Today a friend showed me a video where an IKEA print was put into a Dutch art gallery. Patrons were asked about the piece in a hilarious and bumbling volley of art-speak. One guy said he’d pay no more than $2.5M for it.
My friend asked me if I’d heard about the study where they put cheap wine in expensive bottles, and wine critics rated it very highly. It’s hard for me to understand that, as I’ve had two (rather repulsive) sips of wine in my entire life. If you could convince me to try wine, there’s no way I’d be able to tell.
On the other hand, I’m pretty into tea and feel like I could easily tell a bad tea masquerading as a good one. I’ve loved cheap teas and disliked expensive ones, so I don’t think all that affects me that much.
Later in the afternoon, another friend and I went to see Joshua Bell. If you don’t know, he’s probably the greatest living violinist. He plays one of the most famous of the Stradivarius violins.
The first two acts, which didn’t include Joshua Bell, were lackluster. The first I thought was downright bad, and the second was average. But from the moment Joshua got on stage, we were mesmerized. He really is incredible at what he does. I can’t fathom how he makes such beautiful music from a violin.
As he plays, he moves all over the place with the music. He bobs and weaves, and floats up onto his tip-toes. It looks like he’s on the verge of tears, from joy or sadness, depending on where in the piece he was.
My friend I went with was crying. I’ve never seen her cry before. His hour of playing went by in a blink, keeping all of my attention the entire time. I go to the symphony with some frequency, and his performance easily bests any others in my memory.
Maybe because of the earlier conversation, I wondered how much was the bottle and how much was the wine, so to speak. Am I affected by his fame? His fifteen-million-dollar violin? If a kid at a recital could make the same sounds as him, would I be equally as moved?
Evidence says probably not. Joshua bell played anonymously in a DC Metro station eight years ago, and made about $32 in an hour. A thousand people came through, and almost none stopped.
What can we learn from this?
For one, I think it doesn’t really matter. I saw an amazing performance today that inspired me and left me with a wonderful memory. Whether it’s the wine or the bottle that did it is pretty much irrelevant, right?
Second, it made me think that I should work on my own presentation of things. I focus on the wine exclusively, but maybe there’s some value in the bottle as well. After all, if I don’t care which one is driving my experiences, do other people?
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Photo is the symphony hall in Prague
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