-- evoking some kind of image or movement. >> can i ask, i am a musician, do you have any advice -- often have trouble losing -- moving away from my everyday and getting into music. do you have any recommendations on how to speed up that context switching? >> i am assuming that as a professional musician, he doesn't have to do with complicated problems. >> you would not want me doing that. believe me. >> still, you have the context switch of being creative, non creative. >> that is true. sometimes you need something to wipe the slate clean. it could be taking a walk.

these days, disconnecting. i have a studio. when i go there, is a place to work, i did not need to take my cell phone out there. having a physical location you can go to -- this is where i do this -- even just a quarter of your room. >> from a cognitive neuroscience standpoint, if you dedicate a place, if you are religious about it -- or clock 30 i am going to spend an hour -- 4:30 i'm going to spend an hour here or there. that contextual aspect helps. inform is now wrapping up all of our events by asking our speakers, ourselves included, the following question. alex, what is your 60-second the idea to change the world?

>> i think everybody should listen to music from other cultures. even daniel has said that, you know, we need to have that in printing when we are young to understand balinese monkey chants or something to put it into context. i travel a lot. i just came back from asia. i was given a lot of career in music, a lot of ethnic music -- a lot of korean music. even though you may not have a cultural context, if you give it a little bit of a chance, it is an opportunity to open up your mind a little bit. when you do that, it may on sub -- some subconscious level give you a better understanding of why people are the way they are in different parts of the world and who they are. i think we should all be listening to each other's music

and all try to play a little bit of music or sing. i think it is -- yeah. 60 seconds there? [applause] >> and you, daniel, what is your 60-second idea? >> as an educator and teacher, i think my 60-second idea to change the world is better education. if we could teach the next generation of kids to be critical thinkers, just not accept what they are told but to decide for themselves, to give them the tools to make informed decisions about what is right and what is not, about what has been established and what is just here say, what really has a grounding in fact versus rumor, i think the world would be a much safer, more peaceful, and more prosperous place. [applause]

>> let's get a big, final round of applause for this nice, informed foray into neuroscience and music with myself, daniel levinson, and the great guitarist and composer, alex degrassi. now, this meeting of in forum and the commonwealth club is adjourned. [applause] >> i'm your host of

"culturewire," and today, here at electric works in san francisco. nice to see you today. thanks for inviting us in and showing us your amazing facility today. >> my pleasure. >> how long has electric works been around? >> electric works has been in san francisco since the beginning of 2007. we moved here from brisbane from our old innovation. we do printmaking, gallery shows, and we have a fabulous retail store where there are lots of fun things to find. >> we will look at all of that as we walk around. it is incredible to me how many different things you do. how is it you identify that san francisco was in need of all these different services? >> it came from stepping out of graduate school in 1972. i wrote a little thing about how this is an idea, how our world should work. it should have printmaking,

archiving, a gallery. it should have a retail store. in 1972, i wanted to have art sales, point-of-sale at the grocery store. >> so you go through the manifesto. with the bay area should have. you are making art incredibly accessible in so many different ways, so that is a good segue. let's take a walk around the facilities. here we are in your gallery space. can you tell me about the current show? >> the current show is jeff chadsey. he is working on mylar velum, a smooth, beautiful drawing surface. i do not know anyone that draws as well as he does. it is perfect, following the contours and making the shape of the body. >> your gallery represents artists from all over, not just

the bay area, an artist that work in a lot of different media. how to use some of what you look for in artists you represent? >> it is dependent on people are confident with their materials. that is a really important thing. there is enough stuff in the world already. >> you also have in his current show an artist who makes sculpture out of some really interesting types of materials. let's go over and take a look at that. here we are in a smaller space. project gallery. >> artists used the parameters of this space to find relationships between the work that is not out in the big gallery. >> i noticed a lot of artists doing really site-specific work. >> this is a pile of balloons, something that is so familiar, like a child's balloon. in this proportion, suddenly, it

becomes something out of a dream. >> or a nightmare. >> may be a nightmare. >> this one over here is even harder to figure out what the initial material is. >> this is made out of puffy paint. often, kids use it to decorate their clothes. she has made all these lines of paint. >> for the pieces we are looking at, is there a core of foam or something in the middle of these pieces that she built on top of? >> i'm not telling. >> ah, a secret. >> this silver is aluminum foil, crumbled of aluminum foil. her aesthetic is very much that quiet, japanese spatial thing that i really admire. their attention to the materiality of the things of the world. >> this is a nice juxtaposition you have going on right now.

