I recently saw an article in yahoo news praising the work of Chinese artists Liu Bolin. Assisted by a team of painters, he spends hours being painted while posing to match the elements of the space which he is blending into. He has blended into spaces ranging from a forest to a grocery store shelf. Bolin told the Daily Mail that his art is "designed to show how we all can just disappear in today's mass production world." I think that his art is a creative and eloquent way of making a statement. Especially one that is so relevant to our culture. People eat the same food, wear the same shoes, and listen to the same music.
The "general consensus" within popular culture is far to great. I feel there is less and less individuality in this world. The absence of original thought is ever present. I feel a lot of this has to do with our education system. There are far to many teachers who just feed us facts and expect us to regurgitate it back. What happened to creativity in the classroom, fun, participation? Rather then convey new knowledge we are relearning old knowledge. I feel this is especially problematic in the sciences. I commend places like Germany for practicing the Wissenschaft model. A model of education that is all about research and the cultivation of new knowledge. It is refreshing and inspiring as a student when i enter a class and am given an opportunity to create. I commend professors who give us the opportunity to think out side the box, be original, and have fun. It is learning environments such as this, that lead to individuality and originality.
