The Event in John Latham and Bob Cobbing

ABSTRACT

This article documents some examples of the event-responsive poetry of the British poet Bob Cobbing (1920–2002) and compares it to the unique theory of the event structure developed by British sculptural and conceptual artist John Latham (1921–2006). It establishes points of intersection between their practices, and particularly at the level of aesthetics where very little comparative work exists. While both men are best known for their experimental 1960s work (Cobbing in relation to sound and concrete poetry, and Latham in relation to conceptual art) this article focusses on their earlier work as being preparatory to their later, more developed practice. Artistic affinities are contextualized in relation to World War II, the dialectic of romantic and classical art, and the institution of welfare-capitalism. How poet and artist both visually represented time (drawing on scientific discourses to do so) is further identified as a link between their practices.     

JFK and the future of global leadership

On 10 June 1963 President John F. Kennedy gave a speech that changed the world. His commencement speech at American University helped to spur the signing of a world‐changing agreement between the Soviet Union and the United States—the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. This episode of peacemaking is remarkable for two reasons. First, it arguably helped to save the world, since the nuclear confrontation at that stage of the Cold War was not a ‘stable balance of terror’, as sometimes described, but rather a highly unstable situation that was prone to accidents, misjudgements and potential disasters. Second, this was an episode of statesmanship in which presidential leadership played a crucial role. Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy understood that he bore sole responsibility on the US side to find a way back from the brink of nuclear war. He used the ‘peace speech’ to create a novel kind of peace diplomacy, and worked together with his counterpart, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, to pull the superpowers back from this precarious brink.     

International treaties and art

International treaties shape the legal context for the arts, provide policy tools for political ends, and reveal roles of the arts in state identity. Culture‐specific instruments, general agreements with cultural provisions, general agreements without culture‐specific provisions, and general statements of principle are all pertinent. Since 1990, treaties have intervened in the global division of labor and the entry of works into the art market, forced transformations of domestic law, and illuminated ways in which differences in legal cultures are valuable for those who would break the law. Treaties highlight complexities of national identity, exacerbate national/regional tensions, support restitution, and draw attention to human rights issues. Conflicts over art have also become an explicit part of the world of foreign policy.     

Identity, caste and the participant academic

'Text, belief & personal identity – creating a dialogue': Valmiki Studies Workshop, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), 21 February 2004     

略论书法艺术的创作灵感——以草书为例

灵感是书法艺术的审关意象思维,有偶然性、进发性、活跃性、创造力。灵感是以实践为基础的对客观存在的能动反映,是特殊思维现象。草书是创作灵感的最佳载体。空灵感、虚静美是中国古典美学理论。“醉书现象”、“无意与佳乃佳”现象乃是灵感在书法艺术上的特殊表现。康德．黑格尔对灵感的论述。我国儒、释、道及《文心雕龙》等著作对灵感现象的精辟论述。灵感和想象力是艺术创作的两只翅膀。