Night Gallery - BRIE RUAIS

Night Gallery Los Angeles - Danielle Mckinney, Metamorphic

David Zwirner Gallery Los Angeles - Stan Douglas

Stan Douglas at David Zwirner Gallery Los Angeles.

It was a pleasant surprise to see his work again since I last saw these works at the Venezia Biennale 2022.

David Zwirner Gallery LA - Njideka Akunyili Crosby

Questions are the new answers

Came across this thought: ‘questions are the new answers’, which sounded immediately interesting. 



Here’s the Youtube clip. 



The art of asking the right questions | Tim Ferriss, Warren Berger, Hope Jahren & more | Big Think



Thought I’d writeup the key points here: 



Questions are becoming more valuable than answers



A lot of the time breakthroughs at the root of an innovation and research findings there is a great question. 



Questions enable us to organize our thinking around what we don’t know.



In a time when so much knowledge is all around us, answers are at our fingertips, we really need great questions in order to be able to know what to do with all that information, and find our way to the next answer.



You can see those things you’ve been seeing a little differently.



Curiosity question. A question that a child might come up with.



The initial curiosity driven question can be turned to other experts who know how that might play out into something that is important to the marketplace. 



There is no substitute to the first step, the little kid question. 



The issue is that schools value the answers and there is almost no value placed on asking a good question. 



Start by asking a naive question to yourself, and let them play out. That process can take us to something that is more concrete, actionable.



Questions are often at the root of innovation. 



A survival skill for all of us.



A tool.



Asking dumb questions can become a superpower.



‘I don’t understand, please explain that’



Absurd questions. Example, ‘if you had to accomplish all of your work or grow your company 2X while working two hours a week. If you had a gun against your head, how would you attempt to do that?’ These absurd questions don’t allow your to user your default frameworks for solutions. Forces you to think laterally, to break boundaries on the sphere of comfort that you’ve created for yourself. 

Journaling asking yourself these questions is powerful. 



You might come up with interesting ideas, leads you to an interesting direction. Take he seed and do something with it. 



Alex Bloomberg asking the dumb question during the subprime mortgage crisis, ‘why would banks lend money to people who stand next to no chance of paying it back?’ The thought that everyone had in their mind, sitting in front of us that no one was asking.  



Often the dumb question that no one seems to be asking is the smartest question you can ask. 



If you can override that embarrassment and be the one who ask dumb questions..it is a superpower. The questions here are the most powerful. 








 







Giuseppe Verdi - Italian Opera Composer


Opera Philadelphia
Giuseppe Verdi | Short Biography | Introduction To The Composer

Giuseppe Verdi  (1813-1901), Roncole, Italy (at the time Italy did not exist, and as the region was controlled by the French, he had a French birth certificate). Comes from a family of traders and small landowners. Mother was a spinner, father a innkeeper. Verdi’s musical talent was evident from his early years, and was trained at the local church, where he was full-time organist by age nine. In 1823, moved to a nearby larger city of Busetto, where he composed and performed. Eventually moved into the house of Antonio Barezzi, a local merchant and amateur musician. Taught singing and piano to Barezzi’s daughter,Margherita, who he would later marry.



At age 18, moved to Milan and applied to the conservatory, but was rejected due to being over the age limit. Instead, began to study with Vincenzo Lavigna, a composer and maestro at the La Scala.  In 1836 he married Margherita and accepted the position as maestro at Busetto Philharmonic. 



1839 first opera Oberto - accepted by La Scala

Next opera Un giorno di regno - was a failure, and he would not compose again until  the maestro at La Scala, Bartolomeo Merelli,  forced the libretto Nabucco on him. This opera became a major success and ascended him to the light across Italy and Europe. He became a leading figure in the movement toward a free, united Italy. 



After Nabucco, Verdi wrote 16 operas in 11 years. Rigoletto (produced in Venice), Il Trovatore, La Traviata. He spends time in Paris, once back in Rome premiered Un ballo in maschera. 



He traveled extensively in Russia, Paris, Madrid, and London, supervising his operas. In the final three years, wrote Aida, Otherllo, and Falstaff. 



Total 26 operas were written, died in Milan at 87, in 1901.





One of the greatest Italian Opera composers. Respected composers such as Richard Wagner, but had strong nationalistic convictions, deeply rooted in traditional Italian operas such as Bellini, 

Best Verdi Works: 10 Essential Pieces By The Great Composer

La Forza Del Destino

Aida

Don Carlos

Falstaff

Il Trovatore

La Traviata

Otello

Rigoletto

Un Ballo In Maschera

Messa Da Requiem


When Verdi died, half the population of Milan showed up for his funeral, wow. 


Here is the link to the photo at the time. 


“To date, it remains the largest public assembly of any event in the history of Italy.”



The best books on Verdi recommended by Francesco Izzo


Great summary of books to read on Verdi. Introduction is also an interesting and educational read.