BANFF 2009: MENSA IN THE MOUNTAINS

 

Eight months from the Banff Regional Gathering (September 2009) and we have a great spectacle in the offing. Combine world-class scenery, the low Canadian dollar and top minds: the result is a memorable occasion. Like music, the fine arts, math, science, politics, games? Add your requests to the mix and book early through Patricia (almostp@shaw.ca) or volunteer to make this Gathering the best ever.

 

Babylon – icon and symbol – stands for what happens when concerted effort flounders. It was supposed to be unique. The tower represented the majesty of which human beings are capable. But it also hearkened back to earlier and happier days when the human enterprise was indivisible, similar – like Eden – to a primitive unity with nature. Mankind strives for the stars, has a plan and fulfills it. That was the hope for Babylon at the centre of the human universe. Though it also evokes more pedestrian themes. In legend, Gilgamesh built the great walls at Uruk, yet he is mere mortal after all as the epic reminds us. Travel though he might across worlds to Utnapishtim, Gilgamesh must die as Babylon must fall and dissolve to dust. Why lament the collapse of the market or the political changes that will follow in their wake? Such is the destiny of the universe, ordained from the beginning. Such is the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Dance while we can, for we are as the mayfly in the August sunlight.

 

The following images are from the Babylon Exhibition at the British Museum:

                            

 The Tower of Babel; 1595, Oil on panel by Lucas van Valckenborch (Mittelrhein-Museum Koblenz )

 

 

       

 Fall of the Tower of Babel, 1547. Etching by Cornelis Anthonisz (The Trustees of the British Museum)

 

                  

 The Map of the World, 6th century BC clay tablet (The Trustees of the British Museum)

 

                 

Dragon Relief, 6th century BC glazed brick panel (Olaf M. Teßmer/SMB-Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin)

 

 

         

Nebuchadnezzar, 1795/c.1805. Colour print finished in ink and watercolour on paper by William Blake (Tate, London 2008 )

Tower of Babel/Der Turm Babel, 2001. Oil on canvas by Michael Lassel (Michael Lassel)