Incommunicado

I am not inspired to write a long essay on the "eternal and useless discussion" about art and design. You know that for me the difference depends on which is the ultimate goal of an object: if the goal is only to communicate, then it is art. If the main goal of an object is to satisfy a specific need (other than aesthetic recreation or communicate an idea) then it is design. Joan Costa wrote a nice dialogue about it, at foro alfa.

The issue of allowing students to use "text message" language on their exams was overshadowed by the stadium discussion in NZ. I guess people are more preocupied with rugby than culture. Yes! it is a cultural issue. Language is a very important part in the intrincate construction of culture. *by the way, I was listening to Barthes lectures on semiology, and there are some interesting facts regarding how complex become the meanings on cultures that do have "genre": masculin, femenin and neutral, compared to those cultures that do not have that distinction (check out the Inagural Lecture 1977). Anyway, there are many arguments against using text language, one for instance is that there are no set rules for that manner of communication. Everyone that uses txt msg knws dat not evry1 writes u-c-ng tha same ruls or abbrviatns 4 the same words:

Which raises a serious question; Who will translate test papers written in “text-speak” for a teacher that doesn’t understand the lingo?

That means now, for a question like “Describe Pythagoras’ theorem” the answer wouldn’t be “a2 + b2 = c2,” but rather:

CU jus take the shawt sides xx2 + = big side xx2

This is a sad day indeed for the country of New Zealand, which has totally diluted its educational standards.

Internet blogger Phil Stevens was not amused by the announcement. “NZQA (New Zealand Qualifications Authority): u mst b joking,” Stevens wrote. “or r u smoking sumthg?”

So, back to art and design. I found out recently that our friend Mauricio Macedo started his blog, where you can admire some of his ceramic works, including this piece which was winner of the national ceramics price 2003. We were always amazed by his pieces... and we still use "his head" to keep our loose change coins in our living room. You can also see his extraordinary collection of dices in one of our videos.

ciao