Visual Thinking

A fan of Smithsonian Magazine, I read with incredulity the article by Joseph Giovannini, Blowing UP the Art World: The Hirshhorn’s giant balloon is a capital idea—if it floats.

The article discussed a proposal to add a big blue balloon to the Hirshhorn Museum. You have to see the picture to get the idea of just how big this balloon is. In my eyes, it’s ridiculous, but I have to agree with Giovannini when he wrote, the approach will cause “people to think rather than just look.”

How often do we “look” at things and think we are thinking?

How often do we repeat words and think we are thinking?

Whether our body, our mind, or our church is manifesting disease and death, it is a call for thinkers to think. Something far-out-there should not be shunned away or ignored. Christ Jesus was far-out-there. He stepped away from the authorized dogma and the self-deluded “thinkers” of that time.

We read in 21^st Century Science and Health, “If humanity would properly guard human mind, the posterity of evils which aggravate it would be cleared out. We must begin with the human mind and empty out its negativity and self-delusion, or negativity and self-delusion will never cease.”

An update on the balloon, as of June 2013, the Smithsonian decided not to move forward with plans for the Hirshhorn’s Seasonal Inflatable Structure, known as the Bubble. Richard Kurin, Smithsonian Under Secretary for History, Art, and Culture, made the announcement citing financial uncertainties as the reason for the decision.

Effective thinking is practical and wise. It incorporates the world today.