Oblique Strategies

Oblique Strategies (subtitled Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas) is a card-based method for promoting creativity jointly created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt, first published in 1975. Physically, it takes the form of a deck 7-by-9-centimetre (2.8 in × 3.5 in) printed cards in a black box. Each card offers a challenging constraint intended to help artists (particularly musicians) break creative blocks by encouraging lateral thinking.

In 1970, Peter Schmidt created "The Thoughts Behind the Thoughts", a box containing 55 sentences letterpress printed onto disused prints that accumulated in his studio, which is still in the possession of Eno. Eno, who had known Schmidt since the late 1960s, had been pursuing a similar project himself (which he had handwritten onto a number of bamboo cards and given the name "Oblique Strategies" in 1974). There was a significant overlap between the two projects, and so, in late 1974, Schmidt and Eno combined them into a single pack of cards and offered them for general sale. The set went through three limited edition printings before Schmidt suddenly died in early 1980, after which the card decks became rather rare and expensive.

Miyamoto Musashi: Philosophy of The Book of Five Rings & Dokkodo

Miyamoto Musashi (1584 – June 13, 1645), was a Japanese swordsman, philosopher, strategist, writer, artisan and rōnin. Musashi, as he was often simply known, became renowned through stories of his unique double-blade swordsmanship and undefeated record in his 61 duels (next is 33 by Itō Ittōsai). He is considered the Kensei, sword-saint of Japan. He was the founder of the Niten-Ichi-Ryū-School or Nito-Ichi-ryū style of swordsmanship, and in his final years authored The Book of Five Rings, and Dokkōdō (The Path of Aloneness). Both documents were given to Terao Magonojō, the most important of Musashi's students, seven days before Musashi's death. The Book of Five Rings deals primarily with the character of his Niten-Ichi-Ryū-School in a concrete sense e.g. his own practical martial art and its generic significance; The Path of Aloneness on the other hand, deals with the ideas that lie behind it, as well as his life's philosophy in just a few short aphoristic sentences.

Faust: Margaret's Question

Margaret:

Promise me, Heinrich!

Aldous Huxley: The Art of Seeing

Basic Principle Underlying the Practice of Every Art

Whatever the art you may wish to learn, whether it be acrobatics or violin playing, mental prayer or golf, acting, singing, dancing or what you will-there is one thing that every good teacher will always say: Learn to combine relaxation with activity; learn to do what you have to do without strain; work hard, but never under tension.

Drexciya Interview — James Stinson

Rare Interview with Liz Copeland (May 2002). A truly inspiring interview from an individual dedicated 100% to his artform. James Stinson died in Sept 2002, only a matter of months after this interview, aged just 32. His aquatic universes will live forever.

Intention

"I'll tell you very plainly how i see the relationship between an artist and his audience by telling you a little story that i heard many years ago and that made quite an impression on me. You see, during the Middle Ages, a certain wood-carver in China was given the task of crafting a stand for the temple bells. It was a very honorable assignment for this Chinese wood-carver, and he set about his work. While he carved he started thinking about all the money he'd earn for this bell stand, and as it happened the carving turned out quite poorly. But since he was an ambitious Chinese craftsman, he started all over again. But this time too, as he carved, he started thinking about how he would win everyone's love with this incredible beautiful stand, and this attempt was a failure as well. So he destroyed that stand and started a third time. But this time it occurred to him that he would gain immortality with this bell stand, and his third attempt was a failure too. With that, our Chinese wood-carver grew as furious as only a Chinese wood-carver can be, and he decided to try a fourth time. This time he had just one thought in his head: to create a bell stand. This time he succeeded and in so doing gained love, money, and immortality."

— Interview with Ingmar Bergman, speaking about the relationship between an artist and his audience (The Magician, 1958)