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Benjamin Bergmann's installations revolve around fundamental and recurrent human questions - the significance of his actions, the need for fulfilment and the endowment of life with meaning as well as dealings with time and transitoriness. Before studying at the Academy of the Visual Arts in Munich, Bergmann trained as a wood sculptor for church decorations. During his studies, he worked closely with performance groups for whom he conceived multimedia action spaces that would determine the path of his further works. The largely extensive works Bergmann made after 2001 are in the tradition of constructed dream worlds. They combine classic modernist material collages with elements of the American environment. The examination of such themes as transitoriness and imperfection is a pivotal factor in Bergmann's work. He hence seeks precisely the moment, precisely the processes that inherently contain failure and the imperfect as well as the associated human hopes, wishes, goals and desires. That which already seems perfect, prompts fewer questions and weakens the desire for change. English and German text.… (more)
User reviews
The illustration does appear to be early 1960s.
Rational emoting can be distinguished from other psychological or rational
I don’t use rational emoting exclusively, but I think it’s important to keep all your strategies straight so you can understand yourself. (Eg, he usually likes to implicitly distance himself from Christianity, but he’s certainly not illogically anti-Christian or against all Christians equally regardless of what they say.)
…. He’s right that insight into why you have a problem needs to be followed up with taking up responsibility for yourself and doing something different, not just brooded on.
It still is rationalistic or insight-based, though, as it’s basically a book about treating cognitive distortions, something that’s certainly important.
…. Although Ellis does use Epictetus against Freud before that was cool, it’s important to realize it’s also post-Freudian rather than pre-Freudian because it’s based on his 20th century experiences as a therapist; he knows that people have cognitive distortions because he’s seen and heard it all, not just because he read it in a book.