Heike Sperling

“I felt relieved. It’s a great relief when you get up the ladder and you look through the spyglass and it doesn’t say ‘no’ or ‘fuck you’ or something, it said ‘yes.’” –John Lennon

Yes

Standing on the shoulders of giants
January 3rd, 2025

Via Wikipedia: "Ceiling Painting/Yes Painting is a 1966 conceptual artwork by the Japanese artist Yoko Ono. The work is made from paper, glass, a metal frame, a metal chain, a magnifying glass, and a painted ladder. The word YES is printed on the piece of paper. The work is interactive, with the viewer (or participant) expected to climb the ladder and use a magnifying glass to look at the word YES which is printed on paper beneath a sheet of glass suspended from the ceiling. [...]

Ceiling Painting/Yes Painting has been described by Ono as being representative of a journey towards hope and affirmation from pain. The difficulty in attaining hope and affirmation has been likened by Ono to the intimidating stature of a cathedral.
The relationship between Ceiling Painting/Yes Painting and Ono's 1964 work Cut Piece was extensively critiqued by James M. Harding in his essay Between Material and Matrix: Yoko Ono's Cut Piece and the Unmaking of Collage."

Via Wikipedia: "Cut Piece 1964 is a pioneer of performance art and participatory work first performed by Japanese American multimedia avant-garde artist, musician and peace activist Yoko Ono on July 20, 1964, at the Yamaichi Concert Hall in Kyoto, Japan. It is one of the earliest and most significant works of the feminist art movement and Fluxus. [...]

This act of giving and receiving connects past, present and future and makes the viewer/ participant into a bearer of memory. The optimism, however tainted with the violence of the past, evokes a promise for the future, if we can avoid future war and violence. The fragments from these performances serve as reminders of the devastation of that violence. The anti-war readings give space for the work to function as 'a gesture of reparation and a ritual of remembrance' as well as to explore the complex relationship between aggression and generosity in the work."

[ Latest additions ]

The Party is Over by Charles Xelot.

End of 2024

December 31st, 2024
I am grateful for...

Aging My GP recommended Outlive by Peter Attia, saying it covers all the key recent research on healthy aging. I’ve studied it and now use it regularly—it’s an excellent resource.

Art My lovely and witty friend Sarah Szczesny has spent several months this year away on residencies. I missed her and decided to visit her at CCA Andratx. For the first time ever, I chose to buy a piece of art because it felt deeply important to have a part of her work in my home.

Concerts Felt so blessed to see many amazing concerts in 2024. My top three were: Nick Cave, for his depth, uplifting energy, and the breathtaking brilliance of the musicians; Mary Jane Leach, for her soulful performance on the St. Peter’s Church organ in Cologne, where she recorded this very piece in 1989; and Róisín Murphy, for her incredible style and fabulous leadership.

Book Couldn’t stop once I started reading All Four by Miranda July. It’s both highly entertaining and a precise observation of the journey and catharsis during the climacteric period. She masterfully captures all those manic feelings, thoughts, and sensations many of us experience. Thank you, Carina Mergens, for putting it into my hands!

Exhibition In the mid-80s, I had the great privilege of studying with Anna Oppermann (1940–1993) at the University of Wuppertal. She coined the term ensemble – process-based spatial collages that encompass both the installed work and the underlying method. This year, Susanne Kleine and Anna Schäffler curated an enormous, precise, and affectionate exhibition at the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn. It was overwhelming and breathtaking.

Film Last and First Men is a science fiction film directed by composer Jóhann Jóhannsson based on the 1930 novel of the same name by Olaf Stapledon. The 16mm black-and-white film predominantly features memorial sculptures erected in the former Republic of Yugoslavia beautifully photographed by Sturla Brandth Grøvlen. The story is narrated by Tilda Swinton. This might sound boring, as it did to me, but it is mind-blowing. Do not miss it.

