A project by Ai Weiwei and Olafur Eliasson
I stumbled upon this image when I was looking up Ai Weiwei, the Chinese activist/artist whom I met last Friday.
A full moon made from what looks like hundreds of full moons grouped in a circle. Seen from a distance, many dots can become one magical big one. Like many short stories become a book, many scenes a film (for example Magnolia by Paul Thomas Anderson).
I have taken many pictures of the full moon. Trying to capture a landmark in time to memorize the situation I was in at that very moment. Complicated scenes that seem random and chaotic can become a building brick for a larger perfectly balanced narrative.
Moon over Anthem Arizona
A full moon as seen on the roof one night, I didn’t have a camera with me and drew it from memory. It was very bright and it turned the roof garden into a movie set. (pencil drawing 20x11cm)
Coming home one evening, a forgotten bicycle headlight projected this perfect full moon onto the wall
A snapshot in the light of a full moon to me is like a snapshot of my life, like dropping a pin on a digital map: I am here, this is going on. This way the full moon is representing a scene or a (short) story, and a collection of full moons could form a complete story, a book.
I am keeping my stories, indexed with different images of a full moon, others share their stories. Looking at the covers of the books below (pictures once taken out of fascination with the full moon image) I wonder about the stories and the context with the full moon. Why the full moon on the cover? (Somehow it always seems to make it look mysterious…)
Sharing stories in daily life is now better known as storytelling, and it is everywhere it seems. It’s definitely the new frontier in self documentation.
If you wonder if this is for you check out storyandheart
Telling stories online
Creating a great story takes a certain amount of slog and grind and magic, but it’s worth the effort. We, as people, l o v e to hear stories, everyday reports, jokes and great tales. And naturally we love to come together, sit around a fire, stare into the flames and listen, watching the scenes light up in our minds… A human trait implemented a loooong time ago – on a full moon night no doubt…
Never ‘too busy’ for a good story
But this is now. Modern times, modern lives. Busy times. So the media provide us with the stories, in order to get their message across. Otherwise we don’t have the time and won’t listen, we only have time for a quick story snack. Wrap the news up nicely, present it entertaining, tell us a story, and you have our attention. Briefly.
We’re in the business of storytelling…
Storytelling is a great tool for advertising, if you have the budget naturally (money=time=magic 😉
