Would DaVinci Get It?
Mom sent a link to an article on a couple of new fiber art exhibitions in New York. The piece’s accompanying photo is an interpretation of the Mona Lisa in spools of thread, done by Devorah Sperber in 2005. What would Leonardo make of it?
At least it’s something he could acknowledge as possible in his time. It’s a work he would have a reference for, technology he’d be familiar with. He wouldn’t have time to check out the new methods of creating art, even photography. He’d be overwhelmed by the web, television, cell phones, computers, cars, planes, iPods, film, and junk food. So much so that he might not have the presence of mind to ponder all the thousands (millions?) of tributes to his own work.
We are overwhelmed by information. Imagine how a man plucked from time, even a genius of Leonardo’s caliber, would cope with it all. Would he go crazy consumer, gorging on Big Macs and downloading more porn than he could possibly watch? Or would he shut down, get curmudgeonly, and rent a Kaczynski-like shack in the Italian countryside and rail against the evils of the technoverse? A good SF story lies in the latter concept, an awful Will Ferrell movie in the former.