Anthology of Optimism

François Bucher is an Colombian artist, living and working in New York. He was asked by Pieter de Buysser and Jacob Wren to contribute in their 'Anthology of Optimism'. This image is his contribution.

“An Anthology of Optimism is a pre-emptive celebration of a critical optimism we tentatively hope will increase in the twenty-first century.”

This sentence is the opening of the lettre written to Francois Bucher and all kinds of writers, artists, thinkers, scientists, politicians, business people, in which they were asked for a personal reply on the subject: 'critical optimism'. The lettre and the reaction are part of, what they call, an 'Anthology of Optimism' can be found on the website:

www.anthologyofoptimism.com

The show An Anthology of Optimism was also part in short sketches, video and oneliners, of the composed theater performance of the same name at 'De Brakke Grond'. I think they adress the term critical optimism to critic pessimism. They state that pessimism is a defense meganism for humans to not get hurt. The quote someone else in Dutch:

"Optimisme is de rouw van het Pessimisme..."