtyard houses. Very thick walls have significant thermal mass, which reduces heating and cooling costs. It also provides sound insulation, structural integrity, fire and pest protection. Designed with the sun, shade and wind in mind for passive cooling and heating. Wind-scoop can be combined with a rated furnace unit. Solar energy and radiant heating may be incorporated. Water collection and reclamation can be incorporated. It is estimated that a four-bedroom, 2,000 square foot house would cost $75,000 ($37.50/sq. ft.) to build, including labor, materials and utilities.

Building workshops available. Learn how to build with Superadobe coils online or apprentice at Cal-Earth.

Sculpted concrete homes - Live in Art

Located in Mexico. Beautiful, imaginative custom, free flowing, sculptured concrete homes built by Flying Concrete. House shown is 700 square foot with various out buildings. Has been a design-as-you-go, evolutionary, spontaneous project. Built by 2 people.

Features: Roofs built with lightweight aggregate. Walls are lightweight concrete or local rock. Vaulted roofs – 400 year guarantee. Solar green house and other interior solar spaces.  Passive solar heat and good insulation. Water recovery systems.  Detached composting toilet. Low cost units as low as $25 per sq. ft. (2005). Roof represents 10-15% of cost.

Building workshops available. Learn how to build a sculptured concrete home.

Whoo Hoo!!! There are lots of great healthy, natural, beautiful and affordable alternative building techniques that I can learn and do myself. This is so great I can’t wait to get started. Now if I only had a plot of land…

There are a lot more green and sustainable building methods, I’ve only mentioned a couple. Here are some links to additional stuff:

Green Home Building is a website which talks about sustainable architecture and natural building.

Natural Building Network is an association which promotes natural building principles, materials and practitioners worldwide.

Green Builders Directory a listing of various builders who build green and sustainable housing.

~Bonnee Klein Gilligan

This blog concerning the series of 366 paintings known as “Miracle Days” by David Arthur-Simons continues today with painting # 159

David Arthur-Simons
Wednesday August 6, 2008
CIM 159  I give the miracles I have received
Acrylic on canvas
20 x 16ins

****

Notes

Miracles are a matter of perception.  I am working with the illusion of dimensions in this painting. What seems solid from one perspective becomes fluid and intangible from another perspective.

“Just when I think I’m winning
When I’ve broken every door
The ghosts of my life
Blow wilder than before
Just when I thought I could not be stopped
When my chance came to be king
The ghosts of my life
Blew wilder than the wind”

Ghosts, David Sylvian

From another perspective, the whole painting can be reduced to 2 concave and 2 convex curves.  The curve of the arch on the left, the curve of the left side of the head of the cut out in the centre of the middle ground, the curve of the right side of the head of the cut out in the centre of the middle ground and the curve of the arch on the right:

)  (  )  (

When reduced like this, these curves just happen to make up the numbers of my birth date, 9th June, [19]56 (in European dating, which still comes to me as second nature instead of the American dating system which I use daily).

9656

Is it co-incidence that the basic forms of this painting form the numbers (by extrapolation admittedly) of my birth date or is it really true that everything I do contains everything about me (ie is a hologram of me)?  Is this the evidence of the hologramatic nature of life?

Being able to draw of paint is a craft; being able to understand, decipher, reduce and extrapolate what you are drawing or painting allows one to push it to the next level, and that pushing it to the next level is real Art, with a capital A.  There are many crafts persons in the world, even some who are extremely talented in their ability to portray the world around them, but there are only a few artists.   I don’t consider myself a good craftsman, my paintings and drawings can be very rough when it comes to the details, but I do consider myself an artist because I keep pushing and reducing the elements in a painting till I get all the elements into a harmonious equilibrium.  This “pushing” is based on several factors.

Let me say first that I consider every painting a self portrait whether or not I portray my physical semblance in the painting.  I feel that the elements in the painting are an externalization of the elements of my psyche, irrespective of what I may choose to portray.  Every element in the painting is a direct mirror of some aspect of me, in the same way that dreams are a manifestation of one’s psyche.