you have a more established artists alongside and emerging artists. is that something important to you as well? >> very important in this space, to have artists who really have not shown much. now let's look at other aspects of electric works operation. let's go to the bookstore. >> ok. >> in all seriousness, here we are in your store. this is the first space you encounter when you come in off the street. it has evolved since you open here into the most amazingly curious selection of things. >> this was the project for the berkeley art museum. it was -- this is from william wiley's retrospective, when he got up onstage to sing a song, 270 people put on the cat. >> it is not just a bookstore. it is a store. can you talk us through some of

your favorites? >> these are made in china, but they are made out of cattails. >> these pieces of here, you have a whale head and various animals and their health over there, and they are jewelry. >> we do fund raisers for nonprofits, so we are doing a project for the magic theater, so there are some pretty funny cartoons. they are probably not for prime time. >> you sort of have a kind of holistic relationship where you might do merchandise in the store that promotes their work and practice, and also, prince for them. maybe we should go back and look at the print operation now. >> let's go. >> before we go into the print shop, i noticed some incredible items you have talked back here. what are we standing in front of? >> this is william wiley, only

one earth. this is a print edition. there are only eight total, and what we wanted to do was expand the idea of printmaking. this is really an art object. there we go. >> besides the punball machine, what do you produce in limited edition? >> there is the slot machine. if you win the super jackpot, you have saved the world. >> what about work? >> the right design, it was three volumes with lithographs in each volume. the cab of count dracula with 20 lithographs inside and lined with beaver fur.

really special. >> let's move on to the print shop. >> ok. the core of what we do is making things. this is an example. this is a print project that will be a fund-raiser for the contemporary music players. we decided to put it in the portfolio so you could either frame at or have it on your bookshelf. >> so nonprofits can come to you, not just visual are nonprofits, but just nonprofits can come to you, and you will produce prints for them to sell, and the profits, they can keep. >> the return on investment is usually four times to 10 times the amount of investment. this is for the bio reserve in mexico, and this is one of the artists we represent. >> you also make prints for the artists that you represent. over here are some large prints

by a phenomenal artist. >> he writes these beautiful things. anyone who has told you paradise is a book of rules is -- has only appeared through the windows. this is from all over coffee. we are contract printers for all kinds of organizations all across the country. >> thank you very much for showing us around today. i really appreciate you taking the time to let me get better acquainted with the operation and also to share with our "culturewire" team. "culturewire" team. impossible. announcer: when you open a book, you can explore new lands... [bird screeches] meet new friends, and discover new adventures. there are amazing possibilities when you open your mind to reading.

[roar] you can log onto he library of congress website and let the journey begin. [applause]

[cheers and applause] >> they were all telling me how excited they were to do an inauguration last year. but it was just for that local mayor of san francisco. and now -- i thought maybe when they were great, when they were old and you guys had kids and grandkids, you would talk about that inauguration you had at

city hall. that's all going to be forgotten now. i'm not even an asterisk. we're here because we're proud. we're here because we're proud. [applause] by the way a lot of folks are here because they're proud. it gives me tremendous pride as a san franciscan first and foremost, as mayor of this city, that our san francisco girls chorus and our san francisco boys chorus have been picked for this historic event. it is an extraordinary privilege that we collectively are being afforded. but all of these young men and women in the back are being afforded. and to all of families and friends, i know that this is

something you will never forget. as a san franciscan to see san francisco speaker nancy pelosi up there with senior senator diane feinstein front and center in this, and our boys and girls chorus -- [applause] i know not everyone of the same political persuasion. but yes, the president that we have chosen, which we chose wisely from my humble perspective. [applause] but we are from san francisco. we can say that. this is an exciting moment. we're here because these folks are extraordinarily talented. these are grammy winners. isn't that amazing? what have we done in our lives? these are grammy winners. albums, prince charles comes

in, let's bring out the boys chorus and the girls chorus. you've got all kinds of world leaders. and we just get to show off to the rest of the nation something that we get to experience more often out here in the bay area. so i'm just here to celebrate with you. we thought we would bring you together and a nice way to kick off the preinaugural ceremonies. and just to remind ourselves how blessed we are to be out here. and the great city and county of san francisco. but first, i just wanted to recognize because it's utterly appropriate, susan, come on up here. these two very talented artistic directors that have done so much and so well. we just -- we wanted to thank them for all their hard work. and all their sacrifice. and all their -- the commitment they have made to work with all of you.

and to be here with you. not just on moments like this. and moments like tuesday. but those quiet moments, practice stress and frustration and anxiety, where ian and susan were there, just keeping your spirits up and enlivanning your senses and making you believe you can do more and better. and reminding you what it's all about. and that is working together across your differences and uniting a common goal. and that's really the spirit of what a chorus is all about, isn't it? it's the sum of its parts. and there's something special in that as well. so it's in that stead and that spirit and that light that we have two certificates of honor. one recognizing our san francisco girls chorus. it's your day in the city and county of san francisco. [applause] we always have to start with the girls first.

and then to your outstanding work and we have a lot of language to attest to that. and your contribution. and to all of you young men, this is your day as well in the city and county of san francisco. we thank you. thank you. so we're going to -- so enjoy. thank you very much. and we've got the change everybody's going to look forward to enjoying on tuesday. thank you. [applause] >> ♪ o beautiful for spacious skies for amber waves of grain for purple mountains majesty

along the fruited plain america america god shed his grace on thee and from thigh good with brotherhood -- thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea ♪ o beautiful ♪ america america ♪

♪ o beautiful

♪ from sea to shining sea ♪ ♪ [cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

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♪ [applause]

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