WHO WAS HE? Arne Dørumsgaard 1921-2006

Arne Dørumsgaard with a family cat
(courtesy: Norsk lydinstitutt, I presume, not me! I took some other photos of him when visiting him in Oct 1991)

Rediscovery of this renaissance man, see new article in the newspaper Dag og Tid (in nynorsk, "new" Norwegian)

Litterært storverk utan like

Av ARVID BRYNE, 20.11.08

I 25 band har Arne Dørumsgaard (1921-2006) gjeve oss kremen av poesi frå Kina, Japan og Korea, samstundes med at han presenterer diktarane og deira tid.
http://www.dagogtid.no/nyhet.cfm?nyhetid=1419

LITERATURE AS WALLBREAKER Seminar on Dørumsgaard 18 nov 2008 Oslo

Seminar in Litteraturhuset (House of Literature) in Oslo on Arne Dørumsgaard's book series on the old poetry of East.
Program in Norwegian:

ØSTENS POESI OG LITTERATUR SOM MURBREKKER
Åpning ved førsteamanuensis Birgit Helene Jevnaker og redaktør Hans B. Butenschøn

Avduking av "Østens gamle poesi", et bokverk på 25 bind som presenterer kinesisk, japansk og koreansk litteratur og samfunn fra "de eldste tider" til det 20. århundre, gjendiktet og skrevet av Arne Dørumsgaard. Avduking ved Walid al-Kubaisi mfl.

Torbjørn Færøvik foredrag:
Litteraturen – vår døråpner til fremmede kulturer.

Hans B. Butenschøn:
Barbarer – vi?

Kinesisk tradisjonell sang og musikk:
Zeng Xiao Gang: Sang og bordharpe
Turid Alida Solberg: Sang

Arkivleder Jacqueline von Arb, Norsk lydinstitutt:
En musikkbegavelse – flere livsverk

Arne Dørumsgaard leser gjendiktninger (i opptak)

Professor Rune Svarverud:
Nærlesing av Dørumsgaards VÅR: Diktning, gjendiktning og oversettelse

Arrangør: Polyteknisk forening, Kultur og medier og Andresen og Butenschøn AS
http://www.litteraturhuset.no/program/2008/11/litteratursommurbrekker.html

HVEM VAR DØRUMSGAARD? Født i Fredrikstad 1921. Bodde siden 1968 i den nord-italienske landsbyen Marzio der han døde i mars 2006. Hans liv i noen korte og ufullstendige stikkord (sakser fra forlagets presentasjon):
"Dikter, gjendikter, komponist og sanger, levde det meste av sitt liv utenfor Norge, men arbeidet i alle år for norsk kultur. Han begynte sitt arbeid med gjendiktninger av Østens poesi i 1949. Da han på grunn av sviktende helse måtte legge ned pennen forelå tre omfattende bind om Kinas poesi fra 1368-1911 nesten ferdig. Han mottok kunstnergasje fra den norske stat på livstid."

ØSTENS GAMLE POESI NÅ FERDIG: Arne Dørumsgaard utførte et helt livsverk ved sin gjendiktning til norsk av Østens poesi. I 25 bind presenterer han de viktigste diktere i Kina, Japan og Korea gjennom alle tider og med fyldige presentasjoner av dikterne og deres bakgrunn. I Viften av perlemor 3A gjendiktes perler fra det tidlige Ming-dynastiet (år 1369-1500). Nå foreligger snart også bind 3B posthumt. (vi avventer trykkingen hos Valdres trykkeri).

DESIGN is discussed in New York Times by Janet Rae-Dupree (4 Oct 2008) noting that design is more than packaging and so forth. The article also introduces design thinking, an emergent hot topic in some design milieus, see
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/business/05unbox.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=%22Janet%20Rae

YET WHAT IS NEW IS NOT pointing to the wider meanings or discussions of design or design thinking per se. Rather, what appears new is the new crossover cultivating of design-oriented activities in "new" or "old" contexts. The article gives some insight into this by referring to the new educational approaches such as unfolding at Stanford's new socalled d.school.

D.SCHOOL. New York Times reports that the d.school is not set up as a new trad full education for designers. Instead, it is providing joint design courses for interested students across the school's existing fields but also a grad opportunity. The rise of new design-oriented courses for students coming from a variety of backgrounds may thus affect several breeds of students getting entirely new experiences, which is interesting from a design management and innovation perspective.

D+B COURSE MoD OSLO. Providing new learning initiatives as a joint collaborative offering for crossdisciplinary groups of students is something we are exploring also at Norwegian School of Management (BI) , e.g., through an ongoing collaboration on Management and marketing of Design (MoD) with the Design Faculty of Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHiO) offered from January 2007 onwards. The particular collaboration with design teachers and students at KHiO is involving its three design educations and at BI it involves two bachelor courses and two of its departments (Innovation and Economic Organization, and Intercultural Communication). It has been offered for at least around 100 design and business students each January since 2007. See http://modoslo.blogspot.com/2008_01_06_archive.html

Rediscovery of Innovation (again)...