Thus I find that a painting is complete if there four conditions are present:

(1) 4 (or more) figures or equivalents
(2) an action or movement portrayed
(3) some objects
(4) a unifying, connecting through line that connects figures, action and objects.

I hold that the four (or more) figures invariably represent a personification of one or all of the following:

(1) Jung’s four functions: Intuition, Sensation, Feeling, Thinking.
(2) Freud’s Id, Ego, Super-Ego, and Shadow
(3) Ken Wilber’s 4 Quadrants (I, it, We, and Its).
(4) the 4 elements (Air, Water, Fire and Earth).

The action generally replicates one or all of the fundamental forces in the universe:

(5) The 4 Physical Forces (strong nuclear, electromagnetic, weak nuclear and gravitational).

(6) the 4 principles of Thermodynamics (entropy, energy, matter, volume)

The action gives an overall meaning to the painting so that it can be measured via:

(7) the 4 units of measure (time, length, mass and temperature).

The painting is thus a kind of replication of all the elements that constitute my being, and they must be somehow present in order for the painting to be finished.  My way of approaching my painting is perhaps a little more complex than normal, and will no doubt be controversial but it will also explain why some of the paintings that I’ve worked on for only one day are not in my opinion finished.   It’s funny to note that none of the paintings I have so far presented on this blog are finished.

One more factor helps me to decide whether a painting is finished.  Aside from drawing, painting and writing I also began to dance at a very early age.  Dancing has always been a very important expression of my psyche.  I always want to dance and often dance down the street as I listen to music on my iPod.  When I was younger I went to nightclubs every night to dance for 2 or 3 hours.  I dance in a very acrobatic and fluid way.  I don’t stay in one place on the dance floor, rather I move over the whole dance floor, moving, darting in and around, over and under the other people on the dance floor.  I move more like a fast moving mist than a solid mass.  An observer once said that when I dance I make Michael Jackson look like a quadriplegic.  I bring the same energy level to my painting.

The Hindu God Shiva, in his dancing form of Nataraj is said to dance the Universe and we are “the danced”.  In the same vein my paintings are “the danced” expression of my psyche.  When all the elements in a painting seem to dance I know it is complete because all the elements of life (described above) are engaged in the dance of my life and it is joyous to behold.

I very much feel that all Four Functions are present in this painting and are participating fully and equally (they are all the same size), even if they all seems to be a little shy.  The fact that they are all engaged in the “action” and illusion of the painting is what gives it its vibrancy, even though it is still not complete.  Something is still missing.

David Arthur-Simons

This blog concerning the series of 366 paintings known as “Miracle Days” by David Arthur-Simons continues today with painting # 158

David Arthur-Simons
Tuesday August 5, 2008
CIM 158   Today I learn to give as I receive
Acrylic on canvas
20 x 16ins

****

Notes

The title of the painting is not yet achieved in this painting.  What I have illustrated on the horizontal plane is two figures standing opposite one another, neither giving nor receiving, simply expecting, the opposite of giving and receiving.  On the vertical plane, one figure lies seemingly dead or dorment and in opposition to it a large head rises into the heavens (inflated perhaps).  They are also not giving or receiving but simply turning inwards.  The giving is achieved through the spheres that float forward from the forehead of the large cut out head and the chest of the figure lying in the foeground.  These sphere intersect to form a diamond, the symbol of god or the known universe.  (The diamond shape is not very visible at this point, more work needs to go into that with more spheres to make the line of sphere more visible).  It is more visble in the preliminary sketch.

