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Recognizing Beauty in the midst of Chaos

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I ran across this news story today; a fascinating experiment on recognizing beauty (in this case, musical) in the midst of chaos:
[INDENT]"... No one knew it, but the fiddler standing against a bare wall outside the Metro in an indoor arcade at the top of the escalators was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made. His performance was arranged by The Washington Post as an experiment in context, perception and priorities -- as well as an unblinking assessment of public taste: In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?"
[/INDENT]A compelling example; Full article here

@Khethil,

It just goes to show you. Now, if I wanted to get attention, I would have used a chimp jumping on a pogo stick! That's Entertainment!

Thanks for the article. Smile

Rich

@Khethil,

I always appreciate beautiful music from a busker it's the jugglers I cant stand.

@Khethil,

Is beauty in the eye of the observer OR the artist? What constitutes beauty?

Jamie

@Twistedgypsychil,

Twistedgypsychil;89013 wrote:

Is beauty in the eye of the observer OR the artist? What constitutes beauty?

Jamie

Beauty is completely subjective. I would say it is both from the observer and the artist. The artist might say it is beautiful yet the observer might object. The classification is almost never completely universal.

@Krumple,

I really don't see how adding an element, no matter how beautiful, into a chaotic setting is contrastive, I think its just another element of the cacaphony. I would assert that the chaos itself is beautiful. The inclusiveness and uniformity of chaos is beautiful. The contrast of the art performance only works for someone who knows about the experiment or who by happenstance gets caught up into it. This would by default make the surroundings annoying because one would be trying to concentrate on the violinist. If one were not directly involved in the performance somehow it would just be a warble in the static. I think the static would have been beautiful with or without the warble.

@Caroline,

Caroline;89002 wrote:

I always appreciate beautiful music from a busker it's the jugglers I cant stand.

Can juggling not also be a valid art form?
Can it not also take as much dedication and work to better one's juggling as to better one's instrument-playing?

@Belial phil,

Belial;89312 wrote:

Can juggling not also be a valid art form?
Can it not also take as much dedication and work to better one's juggling as to better one's instrument-playing?

I think absolutely. It is a great and amusing art form that is very accessible and will draw attention. I love it, and love watching it on the streets of Chicago. If there is a monkey hopping on a pogo stick, even better. Nothing like a joyous laugh to break up the day.

Rich

@GoshisDead,

GoshisDead;89092 wrote:

I really don't see how adding an element, no matter how beautiful, into a chaotic setting is contrastive, I think its just another element of the cacaphony....

This is a really good point: Add another item, picture or sound into an already-chaotic setting and it can have the effect of simply adding to the confusion. Well put...

... but this speaks directly to the point of the exercise: If our lives are at all busy, hectic or chaotic (which many, I'm sure, are), then do we even have the ability to recognize something beautiful/serene within this soup?

I think such an ability is a good, good thing to have - along the "Stop and Smell the Roses"-lines

Thanks

@Belial phil,

Belial;89312 wrote:

Can juggling not also be a valid art form?
Can it not also take as much dedication and work to better one's juggling as to better one's instrument-playing?

I can juggle and yes it improved my coordination and catch immensely, I recommend it. I once managed to ride a unicycle once for all of about five seconds, but it's no easy feat and I'm quite a show off about that, I can also juggle clubs. Smile

Oh and use a devil stick.

@Khethil,

Khethil;88978 wrote:

I ran across this news story today; a fascinating experiment on recognizing beauty (in this case, musical) in the midst of chaos:[INDENT]"... No one knew it, but the fiddler standing against a bare wall outside the Metro in an indoor arcade at the top of the escalators was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made. His performance was arranged by The Washington Post as an experiment in context, perception and priorities -- as well as an unblinking assessment of public taste: In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?"
[/INDENT]A compelling example; Full article here

I wonder if this is what you're getting at. This song, Bloc Party's 'Ares' (from Intimacy) is, quite literally, sonic chaos. Yet at the same time the song refers to this chaos--it's about the chaos of war--and so the noise of the song becomes itself a metaphor for the chaos of the battlefield, and once you realize the metaphor, you realize the beauty inherent in the song...
[youtube]GRMKzQqG7y8[/youtube]
I wish I could find the original studio song on YouTube but, alas, the live version loses the effects I'm referring to and this, while better, is still not what I'm trying to get across. Idiot music corporations, there used to be one.

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