through performative actions with others translating a sense of self michał cabaj Frame, Piece, State, Repeat; Translating a sense of self through performative actions with others By Michal Cabaj BDesign in Photography, with Distinction, Alberta College of Art + Design, 2017 A CRITICAL AND PROCESS DOCUMENTATION PAPER SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF DESIGN EMILY CARR UNIVERSITY OF ART + DESIGN 2019 © Michal Cabaj, 2019 act knowledge I would like to acknowledge those around me who have contributed a great amount of their time, patience, voices, thoughts, actions and emotions to me during these past 18 months. acknowledgments To Hélène Day Fraser for your generosity, drive and constant encouragement as a supervisor, supporter and at times counselor to my mind, emotions and growth. Without you the work that I do would have no balance, support or grounding. You have been my rock. Thank you. I recognize that wherever my practice has taken me that I am an uninvited guest on these lands. I also recognize that I have a position of privilege where I may travel to wherever and whenever to pursue knowledge, an education and expand my thinking. I am living, making and thinking on the unceded traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples of the Səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and xʷməθkwəyəm (Musqueam) Nations. I would also like to thank a group of people who have directly influenced, inspired and informed my practice by accepting the gifts I gave them. Reyhan Yazdani, Mariko Kuroda, Hsinyu Kuo, Russna Kaur, Hélène Day Fraser, Aaniya Asrani and Alejandro Alarcon. Thank you all for the growth and development of strong friendships. To the faculty at Emily Carr who have offered their knowledge and time throughout the progress of this thesis. Louise St. Pierre, Kieth Doyle, Gillian Russell, Craig Badke, Celeste Martin and Cissie Fu. Thank you for challenging my thoughts, actions and understandings through many encouraging conversations. To my 2019 cohort who have been a source of community, providing me with insights into the many disciplines within design and the many ways we relate with others. Thank you. Finally, I would like to say thank you to my family, their constant love and support through all the ups and downs has helped me make it to the end. Dziękuję. note to reader I have deconstructed this thesis into [6] parts though this is in a digital form it was made with the intention of being a physical document as part of the making process contents of the 6 parts: 1. reflecting - reflection - reflected 2. figure(s) 3. lived - language - letters 4. self - stool - site 5. provocations - performance - people 6. text(ile) 1. reflecting - reflection - reflected one of two implicit parts they are intended to be read and considered as a script they have two voices: an external and [an internal] one the external voice is the narrator, it projects my thinking as I reflect. it guides my voice as I work through my actions. the external responds to the internal [directly or indirectly] [two] the internal voice speaks too [to raw, unedited thoughts] these thoughts hold a space for [critique] [conversation] and [hints to others] it gives support [it pulls apart the language] creating its own structure 2. figure(s) images [images are stacked] each image given space to breathe to speak on its own within a frame giving visual reference to the words they form a visual narrative on their own but they inform and guide the writing prompts are placed within the explicit texts that mark [most of] their placements 3. lived - language - letters first part of the explicit text this text looks at contextualizing my positioning the way I sort through thinking it speaks to a lived experience and a language around a way of articulating what shapes my mind letters are a response to how others communicate with me there are four letters each responding to a set of group engagements 4. self - stool - site two of two implicit parts this one is a means of self reflection [in situ] it is situational it is used to place my own internal thoughts down as a form of self critique self reflection internal dialogue it is more so used to gain a better understanding about myself the stool and the site I held it signifies [growth] [mistakes] [memory] and [foresight] 5. provocations - performance - people second part of the explicit text this text explains a set of provocations done with a group of designers through performance as a process in externalizing a material practice and finally responds directly to others and how they in turn respond back 6. text(ile) this is the weighted text [text with theory] theory is throughout [it is heavy] its placed within a patchwork [an assortment of texts] this text grounds the reflections through referencing directly to others and reflecting directly to others this thinking comes before and after the making it holds its own use in informing the process the thinking is being externalized it becomes an object itself it becomes the process of sorting 1. reflecting - reflection - reflected pre[face] I am an artist an artist within design my practice looks at questions of the self what it means to navigate this world and how we interact with our surroundings I face inwards [pre face] disassociating myself in relation to the human experience contemplating to think externally through a self-critical lens 1 I set my approach through making [bringing questions forward] externalizing this perspective through a material practice I am looking at areas of knowledge creation knowledge questioning questioning where we situate ourselves in relation to [thought] [objects] [the land] [ourselves] [others] [et cetera] 