The Cave of Apelles

A deep reading of how the 19th century remade artisans into autonomous “art” with museums, purity claims, and the artist as priest. They trace photography, modernism, and debates over fine art versus craft. Political shifts from the 1930s to Cold War cultural politics are examined. The conversation ends by asking whether a new system can reunite skill, function, and imagination.

Dr. Nir Buras is a leading new traditional architect and urbanist, founder of the Classic Planning Institute, and author of The Art of Classic Planning. He designs towns, cities and buildings, and speaks about some of the most interesting developments in the world of architecture and planning and where we might find ourselves in the future. 👍✨ Support our show and get access to more than 200 exclusive posts: https://patreon.com/caveofapelles/ Chapter markers: 00:00 Intro 01:30 Buras & the Classic Planning Institute (CPI) 04:43 Projects and subdivisions of CPI 09:02 CPI's partners, seminars and live events 11:00 Horseshit, conflict and modern city planning 15:07 Cars and modern city planning 19:01 Three scenarios for our cities 22:33 The "Golden Age" in all cultures 26:01 What is wrong with the modern city 37:46 A holistic vs problem solving method 48:20 Place making is memory-making 57:22 Can a city have cars in it? 1:06:43 Traffic in Rome, Rio de Janeiro and New York 1:10:23 Town and country 1:14:41 CPI and the Anacostia River Masterplan 1:24:45 The impact of using hands on the brain 1:29:35 An eight generations horizon 1:32:10 Olympic Games for handcraft 1:35:24 The Anacostia project and Paris' Île de la Cité 1:42:03 Daniel Burnham: “Make no small plans” 1:46:28 Burnham's six categories for town planning 1:51:55 The symbolism of where you place buildings 1:58:50 Getting cars off the streets 1: 01:42 The future of modernism is classical This episode featured Dr. Nir Buras & Carl Korsnes and was filmed and edited by Bork Nerdrum. The centerpiece was a photograph of the Anacostia Riverfront render design by Dr. Buras & The Classic Planning Institute. SHOUTOUT to our TOP SPONSORS! Fergus Ryan Matthias Proy Diego Subscribe to our newsletter. It is the only way to make sure that you receive content from us on a regular basis: https://bit.ly/2L8qCNn Check out our other channels: https://www.youtube.com/c/SchoolofApelles https://www.youtube.com/c/CultureWarsNow Podcast available on SoundCloud, iTunes, and Spotify: https://soundcloud.com/caveofapelles https://spoti.fi/2AVDkcT https://apple.co/2QAcXD6 Website: https://caveofapelles.com Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/caveofapelles TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@caveofapelles Instagram: instagram.com/caveofapelles/ For inquiries — talk@caveofapelles.com

Jan-Ove Tuv sits down with Jon White from the Crecganford YouTube-channel and Sturla Ellingvåg from the Viking Stories YouTube-channel to discuss the nature of myths. 👍✨ Support our show and get access to more than 200 exclusive posts: https://patreon.com/caveofapelles/ Chapter markers: 00:00 Thinking a-historically 03:33 From ritual to listening 08:48 Replacing pagan holidays and rituals 15:39 Changes in myths 22:26 Tactius' Germania, the Poetic Edda and the Kalevala 26:19 Sacred truths make stories last 33:14 Cut off from your traditions 39:28 Looking at history as a whole 44:17 A perfect product for corporate business? 48:36 Picking the shiny thing 52:32 Back to basic human stories 57:36 Participating in the story 1:02:58 Do what has worked before 1:05:46 Irony in eternal stories 1:07:18 Society after the cyclical disasters 1:13:18 Agriculture gives us cyclical myths 1:19:40 Recurring themes in myth This episode featured Jon F. White, Jan-Ove Tuv & Sturla Ellingvåg and was filmed and edited by Bork Nerdrum. The centerpiece was a 19th century reproduction of G. F. Watts' Hope. SHOUTOUT to our TOP SPONSORS! Fergus Ryan Matthias Proy Børge Moe Eivind Josten Subscribe to our newsletter. It is the only way to make sure that you receive content from us on a regular basis: https://bit.ly/2L8qCNn Check out our other channels: https://www.youtube.com/c/SchoolofApelles https://www.youtube.com/c/CultureWarsNow Podcast available on SoundCloud, iTunes, and Spotify: https://soundcloud.com/caveofapelles https://spoti.fi/2AVDkcT https://apple.co/2QAcXD6 Website: https://caveofapelles.com Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/caveofapelles TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@caveofapelles Instagram: instagram.com/caveofapelles/ For inquiries — talk@caveofapelles.com

