Heike Sperling

Public Projects by Michael Pederson.

End of 2022

To the power of ten
December 31st, 2022

Auld Lang Syne As I write this, New Year's is only a few hours away. Two days ago legend Vivienne Westwood passed on. Unfortunately, it remains a challenge to find older female role models for my process to become a female 'senior', as in beautiful, crazy, sexy Wise Old Woman. Westwood embodied everthing I hope for in aging, and beyond. What an incredible beautiful soul. Two other heroines of mine are Laurie Anderson and bell hooks – the list keeps growing faster every year. Let's do this, girls.

Films My favorite viewings this year were, 2021 drama film Drive my car directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, George Miller's fantasy romantic drama film Three Thousand Years of Longing, Werner Herzog's 1998 documentary Wings Of Hope, and Regina Schilling's documentary Igor Levit - No Fear. Thank you, fabulous editor and friend, Carina Mergens for bringing the big screen back into my life!

Nest Finally moved to a new apartment. Have been sharing my home for the last 16 years. It was an adventure as long as it lasted, and now I am so happy, joyous, and free with a nest all to myself where I can experience my love for wallpaper to full extend.

Rapport Not entirely sure but I think I got my first answering machine in 1986. From then on I used my phones less to talk, instead I got accustomed to recorded messages. In 1995 I started to write emails, and called even less. I have now reversed this development, and much to my own surprise I make at least one telephone call a day to check in with friends. My live has improved considerably by connecting to fellow travellers.

Studio In July I officially opened our new Studio Klang und Realität, built to serve the students in our master's degree program of the same name. With its specialized, high-quality recording studio technology, the studio offers an acoustically optimized and at the same time inspiring workspace. So grateful for the support from my colleagues Julian Rohrhuber, Marcus Schmickler, and Phillip Schulze in designing this studio with me.

Summer We had what is called a Jahrhundersommer. So I got to spent many days at a secret little beach on the short, super clean and pretty cold river Agger close to where I live. Sweet, sweet summer days. Sun, water, trees, fishes, dogs, horses, trees, flowers, and finally time to read.

Time Travel My parents took a day off to show me my father's childhood places in the former German Democratic Republic. My father told many stories from more than half a century ago. Too many to remember but I now have a much better idea and feeling for where he came from.

Travel I was super sad when my youngest friend left for a year to live with her parents at the infamous Villa Massimo in Rome. Got to visit her twice this year. We had long walks and deep conversations in the morning and afternoon to and from her kindergarten. Precious.

TV Invited my godson to see ZDF Magazin Royale, a successful German late night program by satirist, journalist, and TV host Jan Böhmermann, live. The show's TV band Rundfunk-Tanzorchester Ehrenfeld is lead by one of my former students, the ultra talented and charming Lorenz Rhode. I was impressed by his courtesy and modesty, and of course by the powerful sound of his band.

Quote Experienced a couple of unpleasant moments at work in 2022. After an especially crass meeting I had an one-on-one online session with a student who wore a cap with TRUST written on it – in uppercase letters. I will not forget the surprise and comfort it gave me.

So, here we are... And what is next?

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Cultural Mashups by Todd Alcott.

Feedback needed

Underestimating others' desire for constructive feedback
December 27th, 2022

Via National Library of Medicine: "People sometimes avoid giving feedback to others even when it would help fix others' problems. For example, only 2.6% of individuals in a pilot field study provided feedback to a survey administrator who had food or lipstick on their face. Five experiments (N = 1,984) identify a possible reason for the lack of feedback: People underestimate how much others want to receive constructive feedback. [...]

While we found evidence that people consider both types of consequences, people particularly underestimated how much receivers value their feedback, a mechanism not extensively tested in prior research. Specifically, in Experiment 4, two interventions-making feedback-givers consider receivers' perspectives (enhancing consideration of receivers' consequences) or imagine someone else providing feedback (reducing consideration of givers' consequences)-both improved givers' recognition of others' desire for feedback compared to no intervention, but the perspective-taking intervention was most effective.

Finally, Experiment 5 demonstrates the underestimation during a financially incentivized public-speaking contest and shows that giving less constructive feedback resulted in less improvement in feedback-receivers' performances.

Overall, people consistently underestimate others' desire for feedback, with potentially negative consequences for feedback-receivers' outcomes.

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Occlusion Grotesque is an experimental typeface that is carved into the bark of a tree.