2 I am a designer I work backwards [post haste] I explored a process of deconstructing [through making] deconstructing my thinking [working to a means] translating the thinking between states [between the lines] [how do I frame] different engagements based on my own reflections navigating the human condition [statements and language] a means of articulating the work into artifact [art of fact] tenses [past] [present] [future] I am tense 3 I am trying [ultimately] trying to translate [interpreting] [piecing together] translating a sense of self a sense of self through statements [of inquiry] an inquiry into the world into the human into the object into the self 4 translating objects between objects [through proposition] people [through provocation] self [through projection] objects that move between [art and design] [vice versa] everything is relational [though I can’t relate] I distance myself disassociate from reality I [need to] look anew [through objects] 5 documenting my thinking my actions my making [here] within here [this thesis] I pull apart pulling apart to look looking to find again I reflect on reflexivity [reflect on myself] an action to relearn unlearn unlearning [give space] [take time] 6 un - learn [pull it apart] subvert the control [the way I have been taught to think] I use the frame to break the frame [reframing] I piece together to piece apart [unpiecing] I state through other states [misstating] [I repeat] repeating 7 abstracting abstracting the writing abstracted thoughts placing objects in relation [in relation to self] [in relation to other] [to one another] objects placed on top of objects objects placed through other objects 8 I frame framing the world around me I frame images images frame my perspective disassociating perspectives calling to question moving forward spaces of inquiry spaces of unknowing unknowing to know I piece piecing objects together piecing perspectives placing and attaching together and apart [what is being missed] 9 I state state to make [make to state] translating between states defining the statement putting parameters into place [a means of grounding] expanding meaning I make statements I make objects that make statements I make objects of different states 10 I piece statements through language language as a provocation a way to express thought [thoughts] [not working in convention] ignoring syntax deliberate actions deliberately holding the mistranslations the miscommunication embracing errors errors guide new actions [sites to revisit] 11 actions that hold statements statements that have been pieced together piecing from what has been framed framed by what is trying to be stated [it seems cyclical] what is trying to be stated [I need context] context through assembling and presenting collecting of thought collecting objects framing them as designer as artist as self 12 selecting organizing looking at objects looking at current contexts what is assumed what is distinct what this questions present or past or future tense navigating contexts objects as a platform present and vocal silent implied and subject externalizing the self questioning this need playing with dualities paradigms at play 13 translating senses [of self] a self through statements statement of inquiry an inquiry into self into the world [hello world] now I repeat repeating to build knowledge repeating to ask questions repeating after pausing [pause] [breathe] repeating the process repeating the making repeating the thinking 14 start I strip back my approach [it was trying to be something it wasn’t] [within a strict design way of thinking] no more frameworks no more symbols no more [other objects] [I reference my first attempts] [was I really intentionally othering] [maybe I was lost] 15 lost in the language lost in the writing lost in placing [placing myself] among designers I try to make sense of this space [a new definition of design] I am not like other designers [this is not design] I am not only this or that [art or design] 16 I am looking [looking for more] I work over my previous self [the self that tried to be someone who wasn’t] start again start from the end what do you want [I want to make] [a stool] how do I get there I think of what’s to come [what form the stool will take] now I’ll work backwards [deconstruct the stool into parts] focus on the parts [I am not stopping once the stool is made] [will it ever be made] 17 what are my aims uncover areas within [where is the seat] where knowledge is situated situating [sit] [u] [ating] in situ sit down [no stand up] look around [start at the self] 18 I make materially [a specific sense] making as a way of forming [forming statements] [to challenging existing means] gathering and dissemination I try to say by doing [doing without being told] look at areas outside convention [hold this space] the explicit in the implied [implicit] not complicit 19 where does knowledge sit it sits on this stool [I think] knowledge is thinking [thinking is knowledge] practice over thinking where do I place myself [in relation] I am at the middle [how did I get here] 20 this is not a question [I don’t want the answer] playing with assumptions [it’s better to keep wondering] keep searching and searching [cycles of research] things are cyclical [circle] objects are circular [round] follow the line [it’s not straight] connect the dots have a seat [breathe] [don’t sit on the stool] reflect 21 surveying surveying through reflective writing writing to reflect reflecting on myself through objects through others through being through self [with myself] [on] [through] [with] 22 to survey the mind I start by thinking thinking in doing thinking in relation in relation to what is around me [what is