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An Aspect of the Infinite: New Zealand Talks
Author(s) -
Carr David
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
curator: the museum journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.312
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 2151-6952
pISSN - 0011-3069
DOI - 10.1111/j.2151-6952.2009.00008.x
Subject(s) - object (grammar) , democracy , metropolitan area , power (physics) , dimension (graph theory) , sociology , aesthetics , epistemology , history , art , political science , computer science , philosophy , law , archaeology , mathematics , artificial intelligence , physics , quantum mechanics , politics , pure mathematics
Fresh encounters with Māori treasures first seen by the author at the Metropolitan Museum in 1984 revealed the concentrated power of these objects and the importance of their presence among the beliefs and continuities of their makers’ culture. A masterwork viewed in a museum may evoke a strong and sometimes inarticulate response. We might say the inability to articulate reflects a larger dimension—an aspect of the infinite—residing in the object. Museum objects return us to the human culture and knowledge we carry with us; they stimulate reflective impulses essential to the shared threads of democracy. They allow us to locate ourselves and each other, and our shared horizons.