David Arthur-Simons
Tuesday August 5, 2008
CIM 158   Today I learn to give as I receive
Pen on paper
4 x 2ins

This painting is also a very accurate snap shot of my Four Functions at present and generally.  The cut out head full of clouds represents the Intuitive, visionary function which is by far the most developed of my functions.  It soars up into the heavens and may even be inflated.  In opposition to Intuition lies Sensation, that which touches the world, and all the things in it.  It lies dorment as indeed it does in me.  Feeling and Thinking stand confronting one another, always attempting to over power one another either with reason or hysterical responses.  Generally, they are in a harmonious balance.

This painting is not yet finished.  Another element, an action or a object needs to bring everything that is there already together.

“There may be some validity in the idea held by the Freudian school that artists without exception are narcissistic - by which is meant that they are under-developed persons with infantile and auto-erotic traits.  The statement is only valid, however, for the artist as a person, and has nothing to do with the man as an artist.  In his capacity of artist he is neither auto-erotic, nor hetero-erotic, nor erotic in any sense.  He is objective and impersonal - even inhuman - for as an artist he is his work, and not a human being”.  CG Jung “Modern Man in Search of A Soul” Chapter 8, p168 (1933).

David Arthur-Simons

Peaceful, Meditative, Buddhic, Enlightenment.

Fundamental Beingness represents our Buddha nature. The state we can attain thru Spiritual practices.

Pastel drawing with computer enhancement. Spectral Light - Trefoil Series.  I did the original 9" x 12" drawing in 1998, then in 2007 scanned and enhanced it in Photoshop. Prints are available at my Spirit Art gallery.

~Bonnee Klein Gilligan

The Telegraph has an article on literary tattoos.

Via Fade Theory.

“Exuberance is Beauty” — William Blake.

~ Karl Jones

This blog concerning the series of 366 paintings known as “Miracle Days” by David Arthur-Simons continues today with painting # 157

David Arthur-Simons
Monday August 4, 2008
CIM 157  Into His Presence would I enter now
Acrylic on canvas
20 x 16ins

****

Notes

Anthropomorphic de-construction drawing notes.

Once I painted over the dove, and moved the plinths further into mid ground, the plinths suddenly looked like the Twin Towers poking through the clouds as they sometimes did when the clouds were low.  Immediately the diving figures on the plinths looked like smoke billowing from the Towers.   A falling figure seemed a most appropriate element to replace the dove.   The title suddenly took on an entirely new meaning.  The new arrangement of elements also suggested an anthropomorphic face.

David Arthur-Simons
Monday August 4, 2008
CIM 157 Into His Presence would I enter now
Pen on paper
Various sizes

David Arthur-Simons

This blog concerning the series of 366 paintings known as “Miracle Days” by David Arthur-Simons continues today with painting # 156

David Arthur-Simons
Sunday August 3, 2008
CIM 156  I walk with God in perfect holiness
Acrylic on canvas
20 x 16ins

****

Notes

When I began this painting I wanted to paint something like Magritte’s “Euclidean Promenades” (1955).  I wanted to create the same sense of depth, walking into a deep, profound landscape but I wanted the landscape to be inside a figure and the depth to be both vertical and horizontal.  Thus the figures are leaping forward and the ground below them opens up on an aerial view of another view of some other darker heaven.

I haven’t quite got the individual elements to work yet and they certainly don’t work as a whole.

“It makes no difference whether the poet knows that his work is begotten, grows and matures with him, or whether he supposes that by taking thought he produces it out of the void.  His opinion of the matter does not change the fact that his own work outgrows him as a child its mother.  The creative process has feminine quality, and the creative work arises from unconscious depths - we might say, the realm of the mothers.  Whenever the creative force predominates, human life is ruled and moulded by the unconscious as against the active will, and the conscious ego is swept along on a subterranean current, being nothing more than a helpless observer of events.  The work in process becomes the poet’s fate and determines his psychic development.  It is not Goethe who creates “Faust”, BUT “FAUST” WHICH CREATES GOETHE”.  CG Jung “Modern Man in Search of a Soul” Chapter 8, p 170 (1933).

David Arthur-Simons