Nikio

There are many ways of how to define creativity and its finest results. It probably depends on how you look at it, but I like the idea that each creative output is a product of motivation, skill and taste. Motivation keeps you going, it makes you (wanna) do stuff and it is pretty clear that without the motivation any creativity is nonexistent. Then you must have skills. You must know your devices as well as you possibly can. Despite the obvious talent, it would be impossible for Elton John to compose a song without mastering the piano. Or Michelangelo to sculpt something like David without being really good with stone. This is why every art form calls for constant and fanatic practice.

A lot of people are motivated. They desperately want to do art or science. Some of them learn the skills. But very few have the taste to know in which direction aim their creativity. Taste can be understood as a set of values that guide you trough the process of creation. Even in most trivial of situations you can spot the lack of taste immediately. There are many people who clearly have enough clothes, but they combine them in the wrong way. It is not the lack of clothes that makes them look like clowns, it is the lack of taste. It is the lack of taste to blame that many technically good painters never go beyond what it is sold on the beaches or postcards. It is the same for photography. They are motivated, they have the technical skill, but they don't know what is really good so they aim too low.

So how to acquire a good taste? In my experience this happens with constant criticism. You must put your work under the scrutiny of yourself and others. You might get hurt, but that is a good thing. Bad feelings fade away, the lesson remains. You must also see and judge as many other works as you possibly can (this doesn't necessarily involve informing your peer about the opinion). If you are an architect you should devote at least some part of your every day to review other architects' work. When I was a freshman, a very dear very professor said: "A day without looking at an architectural magazine is a lost day." Today I know how right he was. By looking at magazines you develop a clear taste of what is good and what is not. You later apply that taste to your own work. Without the taste your motivation and skills are simply misguided into wrong directions. And this goes not just for design or arts, it is true for every activity. Because of that many good works of art are very simple and resourceful. You don't need a huge budget to create something original. You don't need many resources. But you need a good taste for it.

Yesterday I came back from UMMI Summer Camp which was an incredible experience on so many different levels. I was responsible for the architectural workshop with 6 high-school students, who at the end presentet 3 excellent projects for the city of Ankaran. It is amazing how smart and creative they all are and I am so proud to be a little part of that process. Thank you guys for letting me work with you

Today I visited the frist in a series of three lectures (link to pdf, 800kb) by Dr. Or Ettlinger who obtained his Doctorade on the field of virtual architecture or virtual space in general. The lecture answered many of fundamental questions of virtual(-ity) and the least I can say is that it was mindblowing. I would really like to share some insights based on my notes and my own thoughts from the lecture.
So here it goes.

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Well, don't be afraid, I don't mean the software nor our community, but National Opera house in Ljubljana, which is being renewed. The whole stage and backstage part is being torn down for the reconstruction and it get's really interesting to see what is the skeleton of such house like.

Besides that, it was one of the hottest days of the year. In Ljubljana I measured 36°C. Of course the temperature that one feels is infact higher due to heavy infra-red radiaton comming from the asphalt, steel and concrete. Big cities are in summer really not a place to live in. People found different ways to cope with heat. Many of them layed down in shady parks.

One of the most fascinating periods of all is the Renaissance. Of course, when you look closer, every period is very interesting, but the Renaissace was the period of great artist's like da Vinci, Michelangelo, Bruneleschi and many others. There is a reason why we know about them. Ever since Dante's time, Chatolic curch had lost a lot of it's power and respect (due to dirty business they were in) and two things happened: (1) builders were not building "for the God himself" and therefore their name became important (for their own social benefit). Gothic builders of the chatedrals were at least as genius, but majority of them remained anonymus, because their name was not important in comparison to God's work. And (2), due to churches smaller impact, secular activities gained it's attention. Art was not just for the sake of God, but also for the sake of more human needs, such as love and even erotic needs(check out Botticelli's Birth of Venus for that matter). Many of that happened on behalf of the Medici family, which supported such activity.

The first artist that they sponsored was Filippo Brunelleschi who built the dome over the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. How did he do it? What was the paradigm underneath it?

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I'm thrilled over the fascinating options of using OpenSource software. My dream is that every software could be OpenSource. Right now I'm in the middle of learning the complex program for 3d modelling called Blender. The program it self it is extremly powerful, but my "built-in windows paradigm" isn't just ready yet to use something more intuitive.
This is one of my very first renderings... I't is not something special, just something you make in the process of learing new tools. I don't even expect you to like it

Ljubljana is very charming at spring time, mostly because of it's very prominent vegetation. A river of Ljubljanica adds it's part. For the last two weeks we had very high temperatures for this time of year (up to 18°C). Thank you Globar warming, it was very kind of you . Of course there are many caffe shops beside the river and people enjoy sitting there, chatting and having a good time. When the trees will get greeneer and the grass will grow up it shall be even nicer. But we have wait an other month for that.