History of the World through 100 objects

rod

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"History of the World through 100 objects....making us human"

is a new BBC radio 4 programme which started last Monday. It is a daily radio lecture of 15 minutes and will go on for 100 talks from the British Museum, and the first show is about a chip-carved hand axe, perhaps one million years old.

I know that many of us are well equipped with our favourite music, as we work at the bench, however BBC radio 4 (intelligent speech) is a priceless asset now available world wide through the wonder of fast internet, and in its handy website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio/bbc_radio_four/2010-01-21

is an example of today's wide ranging offerings, including the number 4 of the above series.

The series website is:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nrtd2

There you may catch up on all of this week's talks.

Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, narrates 100 programmes that retell humanity's history through the objects we have made.

MacGregor has thought deeply about his subject, and I highly recommend this daily 15 minutes for our listening, as we all aspire to be part of this long timeline. Who knows, some of the best pieces in the Forums might well someday be in the British Museum, or its other national equivalents?

Ideally, this post could have been added to Arnaud's brave thread on art/craft that opened such a wide variety of personal views. The response was so great however, that I have started a new thread. In the context of listening to this BBC series on toolmaking/art/ humanity, I will reprint my perhaps irritating post from Arnaud's thread, the better to receive the slings and arrows of differing views:

Arnaud,

Thank you for lighting the fuse on this well attended post!

Art is as thorny a subject as that other three letter word...god. There is no general agreement on what it means, yet everyone is free to offer their view.

Try this on for size:

There is no such person as an artist, there are only moments when 'art' is up at bat, so to speak. I would invite you to consider that the word art could be used to describe the moment, and it can be a long moment, when we as individuals are impacted by the work or behavior of another which in some way expands our sense of what it is to be a human being. That is, you or I walk away from the experience with a richer, deeper understanding of who we are, not necessarily with a deeper experience of who the "artist" is. It has no particular form, and could indeed be the style and grace with which your morning coffee is served to you. When an "artist" is not producing the above experience, she/he is simply another human being. So we cannot rest upon our laurels unless we are expanding and deepening the lives of our fellow humans. Jewelry making, engraving, etc., are perfectly good areas to deliver on this, yet almost any activity is an opportunity to deliver the goods, if done with a good heart. It must always be inflecting in the direction of a new transformational experience to the beholder.

No?

Rod
 

mdengraver

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Joined
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Messages
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Rockville, MD
This is great! Thanks for sharing!

This is great! Thanks for sharing! It will definitely expand our definition and meaning of the word art and artist/craftsman/artisan, etc.
 

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