Lesson Nº 1 + The Ascension
Glenn Branca has always been a musician positioned halfway between the role of avant-garde composer and that of a rock musician. A pupil and disciple of the masters of American minimalism such as La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Philip Glass and Steve Reich, he has always had to fight against prejudice and fierce criticism. His position was certainly uncomfortable, too academic for rock fans and too “politically incorrect” for academics. In fact, Branca was trying to unhinge all the limits imposed by the rigid schemes of the avant-garde, aware of the fact that those who want to be truly avant-garde should have no limits. John Cage was also able to criticize him, even calling him a fascist ( Luciano Berio also did so for all minimalists) for the excessive rigidity of his compositions, even though he recognized his innovative power. After having created his best known album, The Ascension (1981), a true monument of maximalism played with a classical rock formation (guitars, bass and drums), he tries to approach a different format, the Symphony, as always halfway between rock and academia. Branca will like the experiment and will re-propose it several times in the following decades, to date there are sixteen symphonies (not all recordings are available). Here is how young Branca’s ensemble appeared to the American composer John Adams in one of his first live performances of the First Symphony: “Branca’s event that I listened to at the Japan Center Theater in San Francisco in 1981 was one of his symphonies for guitar . The group didn’t look very different from thousands of other independent or alternative rock bands of the time: guys in jeans and worn t-shirts busy with cables while maintaining that typical distracted expression of rock musicians.

Psychometrische
De laatkapitalistische netwerkcultuur is geobsedeerd door het verbeteren van prestaties. TED-sprekers zijn cultidolen en delen hun geboden voor succes en productiviteit. Op sociale netwerken worden onze vrienden merken en merken worden onze vrienden. Zelfhulpboeken zijn uitwisselbaar met bedrijfsfilosofieën. In de vergaderzaal – en de weekendbijlagen – leren we onszelf vorm te geven, consequent te zijn, te opereren. Entropie verminderen. Maximaliseer de consistentie. Word een industrie van één. Je bent een motor. Op een dag vlieg je weg.

Moncler Genie Herbst 2020
Seit seiner Gründung hat das Moncler-Genie-Projekt Designer aus verschiedenen Kulturen gebeten, Kapselkollektionen zu kreieren, die von der legendären Moncler-Pufferjacke inspiriert sind. Der in London lebende Designer Richard Quinn besuchte für seine Kollektion den Retro-Futurismus der sechziger Jahre. Mit klaren Einflüssen wie Stanley Kubricks 2001: A Space Odyssey und Twiggy verbindet die Kollektion perfekt Maximalismus, kräftige Farben und Couture-Formen. Natürlich wurden Quinns Blumendrucke – Teil seiner Design-DNA – nicht zurückgelassen.

Luz, volume, escala, desorientação, infinitude, ilusão e realidade: estes os vetores da arte da luz como praticada por Doug Wheeler no contexto de um movimento ao mesmo tempo minimalista nos materiais físicos da obra e maximalista quanto à amplitude de sensações provocadas. “Luz e espaço” é o título de uma tendência reunindo artistas em torno interessados na luz surgida na Califórnia nos anos 1960. Piloto de aviões, Doug Wheeler anotou as sensações estimulantes e desnorteantes do vôo; de modo análogo, suas obras “desestabilizam nosso sentido de equilíbrio e nos levam a mover-nos em compasso com a Terra na direção de um horizonte inalcançável”. Outro modo de dizer a mesma coisa é destacar que Doug Wheeler busca a experiência do sublime.

Moncler’s Genius Fall 2020
Since its inception, the Moncler genius project has asked designers coming from diverse cultures to create capsule collections inspired by the iconic Moncler puffer jacket. For his collection, london-based designer Richard Quinn visited the retro-futurism of the sixties. With clear influences like stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and Twiggy, the collection perfectly blends maximalism, bold colors and couture shapes. Of course, Quinn’s flower prints — part of his design DNA — were not left behind.

Opulent Virulence
“My collection is inspired by my fascination with nature; an interpretation of the complexity and unrestrained beauty of nature, which I express through complex layering, colour and a maximalist aesthetic that takes joy in abundance and opulence. I create my own ecosystems of layered and built fabrics in knit, print and unconventional embroidery. My clothes are in a state of rewilding – I infect the silhouettes with rich colourful textiles, giving them life. I grow my embroideries over graphic and sculptural silhouettes to emphasise and contrast the organic and the built landscape.” Rosie Danford Phillips