Jorge Wagensberg. Scientist. Barcelona, 1948

(When he doesn’t sleep, Oscar Tusquets observes.) / To observe is an entirely voluntary activity which begins with another activity of a simple, automatic nature: seeing (opening one’s senses to the world). If the mind is interested in what is seen, it might then decide to look (focus one’s vision). If the mind is interested in what is looked at, it might then begin to observe (focus one’s gaze). If, moreover, the mind is interested in what is observed, then it may well need to ask questions - in other words, to experiment (to generate new observations). Having reached this point, one last exercise becomes almost inevitable: to know. What begins by simply opening one’s eyes can lead to a mind that is anxious to communicate something new. Seeing, looking, observing, experimenting, knowing and communicating, all are stages in the same process, more or less fruitful, more or less frequent exercises in any creative activity. Generally speaking, good or effective creators of knowledge remember to do almost all of these things in their daily lives: to see, to look, to experiment, and to gain knowledge. But not so much by observing! The rarest and most crucial stage is this: to fix one’s focus. To truly notice something that has been seen, that only a few people see, or to stop and observe what other people merely see. That is the easiest step to overlook, the one that rarely occurs to us, the spark that sets one apart. Perhaps it is the moment of truth, the moment reserved for the delight of the genius ... Observe, for example, his architecture, his painting, his objects, his books and what he says, whether as part of a dialogue or in monologue, Oscar Tusquets. It is obvious: when he is not asleep, he is observing.