Showing 75 articles
Art and Philosophical Ideals
Author: Rasha KawarMay 13, 2021
Art has the ability to elevate us. In equal measure it can provoke, disturb, and challenge us. Art can do many things, but perhaps at its best it can connect us not only to each other, but also to something higher, a more perfect ideal beyond the realm of the material. There are many lenses [...]
The Power of Sound
Author: Paul CummingsMay 12, 2021
Paying attention to what you hear is a way to relax. The sounds of nature provide a great deal of meditational calmness, such as listening to the rolling of ocean waves or bird song in the garden. Our ancestors strived to achieve entering altered states of mind by making sounds. They did this by chanting [...]
Reviving a Culture of Human Values
Author: Zarina ScrewvalaMarch 31, 2021
The New Acropolis Culture Circle explores the diverse expressions of culture through a series of intimate and interactive presentations, in an attempt to revive the spiritual essence that forms the basis of all classical art and culture. Far from being definitive, this article is an attempt to share a synthesis of my learning from some of the [...]
Titian: Combining the Sensual with the Divine
Author: Siobhan FarrarNovember 19, 2020
Titian (c. 1488-1576) is arguably the greatest Venetian painter of the Italian Renaissance, who earned European-wide fame and recognition during his own lifetime. The collection of paintings referred to as his ‘poesies’ (a name he coined himself) delineate poetic pictures or poetry produced in painting and draw upon the Roman poet Ovid’s classic epic, Metamorphoses [...]
The Dance of Life
Author: Trishya ScrewvalaOctober 14, 2020
Dance is a universal language that transcends geography and time; it is a means to express sentiments that cannot be captured in words. Although forms of dance differ across cultures, the aspiration of a true dancer always seems to remain the same – to assimilate and internalize principles of beauty, harmony and grace through movement [...]
Aesthetic Intelligence
Author: Sabine LeitnerOctober 1, 2020
We have probably all heard about different types of intelligence: kinaesthetic, verbal, logical-mathematical and lately also emotional and even spiritual intelligence. Recently I came across the term aesthetic intelligence and it inspired me to think about what this could mean in a philosophical and metaphysical way and why it might be important. From a philosophical [...]
John Keats: Immortal Beauty
Author: Maria Virginia ReinaOctober 1, 2020
“A thing of beauty is a joy forever. Its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness” So begins the epic poem Endymion by John Keats. And in these opening lines, as through his exquisite body of work, he presents to us one of the core themes of his poetry, if not all art: that [...]
Artiste Extraordinaire: Ramaa Bharadvaj
Author: Manjula NanavatiJuly 20, 2020
Ramaa Bharadvaj is a celebrated dancer, choreographer, storyteller, educator, writer and arts-curator. She has lived and worked in the US for 32 years, where she was the recipient of numerous prestigious awards for choreography, as well as for her exemplary contribution to the Arts in California. She has served on the boards of both state [...]
When Does a Renaissance Start? The meaning of the Annunciation
Author: Nataliya PetlevychJanuary 22, 2020
History is rich with inspiring examples of the human spirit flourishing. One of the strongest among them is the Renaissance. It generated a change in the perception of the world and provided a new understanding of the human being, reviving the idea of interconnection between the Macrocosm (the Universe/divine) and the Microcosm (the human being). [...]
The Oldest Art and the Origins of Humankind
Author: Miha KosirNovember 30, 2019
Art forms are a sign of the emergence of symbolic thinking and, in this way, art represents a fundamental threshold in the evolution of humankind. It is what makes us human. Scientists have found evidence of cave paintings, sculpted figures, decorated bone tools and jewellery. Paintings in caves like Chauvet, Altamira and Lascaux go back [...]
Celebrating the Meaning of Life in Warli Art
Author: Shraddha ShettyOctober 13, 2019
“They still look upon life as a gift to be celebrated; and this ancient Earth as one to be praised, worshipped and also celebrated. They are the one to whom the earth is not something to be used, not a possession or an object for exploitation but a living entity, an object of reverence, and [...]
The Temples of Ancient Egypt
Author: Agostino DominiciAugust 25, 2019
Introduction The quality of a civilisation’s culture is most visible in its art and more particularly in its architectural accomplishments, for these are usually its most complex and long-lasting forms. It’s hard to conceive of a more awe-inspiring architecture than that found in ancient Egypt. The essence and message of Egyptian architecture remained unaltered throughout [...]