Nerdom Stanley Kubrick’s films feel like an almost infinite source of reference and thus inspiration to me. I deeply admire the complexity, effort, and time that went into creating them. Here is a shot-by-shot analysis of my favorite of his films, Eyes Wide Shut. I adore this website and it so proves my point.

Routine Paradoxically, I find my routines fundamental to my sense of freedom. One of them is my yoga practice. This year, I discovered the location of my basic trust—it seems to reside between my shoulder blades, where it supports and lifts my heart.

Party Went to the 40-year reunion of my class of 1984. Almost a lifetime ago. It was overwhelming to meet so many of my former schoolmates and to see pictures of us from the '80s projected on the walls. An intense, confusing, and extremly rewarding experience.

Past Just learned that my great-aunt, my favorite childhood relative, didn’t celebrate New Year’s Eve either. This year, I started reading the same books she used to read to me to an 8-year-old close to me. Memories resurfaced, and I spent time reflecting on the influence she had on me. She passed on when I was 12, and this year I realized that I never truly grieved. So I finally did.

Tool Learning to use my phone as a tool in my daily practice wasn’t easy. It taught me how to share; through sharing, I’ve found connection, and that connection makes me feel whole, being of integrity. One day at a time. Thanks to all the wonderful people I’ve talked to and listened to, cried with and laughed with—you know who you are.

So, here we are... And what is next?

 

[ Latest additions ]

From the series They Cometh! paintings by Steve Seeley. The body of work is an homage the comic master Jack Kirby and his insane ability to capture and portray emotion thru simple line work and expression.

Super-recognisers

Can reliably detect AI-generated faces, while typical observers cannot
November 29th, 2024

Via PsyArXiv: "AI-generated faces have become virtually indistinguishable from real human faces. In this study, we demonstrate that super-recognisers—individuals with exceptional face recognition abilities—can reliably detect AI-generated faces, while typical observers cannot. Super-recognisers (N=36) and typical observers (N=89) were shown images of real and AI-generated faces and classified each as real or fake. Super-recognisers performed significantly above chance, with decision confidence positively correlated with accuracy, indicating metacognitive insight. In contrast, typical observers performed at chance level, with no insight into their accuracy. Aggregating responses using a wisdom-of-crowds approach improved super-recogniser accuracy substantially but did not affect typical observer accuracy. To understand the basis of super-recognisers’ enhanced sensitivity to real faces, we examined the facial cues used by each group. Super-recognisers and typical observers showed qualitative differences, with super-recognisers relying less on perceived familiarity and memorability—cues that have previously misled typical observers when assessing face authenticity. These findings suggest that understanding individual differences in face-processing ability may help mitigate risks associated with hyper-realistic AI faces."

[ Latest additions ]
rand

“You maniacs, you blew it up!”

I tried to train my color vision

Neuroplasticity
November 6th, 2024

Via Sequencer Magazine: "We don’t understand color vision as well as you’d think from decades of academic study. We have classic theories of how red, green, blue, yellow, bright, and dark encode in the brain. […] 'That’s still the theory you get in textbooks. But it’s a very naive theory,' he said. 'There’s a whole mystery of how the brain really represents color.' […] In a pivotal study from 2009, their team at the University of Washington cured color blindness in monkeys […] Most color deficiencies come from anomalies in the cones, but one form called “dichromatism” is a genetic condition where one cone is entirely missing. The Neitzes treated dichromat monkeys with this categorically severe version of color blindness. And not only did they replace the missing type of cone with a first-of-its-kind gene therapy, they did this in adult monkeys, raising entirely new questions about sensory plasticity. I’m not getting this treatment anytime soon. The therapy is far from approval and, more importantly, I’m not so deficient that I want an eye injection that temporarily detaches the retina.

[ Latest additions ]

Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts offers a unique master's degree program that enriches artistic jazz education in Germany. Their partner is the hr-Bigband – one of the world's most renowned ensembles of its kind.

