¿Futuro largo?
A few years ago I remember hearing about the 639-year-long John Cage organ performance in Halberstadt, Germany (which started in 2001). For those of you who don’t know, Cage was the modern composer most famous for his 4′33″ of silence (in three movements, no less!). The choice to define “As Slow As Possible” as requiring 639 years seemed arbitrary and slightly ridiculous — until I read more about the project. It’s definitely one of those things that impresses more and more as you learn more of its details. (But I’ll let you read those details for yourself, if you’re interested.)
Speaking…o.f…….s..l..o..w……… (and on a closely-related theme), I recently heard about an interesting organization, The Long Now Foundation, which is committed to long-term thinking, planning and archiving (long term as in a 10,000 Year Clock!). Among its board members is musician Brian Eno. They promote “slower/better” thinking as an alternative to today’s “faster/cheaper” mindset. I loved the essay by Stewart Brand, where he quotes Danny Hillis, talking about how we used to look forward and imagine what life might be like in the year 2000. Each year, our future seemed to “shrink” as we approached 2000. And now, it seems “no one mentions a future date at all.”