From Sunday 20 to Wednesday 23 November I have been in Asunción (Paraguay) for several business meetings.
Regardless of the very interesting business projects and meetings at the highest level ( in a single day I met with three “Secretaries” or “Ministers”: Industry and Commerce, Technology, and Health), it was a pleasure to know one of the few countries that I had yet to visit in South America. Now I only have Bolivia left.
Right after I returned from Germany, and before departing for Paraguay, I was invited to speak at the GIANT Health event (the “global innovation and new technology health event), health in The Coronet, London.
The event run for 3 days, November 16-18, with 3 parallel tracks, and it included over 200 speakers. I spoke November 18, in the main auditorium.
There was an exhibition area, with several companies and organizations showing their innovations and technologies.
Last week I spent 3 days in Düsseldorf, attending the Medica trade show. But I do not want to bore you with that. I`d rather tell you what I did after the trade show closed every day.
Since Düsseldorf is a city that I know well, I decided to concentrate in its museums and art galleries. I could not have picked a more perfect time!
At the Kunsthalle I attended the excellent exhibition titled “Wool and water”, with: Lili Dujourie, Isa Genzken, Astrid Klein, Mischa Kuball, Aron Mehzion, Reinhard Mucha, Sturtevant, Rosemarie Trockel, and Gerhard Richter; curated by Gregor Jansen.
A few days ago I was invited to participate in a Healthcare Innovation workshop at PA Consulting in London.
Beyond the cute venue, and spectacular list of attendees from the healthcare, industry, and political spaces (“Don’t waste time talking to someone with ‘Lord’ in his title, they are not there to really work”, one of my colleagues advises me), what impressed me was the extremely well organized, choreographed, and disciplined approach to innovation they had.
November 9 I acquired from the Ludwig Museum “I collect records”, a 27 cm ø 175gr. professional vinyl frisbee piece that the Turner Prize-nominated artist and occasional DJ David Shrigley created in 2012.
“I collect records” is based on a drawing he did for a record cover featured in his exhibition Life and Life Drawing.
I have often criticized artists who hide behind “my work speaks for itself” or “it’s up to the viewer to interpret my work”. Nice try, but that’s bullshit.
Of course, anyone can interpret anything when exposed to an artwork! But the artist should at least make an attempt to explain the meaning behind a piece. No matter how self-explanatory (or obscure) it might be. It’s not “restricting the viewer”, it’s guiding; suggesting is not imposing.
November 6-9 I had to travel to Cologne (Germany) to attend the BioEurope trade show, along with a UK delegation. I have been in Cologne several times before, so I was not particularly surprised. But as with every trip, here are a few remarkable things I would like to comment:
The hotel was right next to the train station and the Cathedral, quite convenient It rained every frigging day. It was cold and dark Where there are trees, Autumn is quite a spectacle Rheinpark is very nice, but has too many walls.