in relation to me is also what is not] I make do [do I make] [my voice lingers as I describe] I insert my thinking to map out my intentions [the process of surveying thought] 23 placing myself within the making I am searching in search of a context a statement a placement a sense [of self] [do I look for or do I look with] am I present [my mind wonders] where is my mind taking me [back again] lead with intention [look ahead] 24 to survey the land where do I position myself [in relation to space] [space of place] who owns this place [not we] [we weren’t invited] when do we acknowledge [give acknowledgements] we must acknowledge this is present tense 25 I acknowledge that I write I make I think on the unceded traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples of the Səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and xʷməθkwəyəm (Musqueam) Nations 26 considering alternate ways [forward] what are we doing beyond acknowledgement how do we break apart structures [the structures we have been taught to assume] acknowledge [act][knowledge] acting on knowledge [pause] 27 to survey the self I think I think too much I stand at the periphery what I define is what defines me context is all around me [I am my context] [I pull from within] [I push out to reflect] 28 reaching how far am I reaching [where do I pull back from] what is the scope [the extent] of the research I extend as far as I can reach [of the self] [of others] 29 areas to place my work within [between] psychological and physical presence and action temporal and spatial making and reflecting explaining and implying inversion and repetition [how far is my grasp] relations are layered fluid [and] extensions [of ourselves] [of others] 30 falling a place for understanding limitations placing limits around the base [don’t go too far] limits placed between the implicit and explicit [where does the work I create fall] where is the gap [mind the gap] where do things fall through [holes and voids] opportunities in place of limitations [never ending] 31 sorting sorting through the spaces of design and art knowing and not knowing how to relate and not being able to relate sorting to articulate my thinking [where both aspects of myself meet] relations sit in three categories [nuanced] [transitory] [hyper] 32 I sort through ideas [with objects] objects are sites for play [this script tells the story] a play of action and reaction [relational space] nuanced is the implicit nature of things the relationship between mind and body the inexplainable and sometimes missed transitory is the here and there the performance of actions the piecing together of objects hyper is in the explicit it’s where others fit and things repeat these relations propose and provoke 33 leading my research through practice a materially engaged practice [objects and action] engaged with others acting through objects [holding them in opportunities] opportunities for knowledge [new knowledge] 34 framing framing in relation to making photographing the world as I see it through a lens [multiple lenses] [lenses shift and tilt] translating between different scenes [states] [urban] [natural] I come from a focus of images [photographic practices] flipping and shifting between frames [building new context] [new space] 35 I reference the world of photography [coming back around] [full circle] [360o] post photography [meta] after the images what lies beyond [countering design] using objects as image expand and contrast [unpack the process] images are a site for sight framing the types of knowledge [existing] [tacit] [new] 36 existing knowledge as procedural and declarative knowing how to do something the rules and methods of how to do it tacit knowledge as the implicit and nuanced not being able to explain or articulate its nature fully new knowledge as a look into the unknown challenging existing ways of knowing by looking to the cadence of the undetermined unfamiliar and unintentional 37 thinking to challenge thought thinking to think alternative thinking to unlearn thinking through [framing] 38 framing through object making misplaced thoughts [the image holds] displaced [cannot locate] space in place [memories within captured sights] focused on four [four states of objects] image wood stone textile [manmade] [natural] [two dimensional] [three dimensional] [analogue] [digital] [hard] [soft] 39 making making a body of work that speaks to my way of navigating through I focus on the form of a stool to locate the relational aspects of the world around me the making is grounded in a material practice that navigates itself among different forms of knowledge 40 I make to know [knowing to make] making sense of things making as a starting point [to frame] making [images] mindscapes as images urban settings [hidden grotto] sites of revisit [digging into the archives] find new placements [flip and repeat] image behind imagined [layered connotations] sites for revisiting memory [putting into view] [anew] sight [playing with contrast] [what’s seen and not seen] 41 photography as memory [archiving] as post memory [reframing sight] as sites [of thought] and as sight [of action] escapism [lost in an image] images [as] mindscapes landscapes cityscapes bodyscapes inscapes [escape] 42 making [wood] the thinking around making [making from oak] my thoughts through gestures and [actions] give wait [waiting for something] [sometime] take whole [explore and discover the whole] [I cut a hole] inverse and invert [running directions of the grain] [in divergence] define the edge [round over within] [round over without] [top to bottom] 43 four faces to no face [smoothing the hard edge] each side rounded [making continuous] stained grey [implications through