“As many glaciers are melting and icy tundras are decaying, there's an unprecedented amount of woolly mammoth material that's becoming dislodged from the ice. Not just mammoth, but all kinds of fossils from the past. What occurred to me was, had anyone tried to pinpoint the first case of human-induced extinction? What was the first time we as species pushed another one to oblivion? I would argue that's probably going to be one of the defining moral problems of the century, human-induced extinction. And I really wanted to know, when did we first cross that barrier?” KnowsFirstsHumansKindProblemWantedPastMoralCasesCenturyMaterialsAmountBecomingFirst TimeCrossesSpeciesArguingAll KindsIceBarriersOblivionFossilsExtinctionDefiningMeltingUnprecedentedIcyGlaciers Author:Dario Robleto
“To this day, I've never had an assistant. I really insist on doing everything myself because I value the role of the artist's hand so much in the process. But that means I have to learn it personally in order to do it.” MeanHandsArtistValuesOrderProcessRolesThis DayAssistants Author:Dario Robleto
“I feel that one of the roles of the artist, in the way I define it, is that I need to be not just someone observing these tiny pockets of people on the planet who have devoted their lives to preserving whatever it is they're passionate about. I want to be them. I am one of them. I just have a different outlet and final outcome as an artist than many of them would. For them, the process can just end in holding on to it, just knowing they've got it tucked away in their private collection. I value that so much, but I feel the conversation dies in a way there.” PeopleWayWantNeedsFeelsDifferentEndsArtistValuesDiesProcessRolesKnowingPlanetsConversationFinalsPassionateTinyOutcomesCollectionsPocketsDevotedObservingOutletsHolding On Author:Dario Robleto
“Alteration is a constructive act, not a destructive one, and it's the opposite of most of our impulses.” OppositesImpulseDestructiveConstructiveAlterations Author:Dario Robleto
“To understand something changing form as a destructive act is a very modern, Western gut reaction to things, and I get it. But what I'm suggesting is nothing radical, this notion of things constantly changing, and that the change is not inherently destructive.” FormModernWesternNotionReactionsRadicalGutsDestructiveThings ChangeSuggesting Author:Dario Robleto
“The tragedy is that, as modern viewers, we've completely lost touch with what it physically takes to wage a war.” WarLostModernTragedyViewers Author:Dario Robleto
“Populism in contemporary art can become a dirty word. There is this notion that to not be understood is a reflection of depth. I'm sure this is true in some cases, but on the whole I can't accept this as a vision of art. There's something so cynical about assuming your audience is unintelligent or that artists shouldn't care about their viewers.” ArtI CanWholeCareArtistAcceptingVisionCasesAudienceReflectionUnderstoodAssumingDepthNotionContemporaryDirtyCynicalViewersPopulismContemporary ArtDirty WordsUnintelligent Author:Dario Robleto
“I want the strangeness and weirdness and incomprehensibility of life that art can reflect so well, but I want it to feel like a mystery that is inviting us in. Sagan's great art lesson for me was generosity of wonder and making curiosity contagious.” WantFeelsWellsArtWonderMysteryLessonsCuriosityGenerosityGreat ArtContagiousInvitingWeirdnessStrangenessSagan Author:Dario Robleto
“I am on the side of pluralistic societies, and I will do whatever I can - by the best means available and any means necessary - to protect spaces that encourage open communication between people.” PeopleMeanI CanSidesSpaceCommunicationProtectAvailableOpen Communication Author:Marc Ribot
“I have always been thinking about the sounds and shades and aromas of words - fitting them together or disrupting their customary march - more or less every second of my life, waking and sleeping.” ThinkingTogetherSoundSleepMarchShadeWakingFittingEvery SecondAroma Author:Robert Pinsky