Aesthetic Arrest Podcast: Rhiannon Giddens, Roberto Calasso, Tiepolo, David Attenborough, Fever Ray and Ballokume (aka Pagan Spring Cookies)!

“The aesthetic experience is a simple beholding of the object . . . you experience a radiance. You are held in aesthetic arrest.” - Joseph Campbell

Aesthetic Arrest is our weekly dip into the Epicurean pleasures we’ve been enjoying lately. Cheers to that!

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Ryan Wildstar’s Recommendations:

Reading: The Tablet of Destinies by Roberto Calasso  

Purchase here.

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Listening: Radical Romantics by Fever Ray

Purchase via Bandcamp

Official Site of Fever Ray

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Looking: The Art of Sofía Bassi

Medusa @IsadoraAtellier

Sofia Bassi, artista surrealista cuya vida fue tan azarosa como su obra. 🧵🧵Hilo larguito que haré poco a poco.

Mordecai @MenschOhneMusil

Sofia Bassi.

Vanurtle @Vanurtle

Sofía Bassi (Mexican, 1913-1998) - La Lagrima del Mundo (The Tear of the World) (1974)

The Debutante @TheDebutante_

Happy Friday feminist-surrealists 💫 Today's audiovisual delight pairs together Mexican surrealist Sofía Bassi and the witchy sounds of Chelsea Wolfe. Visual: 'Mensaje de Paz / Message of Peace' by Sofía Bassi (1974) Audio: 'The Mother Road' by Chelsea Wolfe

♱ La Satanée ♱ @la_satanee

Allegory of Spirits — Sofia Bassi (1913- 1998)

Dolorosa @SolarCabinet

Sofia Bassi (1913-1997) ~ Sempiterno (Everlasting) 1968 #art #surrealism #SofiaBassi #mexicanas

Kurbağa Kral 🌞 @uarpak

Sofia Bassi (Mexican, 1913-1998) - The Seer

Villa @VillaNg2

Peinture de Sofia Bassi

Spirit Font @dreamingbulb

Sofía Bassi, Tengo Sed (I'm thirsty), 1995, Oil on masonite

Spirit Font @dreamingbulb

Sofía Bassi, Retrato de Claire, 1968

Roberto Reitenbach @BetoReitenbach

Sofía Bassi

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Viewing: Wild Isles with David Attenborough

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Tasting: Ballokume (Cookies from Elbasan) for Dita e Verës (Albanian Spring Festival and Pagan Holiday)

Ballokume on Dita e Verës [Photo by Ryan Wildstar]

For an Authentic Ballokume Elbasani Recipe, click here

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Ryan Elston’s Recommendations:

Reading: The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony by Roberto Calasso

Purchase here.

“We enter the mythical when we enter the realm of risk, and myth is the enchantment we generate in ourselves at such moments.  More than a belief, it is a magical bond that tightens around us.  It is a spell the soul casts on itself …. In Greece, myth escapes from ritual like a genie from a bottle.  Ritual is tied to gesture, and gestures are limited:  what else can you do once you’ve burned your offerings, poured your libations, bowed, greased yourself, competed in races, eaten, copulated?  But if the stories start to become independent, to develop names and relationships, then one day you realise that they have taken on a life of their own.” — Roberto Calasso, from The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony

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Listening: Silkroad Ensemble: Phoenix Rising with Rhiannon Giddens

Official Site of Rhiannon Giddens

Official Site of the Silkroad Ensemble

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Looking: The Art of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770)

Juno and Luna by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (between 1735 and 1745) [Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]

Rinaldo Enchanted by Armida by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (from 1742 until 1745) [Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]

The Banquet of Cleopatra by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (from 1743 until 1744) [Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]

The Death of Hyacinthus by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (between circa 1752 and circa 1753) [Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]

An Allegory with Venus and Time by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (from 1754 until 1758) [Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]

Apollo and Daphne by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1741) [Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]

The Triumph of Zephyr and Flora by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (c. 1730) [Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]

The Empire of Flora by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (c. 1743) [Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]

Allegory of the Planets and Continents by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1752) [Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]

Click here to see a giant version of Allegory of the Planets and Continents! (via The Met)

Purchase here.

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Viewing: Unprisoned — created by Tracy McMillan, starring Kerry Washington and Delroy Lindo (Hulu)

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Tasting: A Woman's Place: The Inventors, Rumrunners, Lawbreakers, Scientists, and Single Moms Who Changed the World with Food by Deepi Ahluwalia & Stef Ferrari, illustrated by Jessica Olah 

Purchase here.

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Click here to read Ryan Elston’s article “Lost Modernist Women: Celebrating Women’s History Month with Four Women Trailblazers!”

Click here for Ryan Wildstar’s delicious recipe for his Classic Greek Tzatziki!

That’s it for this week! What are your reading, listening, looking, viewing and/or tasting recommendations?