Jon White has studied Indo-European mythology for more than thirty years, particularly focusing on cosmogony and creation myths. As an independent researcher and lecturer, he shares this knowledge on his YouTube-channel @Crecganford . Mr. White visits Cave of Apelles to detail the major motifs or "mythologems" of the Indo-European mythological tradition and what they denote. Considering that the Indo-Europeans lived in the Pontic-Caspian steppes about 7000 years ago, how did their stories spread to ancient India, Persia, Rome or Norse Scandinavia - changing, yet still retaining their core? Combining the study of myths with fields like linguistics, archeology and etymology Mr. White will unravel cross-cultural similarities in stories like The Cosmic Twins, Defeating the dragon, The cattle raiding myth and The wild hunt. He will also share his ideas on how we best are to understand myths. Are they projections of the human psyche, the condensed ethos of a culture or symbolic manifestations of natural and cultural history? More intriguing still: is the presence of myths and archetypal images particular to Homo sapiens or have they been transferred between human species? 👍✨ Support our show and get access to more than 200 exclusive posts: https://patreon.com/caveofapelles/ Chapter markers: 00:00 Intro 01:27 Who is Jon White? 04:21 Defining “myth" 11:57 The Indo-European creation myth and sacrifice of the cow 19:22 Who were the Indo-Europeans? 24:06 The academic study of myths 30:18 Cattle, three-headed monsters and Twins of creation 37:36 “Fame does not decay” - the magic of writing 41:00 Over 70 000 years of fighting the dragon 45:59 From cows to women - the problem of translation 50:27 The veracity of the poetic and prose Edda 56:27 The divine twins vs the creation twins 1:00:11 Defining “archetype” 1:04:31 What is NOT Indo-European? 1:06:25 Mythology and mindset 1:08:29 Inuit myths, and stars as protagonists 1:13:41 Ways of understanding myth 1:16:51 Polytheist vs monotheist worldviews? 1:21:25 Myths as projection of the human psyche? 1:31:39 Myths as condensed images 1:34:17 Pre-human myths? This episode featured Jon F. White & Jan-Ove Tuv and was filmed and edited by Bork Nerdrum. The centerpiece was a reproduction of "Sleeping Twins" by Odd Nerdrum. SHOUTOUT to our TOP SPONSORS! Fergus Ryan Matthias Proy Diego Subscribe to our newsletter. It is the only way to make sure that you receive content from us on a regular basis: https://bit.ly/2L8qCNn Check out our other channels: https://www.youtube.com/c/SchoolofApelles https://www.youtube.com/c/CultureWarsNow Podcast available on SoundCloud, iTunes, and Spotify: https://soundcloud.com/caveofapelles https://spoti.fi/2AVDkcT https://apple.co/2QAcXD6 Website: https://caveofapelles.com Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/caveofapelles TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@caveofapelles Instagram: instagram.com/caveofapelles/ For inquiries — talk@caveofapelles.com

Michael J. Pearce, author and scholar of 19th-century French culture, gives a lively tour of Bohemian life and the proto-avant-garde. He traces origins of “Bohemian,” links Courbet, Manet and Zola to modernism, and follows occultism, socialism and industrialization into aesthetic shifts. The conversation maps how radical politics, myth, and art-for-art’s-sake shaped the path to American avant-garde.

Michael Pearce, writer, painter and founder of TRAC, explores how state power shaped modern art. He traces avant-garde roots to 19th-century thinkers and shows how governments and patrons steered taste. The conversation covers propaganda, the Soviet and Nazi art battles, Roosevelt and Rockefeller’s role, and the rise of imaginative realism today.

Jan-Ove Tuv sits down with Sturla Ellingvåg to dive deep into Norse mythology. Ellingvåg is the historian behind the YouTube-channel Viking Stories . He is associated with the Max Planck Institute in Germany, and is convinced that history has to be studied in a broader context than current fashion allows. Part one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q81uTkxnsY Part two: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTXjioACKt8 We have previously released an interview with Ellingvåg on this channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFeje-6fYmw 👍✨ Support our show and get access to more than 200 exclusive posts: https://patreon.com/caveofapelles/ Chapter markers: 00:00 Bridges, wells and guardians 02:04 Shamanic journey and disentanglement 08:40 Wisdom literature 11:10 Struggles and Loki as hero 17:25 Gods exposed to laws of nature 20:34 Odin: ferryman or Attila the Hun? 26:58 Odin & The spear dancer 30:00 Was Odin crucified or hanged? 32:40 What the next Ragnarök will look like 42:37 The 4.2k event 43:56 Religion and more totalitarian societies 45:54 Will your work survive future regimes? Bulgakov and Solzhenitsyn 51:39 The optimism of the Poetic Edda This episode featured Sturla Ellingvåg & Jan-Ove Tuv and was filmed and edited by Bork Nerdrum. The centerpiece was a 19th century reproduction of G. F. Watts' Hope. SHOUTOUT to our TOP SPONSORS! Fergus Ryan Matthias Proy Diego Subscribe to our newsletter. It is the only way to make sure that you receive content from us on a regular basis: https://bit.ly/2L8qCNn Check out our other channels: https://www.youtube.com/c/SchoolofApelles https://www.youtube.com/c/CultureWarsNow Podcast available on SoundCloud, iTunes, and Spotify: https://soundcloud.com/caveofapelles https://spoti.fi/2AVDkcT https://apple.co/2QAcXD6 Website: https://caveofapelles.com Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/caveofapelles TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@caveofapelles Instagram: instagram.com/caveofapelles/ For inquiries — talk@caveofapelles.com

Seth Fite, a classical painter shaped by Wyeth, Old Masters, and Odd Nerdrum, explores narrative, melancholy, and human vulnerability in painting. He discusses sincerity, painting from memory, finding the divine in ordinary objects, and why human suffering and timeless moral drama make for enduring subject matter.