Workshop @ HfMDK Frankfurt

Self-promotion: How to communicate your projects successfully
September 26th,  2024

Hendrika Entzian, professor for Bigband & Composition/Arrangement in Jazz and also current chair of the master's degree program in Big Band for players, writers and conductors at the prestigious Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts, invited me a second time to give a 2-days workshop on Self Promotion.

The workshop strengthens self consciousness and empathy by asking, what do you want to communicate and to whom?

[ Latest additions ]
rand

Kanreki

Cycles of sixty years: A celebration of re-born
August 8th, 2024

Via Wikipedia: "The traditional lunisolar calendars in the Sinosphere (Chinese calendar, Japanese calendar, Korean calendar) observe sexagenary cycles: cycles of sixty years. Thus, living sixty years had special significance as one completed a full cycle. Some saw it as the start of a second lifetime, and thus as an opportunity to give up some responsibility and return to enjoying life as children do."

Via Iromegane: "60th birthday is one of the biggest birthdays in Japan and is called Kanreki (還暦) in Japanese. This kanji, 還 (kan) means circulate and 暦 (reki) is a calendar and we can understand it as years. So kanreki literary means, your years completed a circle, in other word, you come back to the same year as when you were born.

Still puzzled? This comes from the way ancient Japanese people counted the years. They didn´t use the Gregorian calendar but the lunar calendar and each year was counted with 12 different animals, which is called Junishi (十二支) ; Ne (子/ mouse), Ushi (牛/ cow), Tora (寅/ tiger), U (卯/ rabbit), Tatsu (辰/ dragon), Mi (巳/ snake), Uma (馬/ horse), Hitsuji (未/ sheep), Saru (申/ monkey), Tori (酉/ chicken), Inu (戌/ dog), I (亥/ hog). This is still kept in the modern Japanese life. By the way, this year, 2015 is a year of sheep and the next year 2016 is a year of monkey.

Wait, if there are 12 animals, when it circulate completely, it only takes 12 years and you should be 12 but not 60. Mathematically incorrect. Each year is combined with one of Jikkan (十干), which indicate time and space and there are, Kinoe (甲), Kinoto (乙), Hinoe (丙), Hinoto (丁), Tuchinoe (戊), Tsuchinoto (己), Kanoe (庚), Kanoto (辛), Mizunoe (壬), Mizunoto (癸). For example, this year is a year of sheep and with jikkan, it´s Kinoto Hitsuji (乙未).

The combinations are 60 in total and that is why kanreki makes sense as one circle. As the person completes whole 60 combinations, the 60th birthday is also a celebration of re-born. The person will start a new circle of life."

[ Latest additions ]

The Swimmer by Elisabeth McBrien: Study 3/4. Acrylic on Canvas. 9”x12”.

Consciousness makes sense

Keywords: Consciousness, Evolution, Amniotes, Feelings, Neurology, Nonconscious processing, Cognition
July 23rd, 2024

Via PsyArXiv Preprints: "In this paper, I try to add details and credence to a previously suggested, evolution-based model of consciousness. According to this model, the feature started to evolve in early amniotes (reptiles, birds, and mammals) some 320 million years ago. The reason was the introduction of feelings as a strategy for making behavioral decisions."

Thanks to my favorite blog the new shelton wet/dry!

[ Latest additions ]

This fall, PST ART, presented by Getty Museum, will take over Southern California with over 70 exhibitions carrying the theme of science and technology. To inaugurate this event, Cai Guo-Qiang, known for his explosion events (pictured is Sky Ladder from 2015), will present a daytime firework event at the LA Coliseum, entitled WE ARE. Using organic, sustainable pigments and advanced AI, this will be the first choreographed drone formation equipped with pyrotechnics in US history.

What if absolutely everything is conscious?

