Category Archives: Developmentalism

The German idea of South – high noon in the Black Forest

By admin | June 7, 2009

Spernere mundum, spernere te ipsum, spernere te sperni.
Scorn the world, scorn yourself, scorn being scorned.
St Filippo Neri quoted by Goethe
The Faustian quest
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is today the proud hero of enlightened Germany. Institutes in his name disseminate German culture around the world. And the core of this culture, Das Drama der Deutschen, is [...]

Also posted in Lawless, West, journey | Tagged Bavaria, Germany, Goethe, Hegel, Italy, Kant, Nietzsche, stillness, Winckelmann | Leave a comment

When children grow up in the Kingdom of Bellavista

By admin | April 23, 2009

In the Kingdom of Bellavista there lived two peoples. For centuries they had lived in perfect harmony, but lately there had been troubles.
High on the hill, there lived the refined nobles, who cultivated highly sophisticated sciences and arts. With great care and kindness they managed the affairs of the realm, particularly those they fondly called [...]

Also posted in Australia, provocation | Tagged children, North in the South | Leave a comment

Do we need another north?

By admin | March 13, 2009

The South African design expo Design Indaba makes the claim that global ascendency has passed to the other half of the world:
Stand back Milan, London and New York, here comes SOUTH! SOUTH is an inversion of hand-me-down Eurocentric creativity, a world map turned upside down conceptually, so that South Africa is on top. Over [...]

Also posted in Aspirationalism, South Africa | Tagged design, fame | Leave a comment

Dumont d’Urville’s epic tale of the noble New Zealander

By admin | February 8, 2009

Inspired by Bougainville’s accounts of Tahiti, Jules Sébastien César Dumont d’Urville sought out a mission to explore the south. His first commission was in the Aegean, where he ‘discovered’ the Venus de Milo. In 1822 he was part of an expedition south, when it was still considered possible that France might recover some its recent [...]