colour] [placed in-between] [neither black nor white] meant to insert itself [holds explicit implications through action] missing link [wanting to be placed] [but where] 44 stone [nature made] displacement [act of collecting] [removing from space] in proximity to place [locating around] take [barrow] [where do we stand] we stand on the dirt feet planted in the ground [we are constant] [being with] grounding ourselves to be human [what does it mean to be human] break apart from the structure [carry with it] [weight] weighted 45 textile [making comfort] to cover [stacking] [unordered] [at random] sew together [what is being sewn] [ideas] [attachments] [stories] found object [collected collectively] with others colours and textures [reference] what will they reference [something undetermined] woven 46 provoking deeper engagement into the ways we perceive and think through objects I set up a site for questioning the way we communicate as designers objects become the facilitators in a series of sessions with a group of designers from my cohort four questions ended up being asked throughout the process 47 how do we [as designers] talk think read and write here objects were given agency but when do people have agency [objects travel] I give away objects to others gifts given people respond to objects and their space through a camera [as given] [can agency be projected onto and through these objects] 48 I respond to a set of images collected from the group of seven people I have given gifts to specifically [they want me to respond] new ways of relating to others turns up 49 sessions four sessions [breaking down knowledge] involving objects and people [sixteen designers] all different backgrounds [architecture] [fashion] [illustration] [interaction] [communications] [product] [systems] asking them questions [forming them as I go] these questions are not questions [they cannot be answered] [at least directly] 50 session 1 how do we talk place in front the pieces [can we speak aloud] [objects are aligned] dualities in place [two sides to every page] [how do we relate] break the silence [no one speaks] outside voice brings movement [someone of a different perspective] insert the pieces [pin through donut] stack bend flip rotate form represent 51 [observed responses] [image guides relations] they reproduce the image [make physical] rocks hold close attachments [protect] textiles build narrative [woven] [weaved] [to weave] they stand on the edge [form housing space] [form referencing place] we talk with our hands 52 session 2 how do we think revisit [make anew] [shift] multiply and take away playing with scale [colour] ones sewn two by two [textiles][text][tiles] familiar faces [same group of people] [plus and minus] familiar placements [same set up] 53 [observed responses] rocks in nests [protected] images folded [images stand together] [opposite ends] folds along the seems [stand up] [the fabric of the image] textiles strengthen [swatches cover][placing pattern] think on different levels [pick up] [place down] [move under] we think by layering 54 session 3 how do we read I collect my thoughts on page [I wrote a script] [gave the script to the group] performing actions [observed and missed] how I [myself] relate to these objects [displayed in space] placements [start] perform [end] let go let fall [we reflect] actions describe process [the ritual of making] 55 [observed responses] others began to see outside themselves [through reflecting] actions spoke louder than words others respond with what was seen and not shown [the materiality of objects] actions of the everyday [are considered] a conversation around agency [begins] [objects prescribe their presence] we read along [alone] 56 pause now how do we write and when [now or later] when we are given the tools [pen and paper] make a mark [make start] transferring thoughts to paper prescribing a set of rules actions at play 57 session 4 how do we write three groups divide yourselves [communication design] [industrial design] [craft] thirty-six defined actions [referencing 360o] [referencing rhythm zero] [words and numbers are the objects] I place them on the table [I give the audience control] I am the object [as she would say] 58 piece together a script [one I will perform] [tell me how to work] random assortment of objects to create a new artefact [unplanned] [physical] [undictated] through this my actions are set or inscribed [follow through] how do we prescribe action do we write based on what we read assumptions assumptions based on performed actions objects need activation [triggers] I place triggers in the form of words words ascribe describe and inform 59 I place words down with implications [strong or soft] words hold power power given to people [choice] how do we choose words [what are we saying] open ended [no control] what form will these objects embody [one showing the permeance of time] they cannot be replicated therefore these objects live in flux can I represent them in situ with new viewers [for this thesis I will have to] I show the artefacts [through static image] what transpired between the lines images capture motion [a stillness reinstates the present] 60 piecing ask questions what is this piece here [why are we here] how do we relate to this that and the other do objects hold these pieces or are they made up [made of parts] piecing objects [their parts] together [each piece is its own] [together they are whole] 61 piecing perspectives [to initiate change] [make shift] [make do] placing and attaching together and apart [what is being missed] uncovering thoughts that lead to questions [outside the scope] 62 [how do you make clear] [the pieces that you frame] compare contrast make new [lending yourself as] [extensions of others] [how we relate to others] [is a projection of ourselves] [our internalizations] [being externalized] 63 performing performing the actions of material engagements enabling me as the designer to navigate a different context to relate back to as others guide a set of actions based on the four sessions I perform actions of negotiation 64 negotiations that contemplate the possibilities outside these given contexts the work holds weight and is weighted by an embodied form of engagement movement and materiality the act of acting through objects holds a significance in the implications this work can bring forward performing a designed set of configurations that haven’t been determined nor prescribed but stated 65 performative objects between here and there transitory [movement without presence] placement for projection [reflecting oneself and others] referencing six hours seventy-two objects rhythm zero [performance as an object] [to introduce participation] we have to depend on our own resources [Abramovic states] [take what is in front of us] bring these objects to the public [public completes them] are they truly completed 66 stating stating my thoughts among those of others the thoughts that move practice forward by going backwards to unlearn our assumed ways of thinking statements are loaded contradictions are everywhere and anywhere 67 there are dualities at play I state through mistakes through an understanding that everything is fluid and can not be contained the state of things is implied in the nature of being explicit in the complex of thinking the unknown or what is not seen is space for change a space to reflect [stating assumptions] 68 I use language language as a provocation [thinking and reflecting] a way to express thoughts [shifting between] translating between states [different object states] defining the statement [setting context in place] putting parameters into place [defining use] a means of grounding [cause and effect] expanding meaning [nuanced in the explicit] challenging convention [breaking rules and shifting grammar] 69 implicit implications subtle use [using subtly] alluding to thoughts not spoken when can the subtleties be implied through the work I piece new implications together [some parts missing] people intersect each point of contact [new connections are formed] how to situate myself in relation to others between the hyper and nuanced [people are complex] 70 explicit explanations I [need to] make explicit repetition is a result of actions that instigate objects have provoked responses [reaction] [reflection] [repeating] 71 reflecting reflecting back to relocate myself in a redefined design context I am rooted in a self reflexive process one that constantly looks backwards to move forwards 72 reflection gives a sense of clarity in reflecting I am recalling on the past it connects things that haven’t been connected it sees things that haven’t been seen it grounds things that haven’t been grounded reflection as entry to repeat 73 reflecting through these object relations [I link new perspectives] perspectives take on many forms through the states of objects [I embody a sense of self] [within] [that is new] to further investigate notions of the self [physical and psychological] proceedings allow for play allow me to replay repeat and reform 74 I can fit my work within various contexts first and foremost I am an artist [a perceiver] a designer [a thinker] [a maker] I want others to place themselves in my place through example [actions and provocations] I can tell a new story a story of changing perspectives [one we can form however we want] [opportunity in the endless] 75 work outwards [reach out] [make change] frame your surroundings [inquire] piece together the points of action [various connection points] make statements [react] [reflect] and repeat again [repeat until you see change] until the connections become [second nature] until you reframe [perspectives] repeat 76 repeating repeating the process repeating the making repeating the thinking to repeat is to pause and shift look back and respond [to the reflection] 77 this process lies between the discursive and intuitional the applied and theoretical approaching a line of inquiry from both ends and each side found comfort within the in between now I repeat [repeat] to make explicit to make clear to make again 78 repeating through action [performing action] [preformed thought] [post-form object] repeating to reflect on the implications each object holds implications through explanation repeat the statements [make them clear] repeat yourself [sorting thought] 79 end after the haste [after the action] conclusion conclude [to include] con [to trick] trick the reader tricking them to think that I am done [I am not] that I have resolved this space [I am only scratching at the surface] 80 I reflect reflecting and refracting [look again] [reacting] look again [to see] if I missed something [I always misplace my thoughts] thoughts are connected [even when they aren’t] [placed together] everything [is] relational relational objects object relations 81 frame piece state repeat how I work through ideas questions and provocations how I make reflect reenact and rethink 82 self abstracted fig. 01 sle of Arran — pathway to fig. 02 Isle of Arran — pathway from fig. 03 hidden grotto #2 — Glasgow fig. 04 urbanscape #1 — Glasgow fig. 05 I think, I think too much fig. 06 two rivers flow into one [sketch] fig. 07 [a] stool — interior fig. 08 session one — setup fig. 09 session one — responses fig. 10 session two — setup fig. 11 session two — responses fig. 12 session three — script fig. 13 session three — assemblage fig. 14 session four — assemblage prompt fig. 15 session four — response to script 1 communication design fig. 16 session four — response to script 2 industrial design fig. 17 session four — response to script 3 craft fig. 18 session four — response to script 4 architecture fig. 19 Mariko’s response to my gift fig. 20 Alejandro’s response to my gift fig. 21 Hsinyu’s response to my gift fig. 22 Russna’s response to my gift fig. 23 Aaniya’s response to my gift fig. 24 Reyhan’s response to my gift fig. 25 Hélène’s response to my gift fig. 26 my response to Mariko fig. 27 my response to Alejandro fig. 28 my reponse to Hsinyu fig. 29 my response to Russna fig. 30 my response to Aaniya fig. 31 my response to Reyhan fig. 32 my response to Hélène fig. 33 [a] stool — exterior fig. 34 I think, I think too much [textile] fig. 35 text(ile) fig. 36 3. lived - language - letters I have a lived experience. I am a first generation Canadian. I have never felt in-tune with what it means to be Canadian. From a cultural perspective I have always felt distanced somehow – viewing from the outside. My parents immigrated into Canada from Poland, so I grew up speaking two languages. When I was young, I was often not able to differentiate the two languages I thought in. I would sometimes speak Polish to my teachers and friends under the false assumption that everyone around me spoke and understood language as I did. They did not. I have an academic background It is grounded by art and design by particular methods and practices that see me through help me sort things out I am an artist. Through a photographic practice established during my undergrad, I explore a sense of self. I am interested in how we perceive and relate to objects, each other and ourselves. My work has sought a means to establish a connection with others through the lens of the camera. In doing so, I have often found myself disassociating from the outside world and perhaps even from what it means to be human. Here my focus turned internally — to within myself. I distanced myself from others. I am an artist within a design degree. And yet, I stay in design, within an interdisciplinary space of a Masters program. This choice sets my work backwards. I begin to pull apart my thinking to navigate this new definition of design I find myself in. This space is new and full of potential to start anew. Design is the action, an action towards understanding others, to understanding myself as a designer. 1 I am a designer. I make artifacts through actions and provide propositions for their use and consideration of others. I ask questions now with intent and purpose. What does it mean to move through the spaces we find ourselves in (both in relation to ourselves and to others)? How do the relations between objects and ourselves inform a new sense of self? In doing so I am getting closer to what I set out to do with my work previously. I am not looking for answers (or aiming to solve a problem). I am, rather interested in the ways that my questions relate to one another. How they piece together. I am sorting. Sorting through these two spaces. To articulate my thinking where both aspects of myself meet. To gain a new sense of self through art and design. Working within the in between space. Building an inquiry into this space. What does it mean to be in between? How does one find balance among the two spaces? Asking questions about where we situate ourselves, objects and others. [pause] Start Our everyday relations with objects shape, influence and inform us of the world around us. And yet, we are rarely aware of objects helping us gain a better sense of ourselves. Sometimes, when objects are situated with a purpose, they can be used to provoke us to reconsider and take notice. As we navigate this world, we often pose certain questions pertaining to ourselves, our sense of being, our identities or that of others. When we situate these questions onto the objects around us, we are able to consider and understand our questions in a new way. Tim Ingold — only by being furnished with objects does the earth — sky world become habitable. (2008, 1) 2 Making The work over the past eighteen months has been an act of searching. It has entailed a personal inquiry into myself and my acts of making. It has also been an opportunity to think about and acknowledge others - the designers around me. I have been trying to find an approach to reconsider the things we make and the way we think about the things we make. Doris Allhutter — deconstruction questions the normatively of discourses and practices by revealing the constructedness of seemingly ‘‘natural’’ sense making — Introducing deconstruction provides a path for making tangible. (2012, 688-689) Objects serve as my lens of sorts. They help me challenge my assumptions of the habitable world. I play with language, indirectly, as a site to guide new actions to revisit again and again. This act of play is contingent on the relational aspects of objects. It draws on and embraces a certain unknowing that accompanies notions of deconstruction. My process of deconstruction helps me to frame context, to identify the questions I want to ask. Often this leads me to also to question the process I am setting for myself. One way or other, these questions I ask of others and myself get pieced together. I do this though objects and their strategic placement in relation to one another. This process is a means of working through, with and for. Objects that are shifted, repositioned and pieced together with other objects and with ourselves (myself and others) end up stating their own implications (implicitly) and forming new statements (sometimes explicitly). Seeking an undoing and unlearning of my previous and assumed ways of thinking. This inquiry is rooted in self reflexivity. As a repeated, iterative process it enables new, unexpected insights and the formation of additional ways of questioning. Answers do not drive the work but are found in the in between of each proposed relation. 