Page 71 - David Bermant Foundation

70WadsWorth Exhibition CatalogIntroductory Essay David W. BermantForty-five years ago, F.S.C. Northrop, Sterling Professor (Emeritus) of Philosophy and Jurisprudence of Yale University, convinced me, as well as others, that the most vital art of one’s time was that art which incorporates the underlying reality of the world as discovered by the science of one’s time.This reality, as revealed by science and verified by experiment, has primary concepts or principles. Philosophy formulates these primary principles into a metaphysical system. This system’s intellectual concepts, understandable but to a few, is converted by religion and art into concrete symbols which convey emotion and feeling to everyone.For example, Aristotle’s discovery of the foundation of biological organization was incorporatedcenturies later by St. Thomas of Aquinas into a metaphysical system that became the basic principles of Catholicism. These principles were clothed by Catholic religion and the art inspired by it into emotion-filled symbols and metaphors.The primary concept, or underlying reality, of the science of our day is Relativity. Einstein added the fourth dimension to those of Newtonian physics: time. Therefore, the art of our day that incorporates time, or movement, motion, change, is the most vital of all the arts being created. It is the art of our time that will endure.In addition, this art of movement uses the technology of its day as a tool in creating its aesthetic effect.It uses technology’s materials, theories, and by- products; it celebrates it, criticizes it, even pokesfun at it. And how appropriate, since technologyis surely the one feature unique to our society that distinguishes it from every other society heretofore.Two thousand three hundred years ago, Aristotle urged his countrymen to place art in the ordinary, daily environment of their communities. Thus in the “agoras” or market places of ancient Greece, art was located along with commercial products.Twenty years ago, based on the above principles, I began placing the art of movement and technology into the shopping centers that I own in partnership with others. They are located east of the Mississippi, and range in size from community size centers of an open “strip” nature to large regional enclosed malls. My objective was to make my centers more pleasant places to visit. Since most shopping centers lookalike to me, I also feel that by adding an aesthetic dimension to an ordinary space, I am giving a special identity to my centers. I believe that, as a result, my centers will endure longer as viable economic entities. But why? What is it about art—and in particular this form of art—that endows an everyday public space with longevity?EXHIBITIONS