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There\u2019s an interesting book club in Berlin that focuses on art, design and architecture. The book club is fairly recent and the members are from various different backgrounds: architects, various designers, illustrators, art history and some who do not seem to have a connection to the design nor art world but have a native sensitivity to the philosophy of aesthetics.<\/p>\n

Last week, we looked at a book that is dear to me, In Praise of Shadows by\u00a0Junishir\u014d\u00a0Tanizaki.\u00a0<\/em>For those that follow my work with The Dark Art, you\u2019re probably\u00a0aware of\u00a0how this particular essay has influenced my views on this topic.<\/p>\n

In Praise of Shadows has been a reference for The Dark Art. Many of the important issues from the darkness debate revolve around concepts that are close interpretations of this book: the concept of aesthetics and beauty being born from shadow and mystery; the importance of balance in\u00a0one’s\u00a0life and how the inner\u00a0self extends\u00a0to the built environment, where shadow is a fundamental\u00a0counter balance\u00a0to light; and finally the concept of refuge and safety that we feel when comforted by shadow and how these feelings are the perfect ingredients for deep thought and inner creativity.<\/p>\n

To my surprise, the book club did not feel this to be a great book. The club compared\u00a0Junishiro\u2019s\u00a0essay to ramblings of an old man that strayed from one topic to another. This is not to say that they did not find the book interesting but simply that for each new topic or shadow reference, there\u00a0was\u00a0a 50% hit and miss chance it being inspirational.<\/p>\n

To a certain extent, the book club is right and to another extent, they are not. Within Junichiro’s ramblings are visionary elements of design and aesthetics that go beyond anything else that was written at the time. In Praise of shadows is an ode to mindfulness where beauty becomes a core element of life and an appreciation of beauty is found hidden within the understated nuances of shadow.<\/p>\n

So, to help cherry pick the ramblings, here are my favourite quotes:<\/p>\n

Life
\n\u201cThe quality that we call beauty, however, must always grow from the realities of life\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Mindfulness.
\n\u201c\u2026we Orientals tend to seek our\u00a0satisfactions\u00a0in whatever surroundings we happened to find ourselves, to content ourselves with things as they are\u2026 If\u00a0light\u00a0is scarce then\u00a0light\u00a0is scarce; we will immerse ourselves in the darkness and there discover its own particular beauty.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Consumerism and Excess
\n\u201cThe progressive Westerner is determined always to better his lot. From candle to\u00a0oil\u00a0lamp, oil lamp to gaslight, gaslight to electric light \u2013 his quest for a brighter light never ceases, he spares no pains to eradicate even the minutest shadow.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Sustainability
\n\u201cA room should be brighter in Winter, but dimmer in Summer\u2026 But people will light the lights, then switch on an electric fan to combat the heat. The very thought annoys me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Place, Space and Design Book Club Berlin
\nhttps:\/\/www.meetup.com\/Place-Space-and-Design-Bookclub-Berlin\/<\/a><\/p>\n

In Praise of Shadows
\nhttp:\/\/dcrit.sva.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/In-Praise-of-Shadows-Junichiro-Tanizaki.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

The Dark Art
\nwww.thedarkart.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s an interesting book club in Berlin that focuses on art, design and architecture. The book club is fairly recent and the members are from various different backgrounds: architects, various designers, illustrators, art history and some who do not seem to have a connection to the design nor art world but have a native sensitivity […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oct_exclude_from_cache":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philiprafael.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philiprafael.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philiprafael.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philiprafael.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philiprafael.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.philiprafael.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":351,"href":"http:\/\/www.philiprafael.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions\/351"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philiprafael.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philiprafael.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philiprafael.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philiprafael.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}