Intuition

When is it right to trust your gut instincts?
August 23rd, 2022

Via BBC: "Vincent emphasises that people’s gut instincts should not replace analytical thought, and we should be aware of the fact that they can sometimes be swayed by unconscious biases. (If there is a chance that racism, ageism or sexism is clouding your judgement, you might be especially wary of what your gut is telling you.) In general, however, his research confirms that an expert’s intuitive feelings can be important sources of information and should play some role in the decision-making process." [...]

"While some studies have suggested we can go with our first impression immediately, there often does seem to be an advantage in delaying the decision as we focus on some other activity. According to Marlène Abadie, a cognitive psychologist at Aix-Marseille University in Southern France, the pause allows the unconscious mind to form an accurate gist from the complex information that had been presented, which will in turn increase the accuracy of our intuitive judgement." [...]

"According to the latest research, the quality of someone’s gut instincts may depend on their overall emotional intelligence (EI). And by learning to increase our EI, we may therefore strengthen our intuitive decision-making." [...]

"If you want to fine-tune your intuition, then, you might first try to get in touch with your emotions more generally – carefully interrogating what exactly you are feeling and the sources of that mood. Over time, you may find it easier discern when you are receiving a genuine and accurate signal. Your gut feelings will never be completely fool proof, but with practice they can become an important guide."

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Auditorium, Capitol cinema, Berlin 1926 by Albert Vennemann (1885-1965), Gelatin silver print© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kunstbibliothek

The Beauty of the World

Quote by Tennessee Williams
July 10th, 2022

Via James Grissom's blog: "It is the pursuit of beauty in things and people that is the journey… the real journey. I was happiest when I sought beauty in words and music and images. I was happiest in movies or in the middle of a symphony… whatever allowed the mind to ponder all that was possible and glorious. The world, I suppose, is the result of actions taken by people possessed of an image or an idea, and the world I care most about is constructed from those images that reminded someone of the beauty and the nobility of people… I'm back on the job of looking for this beauty, and nothing is safe from my eyes and my ears. I want to find and host the beauty of the world."

Interview with Tennessee Williams conducted by James Grissom in 1982

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In 2022, fifty-two years after it was created, Robert Smithson’s "Spiral Jetty" (1970) is a barometer for the climate emergency.

You Think Failure Is Hard?

So is learning from it
July 4th, 2022

Via Perspectives on Psychological Science: "Society celebrates failure as a teachable moment. But do people actually learn from failure? Although lay wisdom suggests people should, a review of the research suggests that this is hard. We present a unifying framework that points to emotional and cognitive barriers that make learning from failure difficult.

Emotions undermine learning because people find failure ego-threatening. People tend to look away from failure and not pay attention to it to protect their egos. Cognitively, people also struggle because the information in failure is less direct than the information in success and thus harder to extract.

Beyond identifying barriers, this framework suggests inroads by which barriers might be addressed. Finally, we explore implications. We outline what, exactly, people miss out on when they overlook the information in failure. We find that the information in failure is often high-quality information that can be used to predict success."

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Satō Tokihiro, #330 Taiji, 1998

Values

My pyramid
January 21th, 2022

Humor
Honesty – Faith – Freedom
Creativity – Serenity – Joy – Love – Music – Presence.

Take another step toward what matters.

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Aline Smithson, Sun Setting on 2021.

End of 2021

Ten moments in time
December 31st, 2021

Artist Immensely enjoyed the visits to Sarah Szczesny's studio, and love conversing with her. Her energy, creativity, and knowledge are extraordinary and an inspiration for me. Am ultra delighted that she now joins us to teach in my Transmedia Forms concentration for the Klang und Realität master degree program at Institute for Music and Media.

Exhibition Due to the pandemic the students and I had to do our annual visit to the Julia Stoschek Collection one person at a time. What a privilege and concentration to be completely by myself in these chambers. This moment reaffirmed for me the immense relevance of art for our society.

Festival The 13th incarnation of the annual Ambient Festival in my hometown was a blast. Dietmar Saxler and his team put together a brilliant program. Gavin Bryars' Jesus blond never failed me yet played by The Ever Present Orchestra and conducted by Gregor Schwellenbach was a moment to drop to your knees for.

Film My favorite film experience this year was Sisters with Transistors by Lisa Rovner about the pioneering women of electronic music. It was moving and it gave me goosebumps to finally see so many distinguished female composers gathered in one documentary.

History Learned that the former name of the submarine Hai –that my father was supposed to serve on as a reservist of the marine– was U-2365. The numbers are day and year of my birthday. My father got really lucky that he was not allowed to board in September 1966 for the crossing from the base in Neustadt to Aberdeen in Scotland, because the submarine sank, and all but one of the crewmen drowned. I am grateful for the marine bureaucracy that had him stay on land for lack of insurance, and me have a father.

