MIT Student ESD.

801 Assignment 1

1) Discuss the three questions posed by Gauguin in his masterpiece, Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? and how you relate to them. When thinking about these questions, I began to realize that they may be some of the most important questions that you can think of when interacting with other people. The reason why I say this is that it is all about the personal aspect of things. Instead of thinking about some tasks at hand or business that needs to get done, the first and most important thing that matters in almost any interaction are what comes from these three questions. It all comes from understanding who people are, including their background and their dreams/aspirations. If you find the answer to these questions, you can almost completely understand any person that you are talking to. It starts with finding out where they came from their family and their hometown, as these things are intensely important to most people and from this you can derive some things about how you expect them to be. The next question asks what a person thinks of themselves at the current time this can give you insight to how they see themselves fitting into the world. Finally, where are we going, everyone has hopes and dreams and they usually have something that is on their mind that they need/want to do later on, anything from picking up the kids from school to becoming president. The other most important thing about these questions is that it is all about the word we. Almost everything that anyone needs to do involves other people. The word we shows just how interconnected people are today. Also, if you think about this question as a society as a whole, this is what came to my mind:

Anonymous

2) Reference any additional piece of art at the MFA that Inspires you and briefly discuss the Vision of the artist/artwork and what particularly inspired you. I am more of a photography person myself. In this vain, I am going to reference a piece of art that inspired me that I saw at the MFA last year by Henry Callahan that he took of his daughter and wife:

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This picture is very interesting to me because it is a picture of his wife and child on vacation, but it is from so far away, which makes me feel very disconnected with them. It is as if he is simply watching his wife and daughter drift away from him. The reason why I remember this piece and like it so much is because it reminds me that family is the most important thing in life and that I should never end up at a point like this in my life where I feel like my family is drifting away from me. I am not sure exactly what the intention of the artist is, as I dont think he feels that his family is drifting away. But on the other hand, the dark edges of the photo close to the bottom (which is close to the viewer) whereas its bright and sunny in the background which is far from the viewer. I think it is more that he wanted to paint a picture of his wife and child emanating light.

3) Explore the MIT campus and list 4 pieces of art/architecture/sculpture (http://listart.mit.edu/map) and discuss how you Related to them.

1. The hanging piece of art in the barker library in the dome. I like this piece because it is constantly changing and curving, but it is never ending. Also I like how it is strung high up yet stays close to the ground. 2. I really like the architecture of the great dome. This inspires me on a different level, it something that seems bigger than myself and can connect people from all over the world. 3. There is a stained glass window in the stairwell in baker dormitory. I have always enjoyed this piece of stained glass because it looks like it is being lit by the sun, but it is actually lit by a light in a closet I like this because it looks sunny even when its raining out, basically the idea of finding a silver lining in a cloud. 4. Building 46 is an incredibly beautiful building my favorite part is the giant glass area that has an inside garden. I love being outside, and sometimes in the winter it is close to impossible to do in Boston, but this building allows you to do this.

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ESD.801 Leadership Development

Fall 2010

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