3 A series of relational observations were made with others — more specifically designers. These were used to help navigate a set of questions that were asked inexplicably. Each interaction informed the next and contributed to a cyclical process. The process enabled me as the designer to arrive at a means for navigating different contexts and situating myself among other designers. This process has led me to consider the actions required to gain new ways of thinking and uncover areas of new knowledge. Lambros Malafouris — cognitive projections offer us a basic no-representational conceptual mechanism through which the “dense structural coupling” between mind and matter becomes possible. They constitute the basic cognitive mechanism by which we make sense of things, often without being able to explain why and how. (2016, 101) Lambros Malafouris — much of current thinking about human cognition seems to have neglected that the way we think is the property of a hybrid assemblage of brains, bodies, and things. (2016, 15) This form of making — a making sense of things, has made me understand the implications of looking at the whole through its pieces. In an attempt to reconsider the Cartesian view that there is a separation between mind and matter, I employ a process of deconstruction that focuses on the embodied nature of things prior to assembling them. Deconstruct the thinking to deconstruct the self, then repeat the process, repeat the making, and repeat the thinking to ultimately, rethink and reframe oneself and or others. The work proposed through my research is seen as a starting point. It is where I am trying to think ahead by thinking backwards. Susan Sontag — photography is intimately connected with discontinuous ways of seeing (the point is precisely to see the whole by means of a part—an arresting detail, a striking way of cropping) (2005, 133) 4 Sorting My organization of relations sits in the categories of: nuanced, transitory, and hyper. This provides me with ways of understanding the questions I am looking for. nuanced transitory hyper [implicit] [performance] [explicit] psychological + presence + temporal + physical action spatial mind and body here / there people / nature image / object piece and state repeat frame The things that shape my mind Photography Photography is a means of bringing forth questions of where and how we situate and understand ourselves, objects, others, place and site. For me it is a way to speak clearly without words. The photographs I choose to capture are extensions of my mind, my thinking through the world. As I move, I see and contemplate the larger field of view. Images are a form of memory placement — an action of reflection. A reintroduction to a past lived experience. I see the photograph as the remains or encapsulation of an experience. A glimpse into a world that once was in that present moment. To my understanding, the photograph isn’t a mechanism that disrupts experience but enhances it. Images extend the presence of thought through the temporal nature of the photograph. 5 Susan Sontag — the importance of photographic images as the medium through which more and more events enter our experience is, finally, only a byproduct of their effectiveness in furnishing knowledge dissociated from and independent of experience. (2005, 121) The move between photograph to image is significant when it comes to the distinction of what is being observed and framed. For myself, I understand the image to be everything beyond the photograph, it is everything that isn’t captured within the photograph. The role of a photograph is a facilitator for memory. It triggers past experiences to become present. I see my role as the photographer/artist as being one that brings these sites to view, to a space for shifts, for contemplation outside the frame. The image begins to enact an agency of seeing. Susan Sontag — the difference between the photographer as an individual eye and the photographer as an objective recorder seems fundamental, the difference often regarded, mistakenly, as separating photography as art from photography as document. But both are logical extensions of what photography means: notetaking on, potentially, everything in the world, from every possible angle. (2005, 137) 6 Land & Care Maria Puig de la Bellacasa — in the Maria Puig de la Bellacasa — thinking of chapter Re-affecting objectified matters of fact as matters of care does worlds — re-presenting things as not require translation into a fixed matters of concern responded to a explanatory vision or a normative stance bifurcation of nature, a splitting of (moral or epistemological), it can be a meanings from matter, the social speculative commitment to think about from the natural in the life of things. how things would be different if they From this affective perspective, generated care. This is a commitment, transforming things into matters of because it is indeed attached to situated care is a way of relating to them, of and positioned visions of what a livable inevitably becoming affected by and caring world could be; but it remains them, and of modifying their speculative as it won’t let a situation or a potential to affect others. This position – nor even the acute awareness meaning of care is about finding of pervasive dominations – define in ways to re-affect an objectified world. advance what is or could be. (2011, 96) (2011, 97) Connection to the land holds me. It is