This week I enjoyed watching one man's Search for Wabi Sabi, a segment put out by the BBC and hosted by British novelist Marcel Theroux. It supplements much of the predominately Western documentation on the subject, and addresses the shortcomings of an outsider's perspective. How does one define an abstraction so ingrained in Eastern culture? With great difficulty, apparently, as evidenced by several interviews.
Watching the interviews conducted from a seemingly simple question "what is Wabi-Sabi?" I am reminded of my time as a teaching assistant for industrial design classes at SAIC. During class critiques often designs would resolutely be described as being "natural". Once asked, defining the state of naturalness among the class quickly became an ineffable moot point-and not from a lack of eloquence. It was an inherent quality among several of the Asian students that I'm not sure had ever been asked to put into words before.
After interviewing among the streets of Tokyo and Kyoto, with masters of the tea ceremony, and finally a Buddhist monastery, Theroux seems still mired in trying to define his understanding of the subject. At the monastery, life centers on selflessness and would appear congruent to the simplicity of Wabi-Sabi. However, the reflections of monastic life are only a partial understanding of a larger cultural definition. The segment falls into a reflection on the transience of life, accepts Wabi-Sabi simply as an artless beauty, and resigns not to draw any definitive conclusions it was after- probably for the best.
I find the contrast between Theroux's investigation into the presence of Wabi-Sabi in popular culture versus the careful reflection and study shown in the monastery most interesting. From this research it seems that the inclusion of the self is essential to understanding this concept. Wabi-Sabi is pervasive throughout the Japan, even capitalized. Though the aesthetic has coherent themes, the act of creating objects or artefacts, and determining their value, is a subjective matter. For example, when confronted with the idea of "Polish Wabi-Sabi" Theroux seems incredulous. However, this exchange addresses the possibility of even regional understanding- exclusive of Japan- on the subject. A regional identity inevitably defining the parameters of a personal Wabi-Sabi- remaining intuitive and best not articulated.
Watching the interviews conducted from a seemingly simple question "what is Wabi-Sabi?" I am reminded of my time as a teaching assistant for industrial design classes at SAIC. During class critiques often designs would resolutely be described as being "natural". Once asked, defining the state of naturalness among the class quickly became an ineffable moot point-and not from a lack of eloquence. It was an inherent quality among several of the Asian students that I'm not sure had ever been asked to put into words before.
After interviewing among the streets of Tokyo and Kyoto, with masters of the tea ceremony, and finally a Buddhist monastery, Theroux seems still mired in trying to define his understanding of the subject. At the monastery, life centers on selflessness and would appear congruent to the simplicity of Wabi-Sabi. However, the reflections of monastic life are only a partial understanding of a larger cultural definition. The segment falls into a reflection on the transience of life, accepts Wabi-Sabi simply as an artless beauty, and resigns not to draw any definitive conclusions it was after- probably for the best.
I find the contrast between Theroux's investigation into the presence of Wabi-Sabi in popular culture versus the careful reflection and study shown in the monastery most interesting. From this research it seems that the inclusion of the self is essential to understanding this concept. Wabi-Sabi is pervasive throughout the Japan, even capitalized. Though the aesthetic has coherent themes, the act of creating objects or artefacts, and determining their value, is a subjective matter. For example, when confronted with the idea of "Polish Wabi-Sabi" Theroux seems incredulous. However, this exchange addresses the possibility of even regional understanding- exclusive of Japan- on the subject. A regional identity inevitably defining the parameters of a personal Wabi-Sabi- remaining intuitive and best not articulated.
and then there is this...
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