Glidebirds.net is a site that probes “some of the world’s greatest creative minds” on their choices of an object of beauty that they feel contributes to a better understanding of the current ideal of beauty. This month, philosopher Joshua Cohen chose Central Park. Cohen defined beauty as “an experience of something that draws your attention and then absorbs it.” He considers Central Park an embodiment of democratic beauty. Cohen admires the physical beauty of the park, as well as the intention behind it. The designers – Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux – created the replication of natural beauty with the intention of providing all New Yorkers with the experience usually reserved for wealthy residents with the means to vacation in the Adirondacks. Cohen notes that Olmsted saw creating Central Park as a way of disproving the aristocratic mindset that creating something for the masses has an inevitably inferior result.
Read the original interview here.