Mouse The Last Supper relief in St. Mary's Church, Lübeck includes a detail associated with Lübeck: a little mouse gnawing at the base of a rose bush. Touching it is supposed to mean that the person will have good luck. But the mouse is also a symbol that a great disaster can arise from small mishaps. Well, I touched it when still a kid, and again this summer when I revisited some of those memories.

Music I heard Kirtan: Turiya Sings by Alice Coltrane for the first time during a visit to the infamous a-Musik record store, had to have it immediately, and played it for weeks. "As Ravi Coltrane writes in a producer's note, this is functional music, meant to guide the practice of chanting: creating vibrations inside of oneself in order to transcend, like embodied meditations." (Pitchfork). My album of 2021.

Quote „Being resentful, they say, is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die." – Susan Cheever

Ritual The last day of 2021 provided two fire rituals for me. It was a warm day, almost as if spring had arrived. For the first ritual I fed all the things that I am not taking with me to 2022 to the flames. With the second, even bigger fire we acknowledged the strength and empowerment of our ancestors to deal with their traumas – on their own. Am so grateful for the company next to the fires.

Work NICA artist development assigned me to work with brilliant people like Heidi Bayer, Leif Berger, Elisabeth Coudoux, Pablo Giw, Tamara Lukasheva, Martel Ollerenshaw, and Philip Zoubek on their communication strategies. Thanks to Thomas Venker for bringing their flattering compliments in interviews for his Kaput - Magazin für Insolvenz & Pop to my attention.
Also, head of the NICA program, Kornelia Vossebein, and I took our meetings outside. She became my first client to do walking meetings only. Best idea ever.

So, here we are... And what is next?

 

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Face (Fear), 2020, collage on paper by Christian Marclay. Courtesy Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo.

The Truth About Multitasking

A scientific treatise on the topic
December 7th, 2021

Via Medium: "The common belief is that multitasking makes you more productive, that multi-taskers are more talented and that women are the better multi-taskers, yet science suggests otherwise. Multitasking makes you unproductive [1]. It slows you down, increases the rate of your mistakes and reduces your ability to process information [2]. Moreover, it changes the structure of your brain, resulting in decreased cognitive control performance and less socio-emotional regulation [3]. [...]

The idea is that you can do two things at once. But you cannot focus on two things at once. Daniel Kahneman describes in his book Thinking, Fast and Slow that there are two systems in our brain, which he calls System 1 and System 2. System 2 is slow and logical and is used when we solve a difficult math task for example. System 1, on the other hand, is quick and intuitive and is used when we walk, talk or do any other automated task. While we can do several intuitive tasks at the same time, our System 2 requires full attention [7]. Think of driving a car: Both driving and talking is an intuitive task, so you can do both at the same time. But suddenly, something unexpected happens. Your System 2 requires your full attention. In the lucky case, you stop talking and handle the situation well. In the worst case, talking occupied so much of your brain power that your System 2 wasn’t able to react quick enough. This is why multitasking fails: Knowledge Work as described by Peter Drucker, i.e. work that requires us to code, manage, organize or think in general, requires our System 2. It’s neurologically impossible to multitask!"

Sources:
[1] Bannister, F. & Remenyi, D. (2009). Multitasking: the Uncertain Impact of Technology on Knowledge Workers and Managers. Electronic Journal Information Systems Evaluation. 12.
[2] Lohr, S. (2007) Slow Down, Brave Multitasker, and Don’t Read This in Traffic,The New York Times, March 25th, 2007.
[3] Loh KK, Kanai R (2014) Higher Media Multi-Tasking Activity Is Associated with Smaller Gray-Matter Density in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex. PLoS ONE 9(9): e106698. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0106698
[4] Jones, Keith and Schambach, Thomas, “Student Perspectives On Multitasking” (2009). 2009 Proceedings. 23. aisel.aisnet.org/siged2009/23
[5] Laloyaux, J., Laroi, F., & Hirnstein, M. (2018, September 26). Research: Women and Men Are Equally Bad at Multitasking. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from hbr.org/2018/09/research-women-and-men-are-equally-bad-at-multitasking
[6] Gary, K. & Papasan, J. (2013). The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results. Austin: Bard Press.
[7] Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Thanks to Fee Fuchs!

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Illustration by Jorge Mascarenhas.

