Sonnets in Babylon – Venice Biennale – Spirit of Space

In this video from our friends at Spirit of Space, Daniel Libeskind talks about his installation for the Venice Pavilion at the 2014 Venice Biennale, entitled ‘Sonnets in Babylon’. The installation deals with drawing, an act that Libeskind believes is “the foundational art, and the mystery and the magic of all buildings and cities.” To Libeskind, drawings are akin to religious materials, communicating meaning without the use of a fixed language and each with its own power to shape the way we understand the world around us. At the end he gives a hint as to why he is so attached to drawings: ”I drew for many years before…

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Sonnets in Babylon

Completed

Concealing art with art is like wearing out a sleeve of the angel’s robe in a Resurrection. Why Aristotle dismisses Parmenides and other Eleatics (on the issue of the One and the many on the grounds of form) is a conundrum for which many should have killed themselves before, not after. One senses here not love but a distaste for the angled beams which emerge from the center of four, probably square, flat volumes to release the celestial ray locked in matter. I’ve never heard of a prettier trick! So let me join you in establishing a city… One might…

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