We are at a loss when words or pictures refuse to reveal their immediate purpose. Yet despite its graphical profusion, Leonardo Da Vinci’s Codex is very lucid in this respect: every page offers immediate enjoyment, regardless of a professional grasp of the subject matter.
I maintain that this accessibility is not just due to the general familiarity with the works of Leonardo Da Vinci. The master’s feverish daydreaming coupled with his unparalleled erudition produces something that is more accessible than the scribblings of the scientist, and more touching than the sketches of the artist, because it reminds us of the all encompassing curiosity of a child. Every page of the Codex is soul food for thought.
I also fill notebooks, and treasure ship-logging my own mental navigations in a similarly obsessive manner. This practice helps me retrace forgotten routes in an otherwise disorienting ocean of facts and ideas. Of course it is humbling to show my souvenirs alongside Leonardo Da Vinci’s more far reaching circumnavigation of the mind. Perhaps involuntarily, Leonardo Da Vinci elevated an early form of multimedia documenting to the level of Art. In any case, I offer my own attempt at it, because it remains to be seen if this intimate practice will survive in the age of the mind-mapping software, the standard presentation format, or the insidious takeover of auto-correction tools as applied to text, images, and ultimately to curiosity and life itself.
Interactive navigation of the mind
The notebook pages float and rearrange in islands spontaneously, moved by invisible forces representing conceptual links (annotated metadata – in the future it would be interesting to use machine learning to cluster images and explore semantic relations). Made with OF (Openframeworks).
References
- “The analogue notebook: A forgotten exercise?“ Cassinelli, Alvaro (Artist). Leonardo da Vinci, Art & Science Then & Now. Curated by I. Frank and A. Rocca, Assoc. Curators: J. Shaw and N.Patrzynski, Indra and Harry Banga Gallery, City University of Hong Kong. 20 September – 15 December 2019.
- The analogue notebook: A forgotten exercise?, in Leonardo da Vinci, Art & Science Then & Now, I.Frank & A. Rocca Ed., [2019] ISBN 978-962-442-436-2.