retrofuture

I've moved my blog over to Tumblr... please join me there! And do also check out Twitturgies (as featured in he New York Times).

Very excited to pick up (on the Crossroads book table... it's well worth browsing!) a copy of Makoto Fujimura's book 'refractions'. Based on blog posts and essays, it's a great insight into this bi-cultural artist's life, work and faith. Fujimura is a wonderful artist, who brings centuries-old Japanese techniques alive in 21st century abstract forms (and layers his paintings with gold to symbolise the heavenly city). He has a grasp on beauty that is rare in the art world of today.. and as it turns out, he's a good writer too. Books on the interface between faith and art are very often written by theorists, rather than by successful artists, so this is a great treat.... gold dust from an artists who knows what gold dust is for.

What is so powerful about this book is the way Maitland situates herself as a contemporary pilgrim, hovering somewhere between secular explorer and faith adventurer; finding the spiritual in all kinds of unexpected places. There is a deep, throbbing note of conviction at the heart of the piece,like a bassoon sounding out beneath a broad orchestral symphony, but this doesn't stop Maitland from finding and enjoying all kinds of other sounds. I loved the book not only as a personal journey of discovery, but also as a model of how spirituality should be done in the contemporary world. I think Teillhard de Chardin was the last writer I found who could so flawlessly blend secular enquiry with spiritual aspiration: and that, as I'm sure Sara Maitland would agree, is praise indeed.

When we were in Colorado recently a friend gave me a copy of Greg Mortenson's 'Three Cups of Tea'. I began reading it on the journey home and finished it back here in Amsterdam - what an unusual and moving book. Written in a very direct style that doesn't even try to hide its hero's flaws and weaknesses, the book follows the campaign of Greg Mortenson to bring education to the remote villages of Pakistan and Afghanistan he has discovered as an off-track mountaineer. Lost, disoriented and near death after a failed attempt on K2, Mortenson is cared for by the simple Islamic people of a village high in the Baltistan. Finding that they have no building in which to educate their children, he vows to come back and build one: a promise that pushes him to the very limit of his capabilities but that, once fulfilled, introduces him to his new life's calling. Over 50 schools have now been built, and Mortenson continues to pursue his passion to see children - particularly girls - receiving the education they deserve. The book captures the spare and moon-like atmosphere of these remote mountain regions and there is something haunting about this one man's determination to fulfil a promise. Significant American sales have come from the fact that Mortenson's adventure runs parallel to both the Afghan and Iraq wars, and that his gentle, guile-less relationship with his Muslim friends so contrasts with that of many other Westerners.

I was personally challenged by Mortenson's determination to be a man of peace: building friendships first and out of those friendships working for change. He quite rightly discerns that the simple, local faith of the Muslims he meets is not the same as the strident fundamentalism he has been warned about, and that there is more to be gained from human contact than from conflict. Would I. with my strong faith, be free to build such friendships - or is it this man's lack of faith that enables him to do so? I don't have an answer: but I am challenged and stimulated by the question.

Crossroads regular Ian Bok had his first one-man show in Amsterdam recently. Made up of sketches and improvisations, the show featured a cast of characters from an alien and a curtain-witch through to a Turkish man in a White-Man suit. Ian has a face made of rubber, a vast supply of accents and a thousand strange characters living in hi head. Several passages in the show relied on jabbertalk, Ian's own Dutch-English-Italian-Russian hybrid. It is wonderful how funny and human jokes can be in a language no-one speaks - or how much can be communicated in a ten minute sketch whose only word is 'ja'. This is a great show. If you missed it, then let's launch a campaign to get Ian a whole season....

Had the opportunity to see Anathallo live in Haarlem recently, in a very intimate gig at the Patronaat Cafe. What a great band. From Michigan, Anathallo have been connected over the years with the Cornerstone christian festival and have toured with Manchester Orchestra. Their sound is unusual and eccentric, and great to listen to. As one reviewer said, Sufjan Stevens left the door to the Band Practice room open, and out marched Anathallo... they combine vocal harmonies with brass instruments, multiple drummers and, literally, bells and whistles. Their latest album 'Canopy Glow' is excellent...