No external (visual) things to collect today, so I thought I’d organise some of the topics that I’ve been wanting to write about so I can use this post as a reference in the future.
I mean just look at that. What a waste of digital paper. I feel like this is the equivalent of writing a single word on a full sheet of paper. Anyhow, here are the topics, condensed (without the gratuitous spacing) and in no particular order:
- Comfort is bad. The ad where your foot is being weakened by comfortable shoes.
- Intention vs expectation. The difference.
- Choreography. Product result / setting rules to see what people do with the rules. I want to choreograph everything I do, from a Uv printer tour to a House tour.
- Five stages of a crit / association.
- The webcam as a physical object. The safest spot to hide from a webcam is the on it or behind it.
- Tickling. Development of technology as a means to successfully tickle ourselves. Black mirror response to masturbation. Self distancing.
- Always running. Maintenance and the state of things every thing is on all the time, even when its not on. Cleaning after a mess is like switching on and off. Cleaning regularly is treating it like its always on.
- Dumping. There are some people where I feel like I am dumping when I interact with them. Others where I cant dump. Why? Its like I’m constantly trying to prove how smart I think I am. As opposed to just being in the world. What the difference between a plateau and a peak?
- Cleaned to be as good as new. Is it the same? Or does it become new, as it is another thing? Newness of an old thing. It can be raw and still be new. Over-designing, over-building.
- What does it mean to be old-school. Outdated.
I am trying to make sense of a theme from these topics but they are ultimately random fragments of thought. It is really quite strange reading these back- my memory is so poor that I barely remember thinking of these things, much less the events that triggered them. It’s like I am collecting and putting together a younger self.. I do think that if I was pushed for a theme there are some notions of technology in here. Just to force myself to categorise these, here is the same list split in two:
1.
Comfort is bad.
Choreography of experience.
Webcam.
Tickling.
Always running (maintenance).
As good as new.
Old-school.
2.
Intention vs expectation.
Stages of a crit.
Dumping.
I am still not quite sure how to define the two categories, but there is a clear difference in the subject matter between the two groups, mainly that in the second group the topics are a lot more personal and specific to my own experience, where I feel like the topics in the first group are broader and possibly easier to talk about (publicly). Nevertheless it was nice to collect these and revisit my former self.
A small reflection: I learned about Harvard’s MDES program today and it’s choose your own path approach. Is it for me? Am I that sure of my path and my interests? How can I prove it to myself and to others? I know that my work and my interests in materiality gives me energy, but I have yet to channel that energy into something outside of myself, and test the implications. More thoughts on this to come..
*additional topics:
-coffeeshop music (an accepted neutrality)
/shiftposter
full-of-shift.com 