the thinking hand

Views of the exhibition of Enzo Mari's paperweight collection

"the intellectual work", exhibition curated by barbara casavecchia
kaleidoscope project space, april 13 - 30, 2010, Milan

"mari has always investigated the role of the intellectual, the cooperation of thinking

and doing, heads and hands. words and things.(...) but there is more.

granting the papers months and years to mature, to form geological
layers of meditation, also means escaping the oppressive mechanisms of the productive
system, the compulsive logic of efficiency at all costs. it means affording oneself
the subversive luxury of taking all the required time to develop a good project. it means
extending the range of research in order to get an overall picture, acting against
the increasing hyper-specialization that restrains creative expression nowadays.

(...) perhaps the paperweights and the notes are ultimately talismans, there to exorcise

the risk of being complacent and giving up the search."

'I could affirm that the intellectual work

lies in saying NO.
negation is addressed not only to others,

but also to your own goal, because the final
aim is getting to the essence.' - enzo mari

source images & text: designboom

The title of this post is taken from an expression which Erik

recently used to describe his ideas of art education, De Denkende Hand