lunes, 17 de septiembre de 2012

Towards excellence






‘’To do stupid things I decided better to do nothing. It’s better to do something well, anything, than mediocrely what is supposed to be good.’’
Alejandro Aravena, 2012


Based on an old saying, Jesus declared himself able to revive the dead but incapable of healing stupidity. Maybe idiocy, as Aravena argues, comes from doing things because they have to be done, without conviction, simply to avoid boredom or to go with the flow.

In the context of our own work, assessment of mediocrity or excellence should depend primarily on our standards, not on a general external protocol. Neither Cezanne, Van Gogh nor many other artists would have painted what they have, if they would have stuck with those guidelines. Not to forget scientists such as Galileo Galilei or Charles Darwin, which without we wouldn’t understand our world today.

What these artists and scientists have in common is that they kept on investigating and working withstanding social rejection. They continued going against the current because they believed in themselves and in the value of their work.

Both giving in to inertia and doing something different just for the sake of being unique without judgment, conviction nor aims, can lead us to realise too late that we have done nothing but stupid things.


Initially published in Spanish for EQUANIMA 31/05/12
Translated by Marina Carbó
Picture: Rosa Mascarell "Straight and Safe Way to Heaven" 
Gold, thread and egg tempera on panel.