Jan-Ove Tuv sits down with Sturla Ellingvåg to dive deep into Norse mythology. Ellingvåg is the historian behind @VikingStories . He is associated with the Max Planck Institute in Germany, and is convinced that history has to be studied in a broader context than current fashion allows. Part one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q81uTkxnsY We have previously released an interview with Ellingvåg on this channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFeje-6fYmw 👍✨ Support our show and get access to more than 200 exclusive posts: https://patreon.com/caveofapelles/ 00:00 Norse creation myths 04:33 Attacking sacred trees: Yggdrasil & Irminsul 14:23 Ragnarok - the world ending is not the end of the world 18:26 "Asia Men" & the Germanic world view 23:09 Odin's wisdom & travels to the underworld 29:18 Wells, bridges, the number nine & Saros' cycles 37:40 Did "Hyperboreans" teach the Greeks? 46:11 Scandinavia, Greece and tripping reindeer 49:50 Fighting and dancing to acquire wisdom 53:25 Inuit & Sami stories: helping spirits and singing 58:05 Dancing, fasting and being more dead than alive 1:05:37 Odin's words to his dead son This episode featured Sturla Ellingvåg & Jan-Ove Tuv and was filmed and edited by Bork Nerdrum. The centerpiece was a 19th century reproduction of G. F. Watts' Hope. SHOUTOUT to our TOP SPONSORS! Fergus Ryan Matthias Proy Diego Subscribe to our newsletter. It is the only way to make sure that you receive content from us on a regular basis: https://bit.ly/2L8qCNn Check out our other channels: https://www.youtube.com/c/SchoolofApelles https://www.youtube.com/c/CultureWarsNow Podcast available on SoundCloud, iTunes, and Spotify: https://soundcloud.com/caveofapelles https://spoti.fi/2AVDkcT https://apple.co/2QAcXD6 Website: https://caveofapelles.com Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/caveofapelles TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@caveofapelles Instagram: instagram.com/caveofapelles/ For inquiries — talk@caveofapelles.com

The 22 year old playwright Henrik Knightingale has just released his debut play In His Own Shadow. The play is set 150 years into the future, where a miracle happens: a new theater play is produced - and it is actually good! Can stories about love restore our faith in existence? Knightingale sits down to talk about the craft of writing a story, how he overcomes the challenges of writing, and how he "kills his darlings". Putting his own play in context, he will also discuss the authors who spur him in his own writing, taking a look at the structure of Antigone and Cyrano de Bergerac. 👍✨ Support our show and get access to more than 200 exclusive posts: https://patreon.com/caveofapelles/ Chapter markers: 00:00: Intro 01:14 Learning how to essentialize 04:03 Sense of Life 06:16 Knightingale's play In His Own Shadow 11:45 The Shakespeare/Bacon theory 14:00 Questions unfold the plot 16:12 Starting to write 19:22 Causality, logic and internal consistency 27:59 The importance of a synopsis 31:40 Everything must serve a function 33:22 Climax and the inevitable 39:00 Developing the villain and killing your darlings 47:23 Subplots and double meaning 53:40 Learning how to write from Leonard Peikoff 56:07 “Plot theme” keeps you on track 59:48 Opposition, stakes and key concepts 1:05:08 “A nest of characters at each others' throat” 1:08:02 Trusting the audience 1:16:05 What is most vulnerable 1:19:28 The importance of being important This episode featured Henrik Knightingale & Jan-Ove Tuv and was filmed and edited by Bork Nerdrum. The centerpiece was a reproduction of Wanderer Above a Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich. SHOUTOUT to our TOP SPONSORS! Fergus Ryan Matthias Proy Diego Subscribe to our newsletter. It is the only way to make sure that you receive content from us on a regular basis: https://bit.ly/2L8qCNn Check out our other channels: https://www.youtube.com/c/SchoolofApelles https://www.youtube.com/c/CultureWarsNow Podcast available on SoundCloud, iTunes, and Spotify: https://soundcloud.com/caveofapelles https://spoti.fi/2AVDkcT https://apple.co/2QAcXD6 Website: https://caveofapelles.com Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/caveofapelles TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@caveofapelles Instagram: instagram.com/caveofapelles/ For inquiries — talk@caveofapelles.com