What is the non sense? What is behind it? What is hided in the things that makes no sense at all?! Why we have them in our lives?! Who’s responsible of generating that?! Are we attracting the non sense ... or we are the ones behind the creation of it?! Should we accept it ... or simple smile in front of it ... and actually understand that the non sense itself is the expression of the fact that we are on a journey on a pathless path?! Lots of question ... and maybe no real answer. Or maybe lots of answers ... but none of them is satisfying us. I was reading tons of books ... with the hope that one day ... i will find the right algorithm so that i can totally remove the non sense from my life. Until one day ... when a lady friend of mine ... that i consider an expert into dealing and understanding the energies of life ... told me ... “Why do you think the nonsense is keep appearing yourself .... but is not present at all in my life?! Why those situations are appearing on and on and on?! I am sure ... you can accept ... at least for a while ... that the problem itself is not life and circumstances ... but you.” As always ... she was tough with me, but each time i was speaking with her ... i was clarifying for myself lots of things. But the ... nonsense ... was still there. It was indeed a part of my life ... and i had to learn how to deal with it. Somehow ... i was in the position of being forced to learn to practice the non sense as an ... art. It’s quite a ridiculous concept .... but there was nothing else to do ... cause it appeared on and on and on. Each day i was waking up ... i’ve been asking myself .... what the hell is going to happen today?! What else ... could it be?! I felt trapped in a prison with invisible walls ... and i could not find any way out of this story ... so all it was left to do was to see the message behind all what was going on. And until then ... i had to redefine my perceptions about any circumstances. Somehow the Universe was forcing me to become an artist .... in dealing and practicing daily nonsense ... but i was still hoping that one day the awakening moment will appear ... and the illusion of life will be revealed for me ...

He also addresses the phenomenon of art critiques as a microcosm for teaching art as a whole and dissects real-life critiques, highlighting presuppositions and dynamics that make them confusing and suggesting ways to make them more helpful. Elkins's no-nonsense approach clears away the assumptions about art instruction that are not borne out by classroom practice. For example, he notes that despite much talk about instilling visual acuity and teaching technique, in practice neither teachers nor students behave as if those were their principal goals. He addresses the absurdity of pretending that sexual issues are absent from life-drawing classes and questions the practice of holding up great masters and masterpieces as models for students capable of producing only mediocre art. He also discusses types of art--including art that takes time to complete and art that isn't serious--that cannot be learned in studio art classes.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to healing the wounds of traumatic experiences, although most survivors agree that just talking about the trauma does not work. Expressive arts therapy offers a wide range of potential solutions for trauma survivors by taking an all of the above approach to creative practices, working with multiple expressive pathways in a variety of combinations. This book invites you into artmaking, music, dancing, movement, writing, and other expressive practices to both cultivate your existing strengths and to help you step outside of your comfort zone. Explore how the practices of expressive arts can best support your healing and recovery journey.

A philosopher makes the case for thinking of works of art as tools for investigating ourselves In his new book, Strange Tools: Art and Human Nature, the philosopher and cognitive scientist Alva Noë raises a number of profound questions: What is art? Why do we value art as we do? What does art reveal about our nature? Drawing on philosophy, art history, and cognitive science, and making provocative use of examples from all three of these fields, Noë offers new answers to such questions. He also shows why recent efforts to frame questions about art in terms of neuroscience and evolutionary biology alone have been and will continue to be unsuccessful.

At the performance turn, this book takes a fresh 'how to' approach to Practice as Research, arguing that old prejudices should be abandoned and a PaR methodology fully accepted in the academy. Nelson and his contributors address the questions students, professional practitioner-researchers, regulators and examiners have posed in this domain.

Which sort of seducer could you be? Siren? Rake? Cold Coquette? Star? Comedian? Charismatic? Or Saint? This book will show you which. Charm, persuasion, the ability to create illusions: these are some of the many dazzling gifts of the Seducer, the compelling figure who is able to manipulate, mislead and give pleasure all at once. When raised to the level of art, seduction, an indirect and subtle form of power, has toppled empires, won elections and enslaved great minds. In this beautiful, sensually designed book, Greene unearths the two sides of seduction: the characters and the process. Discover who you, or your pursuer, most resembles. Learn, too, the pitfalls of the anti-Seducer. Immerse yourself in the twenty-four manoeuvres and strategies of the seductive process, the ritual by which a seducer gains mastery over their target. Understand how to 'Choose the Right Victim', 'Appear to Be an Object of Desire' and 'Confuse Desire and Reality'. In addition, Greene provides instruction on how to identify victims by type. Each fascinating character and each cunning tactic demonstrates a fundamental truth about who we are, and the targets we've become - or hope to win over. The Art of Seduction is an indispensable primer on the essence of one of history's greatest weapons and the ultimate power trip. From the internationally bestselling author of The 48 Laws of Power, Mastery, and The 33 Strategies Of War.

In a time of social distancing and isolation, a meditation on the beauty of solitude from renowned Buddhist writer Stephen Batchelor “Whatever a soul is, the author goes a long way toward soothing it. A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.”—Kirkus Reviews “Elegant and formally ingenious.”—Geoff Wisner, Wall Street Journal When world renowned Buddhist writer Stephen Batchelor turned sixty, he took a sabbatical from his teaching and turned his attention to solitude, a practice integral to the meditative traditions he has long studied and taught. He aimed to venture more deeply into solitude, discovering its full extent and depth. This beautiful literary collage documents his multifaceted explorations. Spending time in remote places, appreciating and making art, practicing meditation and participating in retreats, drinking peyote and ayahuasca, and training himself to keep an open, questioning mind have all contributed to Batchelor’s ability to be simultaneously alone and at ease. Mixed in with his personal narrative are inspiring stories from solitude’s devoted practitioners, from the Buddha to Montaigne, from Vermeer to Agnes Martin. In a hyperconnected world that is at the same time plagued by social isolation, this book shows how to enjoy the inescapable solitude that is at the heart of human life.

“Vive la Sociale”: This rousing, revolutionary statement, written on a bright red banner across the top of James Ensor's Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889, served as a visual manifesto and call to action by the Belgian artist (1860-1949), one that announced with an insistent, public voice the centrality of his art practice to the cultural discourse of modern Belgium. This provocative declaration serves as the title for this new study of Ensor's art focusing on its social discourse and the artist's interaction with and at times satirical encounter with his contemporary milieu. Rather than the alienated and traumatized Expressionist given preference in modern art history, Ensor is presented here as an artist of agency and purpose whose art practice engaged the issues and concerns of middle class Belgian life, society and politics and was informed by the values and class, race and gendered perspectives of his time. Ensor's radical vision and oppositional strategy of resistance, self-fashioning and performance remains relevant. This book with its timely, nuanced reading of the art and career of this often misunderstood “artist's artist”, invites a re-evaluation not only of Ensor's social context and expressive critique but also his unique contribution to modernist art practice.