The sun never knew how great it was until it hit the side of a building.
Louis KahnRead
The creation of art is not the fulfillment of a need but the creation of a need. The world never needed Beethoven's Fifth Symphony until he created it. Now we could not live without it.
Interpretation
Art creates new needs and desires in society rather than merely fulfilling existing ones.
This quote by Louis Kahn emphasizes the transformative power of art and creativity. It suggests that true artistic contributions, like Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, create an entirely new appreciation and necessity within society, indicating that culture evolves and that the impact of art can shape human experience in profound and fundamental ways.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of arts funding, one could quote this to emphasize how art shapes society.
The sun never knew how great it was until it hit the side of a building.
I sense a Threshold: Light to Silence, Silence to Light - an ambiance of inspiration, in which the desire to be, to express, crosses with the possible Light to Silence, Silence to Light crosses in the sanctuary of art.
Greek architecture taught me that the column is where the light is not, and the space between is where the light is. It is a matter of no-light, light, no-light, light. A column and a column brings light between them. To make a column which grows out of the wall and which makes its own rhythm of no-light, light, no-light, light: that is the marvel of the artist.
The room is the beginning of architecture.
Architecture is the reaching out for the truth.
We are born of light. The seasons are felt through light. We only know the world as it is evoked by light.
Each period of a civilisation creates an art that is specific in it and which we will never see reborn. To try and revive the principles of art of past centuries can lead only to the production of stillborn works.
Generally, literary prizes are significant not for who the winner is but the discussion they create around books.
It’s about time a 55-year-old British woman is the heroine of an action movie. I may have to write it.
People are craving this great progress in electronics, going after computers, the Internet, etc. It's a giant progress technologically. But they must have a balance of soul, a balance for human beauty. That means art has an important role.
Writing is exhilarating, but reading reviews is not. I've been really devastated by 'good' reviews because they misunderstand the project of the book. It can be strangely galvanising to get a 'bad' one.
Do your art. But don't wreck your art if it doesn't lend itself to paying the bills. That would be a tragedy.
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