When bad art is good art
Now that we can make a 'perfect' design with a few mouse clicks the industrialised world is hankering for 'imperfect' designs. Artist and composer David Byrne on the importance of bad art. David Byrne | June 2003 issue Bad design is good design. And tasteful good design, likewise, is bad. Not Read More...
When one plus one equals one
A wedding gift guides a young couple towards the discovery of true love.Michael Datcher | April 2006 issue I once received a pet rock as a gift. It wasn’t the kind of pet rock that came in a designer box with a name tag. It was low end. Literally, a chip off an old block with alley origins. Read More...
Editor's letter
Contagious enthusiasm is what creates progressJurriaan Kamp | April 2006 issue When I was young, I used to have a pair of slippers with leather soles. The upper part was a colourful pattern of knitted wool. Those leather soles were important. They meant I could slide along the slippery wood floors Read More...
Just do it
It is a misconception that meditation is difficult Tijn Touber | April 2006 issue “Everyone says I should meditate. All spiritual books end with the advice to take time for meditation. But no one tells you how!” The young man who stood before me was completely stressed out. For months he had Read More...
The forgotten thinker you need to know
Thirty years ago, Ivan Illich raised questions on the promise of progress. The blind faith in modern development and technology was a threat to human's freedom, he argued. That critical analysis was one of the pillars for the Ode founders. In 2001, a year before Illich died at the age of 76, Read More...
Native intelligence
Anthropologist Jeremy Narby is bringing together indigenous knowledge and Western science to inform the search for a sustainable future. Kim Ridley | May 2007 issue If you think a slime mould is just a stupid glob of protoplasm, think again. Japanese researchers have discovered that this Read More...
The many sides of Allah
Increasingly, Fouad Laroui heard Muslims making allegations that showed they had very little idea what their religion was about and no clue at all about other religions. So he decided to write a book about Islam. Ode spoke with the author. Tijn Touber | May 2007 issue Fouad Laroui was fed up. He Read More...
We are the world we imagine
Paul Hawken on the optimism of our hearts. Jurriaan Kamp | May 2007 issue In your earlier books - especially The Ecology of Commerce - you sounded more pessimistic about the future of the world than now in Blessed Unrest. Paul Hawken: "The Ecology of Commerce was written for the business community Read More...
Dancing with change
Poem by Ben Okri about change. Ben Okri | April 2007 issue "Change is good, but no change Is better" It rang through the great hall As it has resounded silently Through the ages. It rang past the faces Of stern masters and poets And lords of learning, Asleep in their hidden academies. Change is Read More...
One last thing...
Microcredit could help young people in the West. Marco Visscher | March 2007 issue You mean it could help poor youth in Africa or India to take out a loan - very noble. Edgar Neo: "No, I actually mean young people in the West." But aren't they wealthier than ever? "Just ask the tens of thousands of Read More...