Forté #13

A few things that have inspired me lately and what I've been working on..

🍃 A collection of early Indian electronic music was recently uncovered at the archives of the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad and as you might expect it’s wonderfully bizarre and intriguing. Definitely worth a listen. There is also a BBC radio show where Paul Purgas documents his travels of India in search of the artists found on these monumental recordings.

🍃 Is anyone here using Are.na? I feel like it would be a hit with Substack users. It’s a website that’s hard to describe but is one that I’m perpetually fascinated by. It’s similar to one of those old bookmarking websites that I used to love—del.icio.us, We Heart It, StumbleUpon, et al. I heard it being described as “Pinterest for snobs” and that kinda works! Follow me if you’re over on Are.na.

🍃 Van Neistat waxing lyrical about how important it is to have a mentor in your life. This is particularly potent because I was talking to a friend about this just the other day. She was frustrated to have all of these great ideas of things she wanted to achieve in life but (in her own words) was too lazy to get started. I suggested that perhaps what she needs might be a mentor. When you have someone who believes in you, is holding you accountable and is pushing you to do your best work, then there really is no time to be lazy! I feel grateful to have had many mentors in my life who have inspired me and pushed me to work harder than I would if left to my own devices. Cody Ellingham of course being one of the biggest.

One of my favourite photos of Shanghai by Cody Ellingham

🍃 This fascinating video of an 81-year old Japanese blacksmith, Mizuochi san, making these stunning (and rather quite expensive) straight-edge razors. This particular forge is in Niigata in Northern Japan; an area renowned for its specialist blacksmiths. There’s also a charming video on YouTube of Mizuochi san himself sharpening one of these things. It’s all in Japanese but is interesting to see if you’re into that kind of thing!

🍃 In a hilarious new study it was found that “people cough twice as much during a classical concert and what is more, many do it on purpose.”

🍃 Whilst visiting his retrospective at the Tate Modern last week, I was struck by this quote from painter Philip Guston:

’Probably the only thing one can really learn, the only technique to learn, is the capacity to be able to change.’

Quite an apt thought for an artist whose style changed multiple times over his 50-year career!

Thank you for being here, let me know what’s inspiring you recently. Hitting subscribe is always welcome and please do share with someone who might enjoy.

SJF x