Alain de Botton: a pop-philosopher
He is known for his best-sellers:
“The Architecture of Happiness”
“Art as Therapy”
“How Proust can Change Your Life”
“The Architecture of Happiness”
“Art as Therapy”
“How Proust can Change Your Life”
“Essays in Love”
“How to Think More About Sex”
“How to Think More About Sex”
He will now open his "Schools of
Life"
Many attend
the School of Life opened near Russel Square in London by Alain de Botton, the
English philosopher of Swiss origins. People come here to search for and find
happiness and meaning in their lives. In this school Alain and his team of
experts intend to organize seminars and workshops to raise interest and active
participation. People can discuss well-know topics, improve their personal
growth and identity, eventually find the key to happiness. These topics concern
sex, love, art, even architecture as a form of art: subjects that everybody
experiences daily, but usually in a superficial, rushed and thoughtless way.
The idea of
“Art as Therapy” belongs to a philosophical approach to the “think positive”
attitude. It is the result of a series of sperimental sessions of literature,
poetry and visual arts held in Belsize Park in London, which were attended by
many people. An exhibition about the event will take place at Rijksmuseum in
Amsterdam in April 2014, in collaboration with the art historian John
Armstrong. The message conveyed is that everyone can make use of art, and not
only by drawing or painting, like real artists or simple amateurs do.
The
covers of two books written by pop-philosopher Alain de Botton: “Essays in
Love” (and its italian edition), and “”How to Think More About Sex”. Both for Guanda Editore publishing
house
The use of art must be interpreted as something
that helps building an inner path, through the intrinsic beauty of a painting,
a sculpture, a piece of architecture.
This is what Alain de Botton teaches us in his book “The architecture of happiness”, thinking about an historic urban environment, a jugendstil-style living room, an experienced rationalist of a house by Le Corbusier. We must investigate the relationship between this kind of beauty and its own inclination to beauty, identify which parts of that particular shape are alive in us, since we interpret them as the author did. This same approach is used by the philosopher in the analysis of architecture as a source of esthetical ecstasy, a pleasure that makes it possible to identify the emotional involvement raised in us by a building, an environment, a glimpse of city.
This is what Alain de Botton teaches us in his book “The architecture of happiness”, thinking about an historic urban environment, a jugendstil-style living room, an experienced rationalist of a house by Le Corbusier. We must investigate the relationship between this kind of beauty and its own inclination to beauty, identify which parts of that particular shape are alive in us, since we interpret them as the author did. This same approach is used by the philosopher in the analysis of architecture as a source of esthetical ecstasy, a pleasure that makes it possible to identify the emotional involvement raised in us by a building, an environment, a glimpse of city.
Glimpses
of Alain de Botton’s "School of
life", near Belsize Park in London
The
individual sessions of psychotherapy, art therapy and book therapy become, in
the city center of London, collective discussions and analyses of emotional
health linked to the topics covered by experts. The initiative has seen 4 years
of success, and now that the initial goals have been fulfilled, the idea of a
global brand has born. Alain de Botton is thinking of exporting this
art-theraphy experience in Korea, Australia, the USA, Spain.
Some
experiments made at Alain de Botton’s “School of life”
Some sessions teach how to better ourselves through the art of
conversation ("How to have a better conversation"), others to have
fun and grow while walking (“Eureka tour” where you can talk about everything
you see, from bins to cigarette packets, plastic chairs and shop windows): this
pop-training and art-analysis guru teaches us how to get involved and be
curious and eclectic, in order for us to challenge ourselves and stimulate our
interest through the confrontation with people so much different from us. In
other words, exposing ourselves is the only way to bring something new to our
routine horizon.
Alain de Botton says: "Our society is great at dressing
people of all ages in every situation, but far less great in dressing emotions.
In this field, we are still primitive”.
Enrico
Mercatali
Lesa, 27th July 2013
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