Join Andrew Gould, an Orthodox church designer, Aidan Hart, a British iconographer, Martin Shaw, an author and mystic, Neil DeGraide, a musician from Dirt Poor Robins, and artist Heather Pollington as they ponder the role of beauty in civilization. They discuss how art, architecture, and music can renew culture and soul, advocating for a return to genuine artistry over political motivations. The conversation meanders through themes of love, nature, and the creative process, revealing the profound connections between beauty and human experience.
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insights INSIGHT
Beauty Shapes Civilization
Civilization’s decline links to how people perceive the world, implicating beauty in social health.
Architecture reflecting beauty supports human dignity, while ugliness oppresses and degrades society.
insights INSIGHT
Cosmic Meaning in Civic Architecture
Traditional civic architecture embodies cosmic symbolism, uniting heaven and earth.
Modern civic buildings’ ugliness undermines faith in public institutions and shared civilization.
insights INSIGHT
Heaven and Earth in Architecture
Architecture historically connected earth with heavens, reflecting human longing for divine union.
This spiritual impulse is largely lost in contemporary city-building.
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This is an informal roundtable discussion among friends and artists at the 2025 London ARC Conference that includes myself, Andrew Gould, Aidan Hart, Heather Pollington, Neil and Kate DeGraide from Dirt Poor Robins, Ben and Vesper Stamper, Martin Shaw, and John Heers. Amidst thousands of voices focused on policy and economics, we stepped aside to ask a deeper question: what does it mean to renew civilization through beauty? Together, we explore how architecture, music, and the arts shape our perception of the world—and how the recovery of beauty might be essential for healing both culture and soul. There are no scripts here, just a shared sense of wonder, frustration, and conviction. We speak of cities and forests, temples and toasts, tradition and imagination… and what it truly means to see rightly again.
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/6oS5NYXut0c
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keywords: ARC Conference, art, architecture, civilization, beauty, human experience, Christian culture, symbolism, design, architecture, music, art, beauty, creativity, orthodoxy, healing, abstraction, civic engagement, human experience
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