Innovation Economics... is suggested" as a new field in relation to the current crisis and what is seen as a need to "reinvent" the US, see http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_38/b4100052741280.htm

COMMENTS. I posted this today:
(Birgit Jevnaker Nov 2, 2008 10:01 AM GMT)
This is interesting but appears to be perhaps somewhat lagged in its view? (e.g., focusing mainly on innovation and R&D). There exists an enlarged view, or in fact, many views, on innovation, e.g., as represented by "innovation studies" including business history, sociology, and evolutionary or heterodox economics as well as other social science views. Innovation-oriented economics is part of a broader domain with many fields of knowing, which is fruitful to understand and stimulate valuable innovation.

Dørumsgaard seminar 18 Nov Oslo

Our Polytechnic Society seminar on Dørumsgaard and his work on Eastern poetry is approaching...

Work meeting Yesterday to prepare for the details of this seminar.

Soon the whole book series by Dørumsgaard is completed (25 books in total).

Stay tuned...

Litteraturhuset 18 Nov 2008, 10.00- 13.00.

Twist theatre festival in Oslo opened yesterday

FULL HOUSE ON OPENING NIGHT. I entered "Riksteatret" Yesterday (31. Oct 2008) around 7.30 p.m. The lobby was crowded with young people (and some oldies like us) enjoying meeting each other on a Friday night as well as the opening wine and a key speech by Fabian Stang, the major of Oslo (relevant here to mention that he is son of Wenche Foss, an excellent actress in Norway). Standing in the back near to the ticket counter we could only hear a few of his words but I guess he underlined the value of this brand new theatre festival. It is indeed an interesting joint effort and creative collaboration among three theatres: Riksteatret, Nordic Black Theatre, and Det Åpne Teater.
http://www.twist08.no/home/
"SIZWE BANZI IS DEAD" GUEST PLAY. After the opening, most of us entered the stage room to experience "Sizwe Banzi is Dead," by Fugard, Kani and Ntshona.
The play is problematizing many things including the absurdities of power relations and ways of expressing this in work and societal relations between black and white people. Especially, it explores the shift of and playing with - even stealing - identity and manners when two poor guys in a township of South-Africa finds a dead man's passport... and plays with it in a hostile South-African city setting: "A black man stay out of trouble? Impossible! Our skin is trouble!"
With: Habib Dembélé, Pitcho Womba Konga

Regi/director: Peter Brook
Light design: Philippe Vialatte
Scenografi: Abdou Ouologeum

Production: C.I.C.T. / Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord

Translation to French: Marie-Hélène Estienne

BRIEF INTRO (in Norwegian): Handlingen foregår i en sørafrikansk township, bosetning, og er forfattet av en av landets mest kjente dramatikere, Athol Fugard, i samarbeid med de opprinnelige skuespillere. Urpremièren var i 1972. Men oppsetningen som nå besøker Norge, er fra 2006, og er satt opp av den engelske teaterlegenden Peter Brook og hans franske kompani Théâtre du Bouffes du Nord. - Kan føye til at noen husker kanskje oppsetningen i Bergen i 1972 med bl.a. Lothar Lindtner, også en teaterlegende!
Source: http://oslopuls.aftenposten.no/kunst_scene/article94807.ece

EVALUATION: 6 points! The two black actors were amazingly good and communicated excellently even when speaking French to a Norwegian audience. Among the best performances I have ever seen - with only two actors and sparse resources. Just a few cues: the two guys were excelling in using their body language, voice and facial expression and playing with gestures (smile!), movement, and sound... exploring the audience's sense of humour as well as empathy by being uniquely present on stage "with us"... but using only a very few stage furnishing tools (In Norwegian: en krakk og noen papp-plater, et par stativer som fungerte som dører og vegger, en sko som repr. en død mann).
PETER BROOK-DIRECTING. A background to understand their way of acting and using the few sparse tools creatively is knowing about the approaches and thinking of Peter Brook, one of UK's greatest theatre directors (recently awarded the Norwegian Ibsen prize). He is known, for example, for his 'empty space' approach, daring to take away anything that can hinder the actor becoming present and preparing hard for the performance as a unique event to be born, to put it very briefly.
TWIST LEADERS. Before the play started, on stage, three leaders of the three collaborating Oslo theatres were greeting us shoulder-to-shoulder, a very symbolic and warm welcoming to this new festival. Instructive handy program folders available as well. Congratulations!