Beliefs about Creativity

Evidence for an insight bias
October 17th, 2021

Via ScienceDirect: "Research finds that creative ideas are often generated via two cognitive pathways: persistence and insight. Persistence refers to the effortful, deliberate, and sustained search for creative solutions. In contrast, insight refers to the effortless and unexpected comprehension of new ideas or solutions, colloquially called the ‘A-ha!’ moment. People report both pathways in their subjective experiences of creativity and both pathways promote creative performance. Yet, emerging research suggests that people’s beliefs about the creative process do not reflect these dual pathways. It appears that people associate creativity with effortless insight and undervalue persistence; a phenomenon we refer to as an insight bias. We next present evidence for an insight bias, consider the mechanisms behind it, and discuss the implications of these (faulty) beliefs. [...]

The studies summarized above provide evidence that people undervalue persistence and overvalue insight. Understanding these (faulty) beliefs is important because they influence how people choose to engage in creative work. For instance, undervaluing persistence and believing one’s best ideas come early leads people to disengage from creative work more quickly, which limits creativity. Valuing insight leads people to expect more creativity when in the bathtub than at one’s workstation and to discount the value of others whose accomplishments draw on persistence rather than innate genius.

What causes the insight bias? One explanation relates to the subjective experience of idea generation itself. Specifically, the feeling of effortfulness experienced while generating ideas (also called metacognitive fluency). Generating ideas via insight feels less effortful and less mentally exhausting than generating ideas via persistence. This more pleasant experience of insight, versus persistence, leads people to think and feel more positively about insight. For example, the research where people underestimated how many ideas they would generate while persisting found that the feeling of effortfulness experienced during initial idea generation accounted for the discrepancy between predictions and performance. Similarly, people’s belief that creativity declines across an ideation session was explained by people’s pessimism about the difficulty of producing ideas over time. Future research should continue to test this and other mechanisms."

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"The Mouth of Krishna" by Anna Cabrera & Ángel Albarrán. "In any part of the universe there is a whole universe –Hamlet saw the infinite space in a nutshell; William Blake saw a world in a grain of sand, a heaven in a wild flower, and eternity in an hour."

How to do philosophy

by Robert Paul Wolff
August 23rd, 2021

Via Lars P. Syll: "A contest was announced to see who could do the best job of carving up a side of beef. The judge was announced as a famous chef, who had earned two Michelin stars. Attracted by the prize money, a butcher and an analytic philosopher entered the contest.

The Analytic Philosopher went first. A fresh side of beef was placed on a large wooden table, and he approached to begin.  He was dressed in freshly pressed chinos and a button-down shirt. The Analytic Philosopher laid a leather case on one corner of the table and opened it, revealing a gleaming set of perfectly matched scalpels, newly sharpened. He selected one scalpel carefully and addressed the side of beef. After inspecting its surface carefully, he raised his hand and made the first cut, a precise slice in a perfectly straight line. Working steadily, but with meticulous care, he proceeded to make slices and cross slices until he had completed the carving of the beef, a task that took him the better part of an hour. When he had finished, he stepped back, wiped the scalpel clean on a piece of paper toweling, replaced it in the case, and with a bow to the judge, withdrew.

The butcher was next up. Her side of beef was on a table next to that on which the Analytic Philosopher had been working. She was dressed in overalls and a butcher’s apron, on which one could see spots of blood and stains from her work. She took out a cleaver, a saw, and a sharp butcher’s knife, and went to work on her side of beef, wasting no time. Bits of fat and gristle flew here and there, some ending up on her apron and even in her hair, which she had covered with a net. She whistled as she worked at the table, until with a flourish, she put down her saw, bowed to the judge, and stepped back.

The judge examined each table for no more than a moment, and then without the slightest hesitation, handed the prize to the butcher. The Analytic Philosopher was stunned. "But," he protested, "there is simply no comparison between the results on the two tables. The butcher’s table is a shambles, a heap of pieces of meat, with fat and bits of bone and drops of blood all over the place. My table is pristine — a careful display of perfectly carved cubes of meat, all with parallel sides and exactly the same size. Why on earth have you given the prize to the butcher?"

The Judge explained. "The butcher has turned her side of beef into a usable array of porterhouse steaks, T-bone steaks, sirloin steaks, beef roasts, and a small pile of beef scraps ready to be ground up for chop meat.  She clearly knew where the joints were in the beef, how to cut against the grain with the tough parts, where to apply her saw.  You, on the other hand, have reduced a perfectly good grade-A side of beef to stew meat."

Moral: When butchering a side of beef, it is best to know something about what lies beneath its surface.
Observation: This is also not a bad idea when doing Philosophy."

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