aevaFeb 8
the magic of art is being able to see the world through another person's eyes, even in non-representational art: all the little decisions of what is important to depict in detail, the choices of color, composition, the energy of the marks, and so on is essentially a byproduct of the perspective and the experiences of the person who made it. you get to witness something deeply personal hiding in the artifact beyond just the image itself.
EidonFeb 8
Show threadaeva
ancient pottery has the fingerprints of the person who made it permanently embedded in it, and if you touch it, you can reach out and touch the hand of the person who made it across space and time immemorial and experience a brief fleeting connection to a long gone person you will never know. and then get thrown out of the museum.
Feb 8 at 9:39amWeb
Show threadSundewFeb 8
@aeva This, but source code.
Show threadSapFeb 8
@aeva I enjoyed the gag (thanks) but it also made me think of this research about what ancient fingerprints can (possibly) tell us:
Who Made the White Gold? Exploring the Demographics of Iron Age Salt Production in England through Fingerprint Analysis | Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society | Cambridge Core https://share.google/ncsRpEri3CA3NjprH
Who Made the White Gold? Exploring the Demographics of Iron Age Salt Production in England through Fingerprint Analysis | Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society | Cambridge Core

Who Made the White Gold? Exploring the Demographics of Iron Age Salt Production in England through Fingerprint Analysis - Volume 88

Cambridge Core
Show threadMortenFeb 8
@aeva Sometimes they let you touch. But typically only if you are blind and they make you wear gloves.
Show threadCM HarringtonFeb 8
@aeva @virtualbri that’s only if they catch you.
Show threadBrian TatoskyFeb 8
@octothorpe lol 😆
Show threadKyle BlaineFeb 8

@aeva I got a good laugh, but it was also beautifully put; The punchline was a cherry on top. :P

I often marvel at old things like that, just imagining what they've "seen" and feeling like I could just reach out into time and meet their creator. It feels like such a thin barrier at times.

Thanks for making my day much better!

Show threaddemofoxFeb 8
@aeva this reminds me of when Picard touched an artifact and lived the life of an ancient person.
Show threadaevaFeb 9
@demofox there's a reason why they don't let you just touch stuff in the museum
Show threadMatt SutherlinFeb 9
@aeva @demofox think of the curses!
Show threadRmvhFeb 9
@aeva I remember grabbing a real silex stone tool in an interactive exhibit at the British Museum. The feeling of the sculpted stone matching so well the hollow of my hand gave me chills.
Show threadKarl AuerbachFeb 9
@aeva I was once wandering through Westminster Abbey in London and I came across the marker for Henry Purcell. I remembered one of his melodies and hummed it back to him, turning a centuries long transfer of musical feeling into a loop. It felt good to be in contact with a person who died centuries before I was born.
Show threadMattFeb 9
@aeva Love it! Leaving aside the museum punchline, your post encapsulates the feeling I used to have metal detecting, when I'd take something out of the ground that was last held in a human hand centuries ago. It's like time travel of the mind.