More on panpsychism
July 13th, 2024

Via Vox: "The big problem for materialists is what contemporary philosopher David Chalmers dubbed the hard problem of consciousness. In a nutshell, the problem is this: You’re conscious. But if you’re just made of non-conscious matter, why and how exactly could consciousness arise from that? […]

Panpsychism lets you bypass the hard problem of consciousness altogether. That’s because the panpsychist starts out with the right ingredients. If you believe that consciousness resides, however minimally, in matter’s tiniest building blocks — atoms, electrons, quarks — then it’s much easier to explain how sophisticated forms of consciousness can eventually arise in, say, humans. This fits very well with the theory of evolution, which says that creatures gradually became more complex as they evolved. […]

In a landmark 2006 paper, Strawson took this idea and ran with it, making a radical argument: Materialism, he said, actually entails panpsychism. Consciousness is real. (We know that from our own experience.) Everything is physical. (There’s no evidence that immaterial stuff exists.) Therefore, consciousness is physical. There’s no radical emergence in nature. (We don’t get something from nothing.) Consciousness emerging from totally non-conscious stuff would be radical emergence. Therefore, all stuff must have some consciousness baked into it."

[ Latest additions ]
rand

A page from the manuscript for Galina Ustvolskaya’s Symphony No. 2. (Credit: Paul Sacher Foundation, Basel)

Where are the Female Composers

Evidence on the Extent and Causes of Gender Inequality in Music History
June 17th, 2024

Via Association for Cultural Economics International, "Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Frédéric Chopin are household names, but few will recognize Francesca Caccini, Elisabeth Lutyens or Amy M. Beach, who are among the top-10 female composers of all time. Why are female composers overshadowed by their male counterparts? Using novel data on over 17,000 composers who lived from the sixth to the twentieth centuries, we conduct the first quantitative exploration of the gender gap among classical composers. We use the length of a composer’s biographical entry in Grove Music Online to measure composer prominence, and shed light on the determinants of the gender gap with a focus on the development of composers’ human capital through families, teachers, and institutionalized music education. The evidence suggests that parental musical background matters for composers’ prominence, that the effects of teachers vary by the gender of the composer but the effects of parents do not, and while musician mothers and female teachers are important, they do not narrow the gender gap in composer prominence. We also find that the institutionalization of music education in conservatories increases the relative prominence of female composers."

Read full paper by Karol Jan Borowiecki, Martin Hørlyk Kristensen, Marc T. Law here.

[ Latest additions ]
rand

Dagsson is an Icelandic cartoonist, comedian, and person.

Anekdote zur Senkung der Arbeitsmoral

A short story by Heinrich Böll
May 6th, 2024

Via Wikipedia: "Anekdote zur Senkung der Arbeitsmoral ('Anecdote on Lowering the work ethic') is a short story by Heinrich Böll about an encounter between an enterprising tourist and a small fisherman, in which the tourist suggests how the fisherman can improve his life. It was written for a Labour Day programme on the Norddeutscher Rundfunk in 1963, and is considered one of the best stories written by Heinrich Böll.

The story is set in an unnamed harbor on the west coast of Europe. A smartly-dressed enterprising tourist is taking photographs when he notices a shabbily dressed local fisherman taking a nap in his fishing boat. The tourist is disappointed with the fisherman's apparently lazy attitude towards his work, so he approaches the fisherman and asks him why he is lying around instead of catching fish. The fisherman explains that he went fishing in the morning, and the small catch would be sufficient for the next two days.

The tourist tells him that if he goes out to catch fish multiple times a day, he would be able to buy a motor in less than a year, a second boat in less than two years, and so on. The tourist further explains that one day, the fisherman could even build a small cold storage plant, later a pickling factory, fly around in a helicopter, build a fish restaurant, and export lobster directly to Paris without a middleman.

The nonchalant fisherman asks, 'Then what?'

The tourist enthusiastically continues, 'Then, without a care in the world, you could sit here in the harbor, doze in the sun, and look at the glorious sea.'

'But I'm already doing that', says the fisherman.

The enlightened tourist walks away pensively, with no trace of pity for the fisherman, only a little envy."

[ Latest additions ]