🌬✨The Nexialist #0045

Eroticism in Hard Times | Aphantasia | Onlyfans ft. Museums | Pompeii Erotica | Army of Lovers | World Wide Wood | Four C-words | Ideas Report 2021 | New Shapes | Opening Doors & Open Spaces

Welcome to another late list of lovable links… of The Nexialist

I hope today’s Nexialist brings some eroticism into your week. I’ll keep it short here because the sparks I brought today are many. Enjoy!

🫀Eroticism in Hard Times

Last week, Byung-Chul Han’s interview mentions the disappearance of eroticism. Of course, that stayed with me and I kept thinking of Esther Perel. She brings us a more beautiful definition of eroticism and some food for thought (and soul). I’ll just leave it here, but I recommend taking the time to watch it. It’s a present:

“Eroticism is a broad expansiveness of our imagination which allows us to tolerate the confinements of reality”

“Eroticism is to sex, what poetry is to language.”

Read: Letters from Esther #25: Eroticism in Hard Times

👁Aphantasia

If you close your eyes and picture an apple, how clear is that apple in your mind?
Most people can visualise images in their head instantaneously - this known as the mind's eye.
But in 2015, a scientific study shed new light on the relatively unheard-of phenomenon known as aphantasia, a mental blindness where the brain is unable to call images to the mind eye.
This short documentary uncovers the root cause of a person's emotional detachment from people and events - and the unexpected advantages that come with it.
Alex Wheeler shares the story of how his experiences with aphantasia have affected his life, particularly his grieving process after losing his mum, as he seeks answers from Adam Zeman, Professor of Cognitive and Behavioural Neurology at the University of Exeter Medical School.
WIRED also talks to artist and YouTuber Amy Right, better known as @AmyRightMeow, who shares their experiences with aphantasia and how it feeds their creative process.

When I first played the video, I did so feeling bad for whoever has this mental blindness, only to be surprised with the advantages of it. Or have you never thought of that time you were embarrassed in 2011 right before going to bed?

I was impressed with creative people who have aphantasia. They go and turn their ideas into reality, something I struggle doing because my imagination can go quite far. Quite a superpower, no?

🍑Onlyfans ft. Museums

Talking about the disappearance of eroticism, I could not leave out the prudish social media algorithms and how museums are making a move into Onlyfans. The times we live in…

Read: Museum Starts OnlyFans Account After Its TikTok Is Banned for Posting Nudes - Motherboard

🌋Pompeii Erotica

Within the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, in a room known as the 'Secret Chamber', is a unique collection of erotic art, found perfectly preserved in the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
For a time this artwork could only be accessed with a special permit for men with 'proven morality'. Now open to the public, the collection gives an incredible insight into ancient attitudes to sex and eroticism and how these have shifted over the centuries.

After watching this I also put some ‘phallic symbols’ above my door for good luck.

Watch: The forbidden erotica of ancient Pompeii - BBC

💪🏼Army of Lovers

The Sacred Band of Thebes was a troop of select soldiers, consisting of 150 pairs of male lovers which formed the elite force of the Theban army in the 4th century BC, ending Spartan domination. Its predominance began with its crucial role in the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC. It was annihilated by Philip II of Macedon in the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC. - Wikipedia

I know, this sounds like the inspiration for that 300 movie, but it isn’t (I know, I’m also confused). The illustration above is from their grave, found in 1880. You can even see some of them holding hands.

Others might find the story interesting for different reasons. Not the least of these is that the Band was composed entirely of lovers: precisely a hundred and fifty couples, whose valor, so the Greeks thought, was due to the fact that no man would ever exhibit cowardice or act dishonorably in front of his beloved. In Plato’s Symposium, a dialogue about love, a character remarks that an army made up of such lovers would “conquer all mankind.”

Read: Ancient Greece’s Army of Lovers - The New Yorker

🪵World Wide Wood

The wood wide web has been a powerhouse metaphor for popularizing the mutualistic relationships of healthy forests. But like a struggling forest, the web is no longer healthy. It has been wounded and depleted in the pursuit of profit. Going online today is not an invigorating walk through a green woodland—it’s rush-hour traffic alongside a freeway median of diseased trees, littered with the detritus of late capitalism. If we want to repair this damage, we must look to the wisdom of the forest and listen to ecologists like Simard when they tell us just how sustainable, interdependent, life-giving systems work.

Everything about this article makes my heart happy. As I was reading it I was getting more and more in love. The title: The word for web is forest… then the World Wide Wood term, when I’m talking about Hard Times and Eroticism. Then New Public’s definition: For Better Digital Public Spaces. New_ Public is a place for thinkers, builders, designers and technologists like you to meet and share inspiration. Then, when I check out the author: Claire L. Evans is a writer and musician. She is the singer and coauthor of the Grammy-nominated pop group YACHT, the founding editor of Terraform, VICE’s science-fiction vertical…. (I LOVE THIS WOMAN!)

📱Four C-words of the Internet

“There are four c-words that have become very problematic: content, culture, community, and creator. Building “a community that provides content to creators to champion the culture” is nice alliteration, but it’s not an idea. It’s word salad.” Paul Jun really got me thinking with this post, especially after this part:

“Content is a word that was invented by people who want to create boxes that they can sell ads around, and they had to come up with a name for what goes in the box, and that word was “content.”
In other words, if you’re using the word “content” that means you really don’t have a vision for what you’re making. Because creating good content requires specificity: It requires a point of view and strong writing and the right package to frame it, to catch someone’s attention, and to inspire trust.
This is no easy task.”

It’s worth the read if you work with anything creative.

Read: The Four Dirty C-Words of the Internet - Paul Jun

💡Ideas Report 2021

WeTransfer has been surprising me with the beautiful creative work they’re bringing at WePresent. They also released the Ideas Report 2021, with some valuable insights from the creative industry.

The results of this year are clear. Diverse voices from across the globe are pushing creative excellence forward. We saw Latin America challenge the status quo, and Gen Z take a stand. We saw women, nonbinary people, and people of color change their workplaces for the better. We saw creatives put themselves first, and clients prioritize open, honest relationships.

❤️‍🔥New Shapes

I don’t know about you, but I love me some Charli XCX, and this trio has me so happy. Since this is on repeat for me, I have to share the video with you.

🚪Opening Doors

Balenciaga is another fashion brand that is so digitally fluent. They go from funny, to inspiring and keep the conversation going. Remember when they showed their fall collection as if it was in a video game?

🌬Open Spaces

Wow. This campaign made me feel things. Funny how the one before is fully indoors and this one is the opposite.

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❤️If anything made your brain tingle, click like and don't hesitate to share it with the world. It helps The Nexialist to reach more curious minds. See you next week!🦦

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If you like what you see here and your project, brand or business needs some ideas or inspiration from outside your bubble, maybe you need a Nexialist to help you out 🙋🏻‍♂️ I can participate in brainstorms and workshops, guide inspiration sessions, or provide you with creative research. You can always send me an e-mail to figure something out together.