The choice of Simon Starling as the winner of Britains premier visual arts award, the Turner Prize, was a triumph for ideas, if not aesthetics. Starlings signature installation,
Some years ago the Italian writer Claudio Magris gave a lecture in London about art and (un)happiness, drawing attention to the paradox whereby artists often portray the tragedy of
Ken Worpoles writing on openDemocracy includes:
Stockholm Woodland Cemetery (January 2003)
Essex shores, Essex lives (September 2003)
Death in the Luxembourg gardens (October 2003)
There is nothing, then there
If I could choose only one book on the planet, it would be this book, said Dr Iona Heath, a Camden GP for nearly thirty years, flourishing a copy of
Over the past year the Ecology & Place theme of openDemocracy.net has given much attention to the food people eat, the rituals which attend its preparation and consumption, its
Tiffany Jenkinss defence of the right of western museums to retain human remains excavated from former colonial territories lacks any kind of historical or cultural perspective, or indeed any
Death is never far from the surface in many cities. The familiar streets and buildings have too frequently in the past witnessed violent religious programmes, political insurrections and their brutal
In recent years it has been hard to find someone with a kind word to say about Essex, that obdurate county to the east of London. It has become the
Landscape is of little value but as it hints or expresses the thoughts of man.
"Harvest Moon", by Samuel Palmer (1805-1881)
In the past few months at openDemocracy
The attachment to landscape is part of the identity of every individual and every culture. The familiar streets, squares, parks, canals, fields and hills of childhood are an integral part
The world, it seems, is constantly on the move. People routinely travel more, and farther, than in any previous era in history, and huge material and social infrastructures are needed
The aesthetics of planning
We hope that we have opened up the debate over planning a debate that has been either prematurely closed or strategically avoided by those charged with
