Explode Every Day: An Inquiry into the Phenomena of Wonder

by Denise Markonish, Lawrence Weschler (Contributor), Sean Foley (Contributor)

This book is a clarion call to artists, writers, and scientists to explore their willingness to wonder and drive to discover. Inspired by a quote from Ray Bradbury, "Explode Every Day" is a bold new exhibition harnessing the energy of wonder. This book features works touching on certain facets of wonder, including themes of the perceptual/visionary, technological/scientific, and time/cosmos. In compelling essays on the history of wonder and its intersection with myriad disciplines, including psychology, literature, and science, today’s great minds consider the many avenues for this phenomena. Interviews with the exhibition’s artists provide insight into individual processes of creativity and innovation. The result is an awe-inspiring exploration of the richness of from the every day to the ineffable.

Genres: Philosophy

336 pages, Hardcover

Published October 18, 2016

Reviews

[Gloria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exhibition catalogue (quite the production! this catalogue) for a MOCA exhibit I have never seen.
Design-wise: Intriguing. Some small issues with type and color.

Catalogues are hard as they try to capture or re-present an exhibit that most may never see. This one had some great interviews and short essays that enhanced the experience of the exhibition's concept. Some of the writing intrigued me to try to further examine/explore particular works. (Particularly one below; frustrated as I still do not have a good sense of the work...)

Received through a COVID BNG exchange; donated to a book sale. to benefit women's health.


Bervin's source material: Su Hui's poem "Xuanji Tu" [Picture of the Turning Sphere]: 29x29 character grid poem. Frustrating as the book doesn't (and her website doesn't) allow for close examination of the actual poem. I guess that makes sense, since "In the end, The Silk Poems is just that, a poem about silk made of silk." Bervin is not really dealing with the content of the poem itself, but rather that the original was on a piece of silk (scroll)...

Mary Ruefle, new to me, poet. Great piece in Granta https://granta.com/pause/

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very cool book, though designed to accompany a museum show at MASS MoCA and so perhaps less relevant for those (like me) who didn't see the exhibit. Each artist is interviewed about his or her definitions of wonder and first experiences with it, and the interview with Lawrence Weschler is intriguing, as always. That man is SO SMART.

I stumbled upon this when I was looking for books of Mary Ruefle's poems, which are interspersed throughout. My favorite section was about the Guinness Book of World Records, and I was thrilled to learn about Sam Green's "live" documentary (still not sure what that means *exactly* though):

http://filmmakermagazine.com/88390-fi...