an understanding that I have (wherever I go) that is held within the materiality of the things around me. Objects place themselves in my way as I navigate the world. They bring with them a physicality that I negotiate through a tacit way of knowing. There are questions that are brought to the surface by these objects. They make me question the nature of things, how things come to be and how they connect with everything around them. I understand material practice as a means of working through such questions of connection pertaining to the relations between site, objects, and ourselves. Site (land) is an entity that is between - an ongoing, lived experience. Site instigates what and how I see and perceive. It is linked to representation. Focusing on the world around me and my concerns for the sites/spaces I find myself in has led me to consider matters of care. Care has turned up in the form of gifts given. Care has been a way for me to better understand the relations I have built with those around me. Having a window in on how others situated themselves (with care) and the gifts I have given them in their home/land/site has brought about new sets of relations and understandings to turn up suddenly and unexpectedly. 7 Maria Puig de la Bellacasa — doing care can take different meanings, but in all of them we become entangled with the matters of fact and the matters of concern. As is the case with most feminist attempts to re-affect the objectified world, this way of knowing/caring in our staging of things relates to a politics of knowledge, in that it generates possibilities for other ways of relating and living, it connects things that are not supposed to reach across the bifurcation of consciousness, and transforms the ethico-political and affective perception of things by the way we represent them. (2011, 99) Structures Ludwig Wittgenstein — rule-following looks like a case where theory has clear priority over practice, where propositional content and meaning precede and determine the action of following the rule. (Schatzki 2010, 103) Ludwig Wittgenstein — two strategies immediately present themselves: both designed to close the gap which seems to exist between the self-consciousness of ‘following,’ with its awareness of the rule, and the ‘blindness’ of habit. The first strategy is to diminish the ‘blindness’ of blind rule following and inject some thought or propositional content into it. The second is to diminish the ‘thinking’ needed to make the action the action it is. The less contentful and specified this becomes, the closer it gets to blind rule following. To dilute the blindness of rulefollowing expresses sympathy to the priority of theory; to dilute the thought that goes into action expresses sympathy to the priority of practice. (Schatzhi 2010 105) 8 I have been conditioned. Academia has provided me with structures. These have been placed before me as ways to get by - guiding me to think, act and see in certain ways. I think I may have held onto these for too long. I worry about the constraints they impose. I am urging myself to break away from my tendency to systematized. Trying to question why it is I work in this way and to move away from favoring a clear end goal. I seek to embrace experience and not assumptions. To unlearn this system of thinking. I look to a practice that is rooted in a self-reflective state. Doing so I have found myself in a constant flux, I have been rethinking by embracing the very aspects of myself I had previously been told to repress. I have begun a process of unlearning. This unlearning is contingent on emotional and embodied responses to being. I move between impulsive and responsive actions, ones that I use to hold back. This is my way of subverting a tendency to deliver a prescribed script. By embracing this I have found a way of rule breaking that uses and acts within the structures I have previously been conditioned to. I am writing this document as a form of the making. I am deconstructing my thinking by writing in ways that play and consciously work at separating and piecing together the implicit and explicit aspects of my process. I have not been following conventional ways of using quotes and citations. This is my attempt to make you, the reader, question assumptions about how we explain and justify ourselves in relation to the theory of other, to our internal thoughts and to external practices. My text does not conform to the requirements of the institution. It follows a set of points that are commonly found throughout the creative making process. These points are ones that shift and shape my mind, I have co-opted them a means to think through. They address the process of the making/thinking on its own terms. They are points that form a sequence of actions; look, make, frame, think, sort, provoke, piece, perform, state, reflect and repeat. I have purposefully left grammar and syntax out of the implicit texts (#1 and #4) as a way to hold the poetic — the movements between thought and reflection. In my writing I acknowledge structure but also seek to challenge it. The segments of writing that I have set down can be reorganized and shifted. In my mind they echo, follow closely, the making process I use as a designer and as an artist. I have built these multiple separate pieces to be accessed from different directions through multiple separate pieces. This document can’t, won’t, and does not want to fit into a linear, single file, progression of logic. 9 Stuart Walker — it is important to recognize the role of human emotions. Our ‘feelings about’ the things we create represent the connection between the ‘inner’ and the ‘outer’ person; they connect an inner sense of meaning with our outer actions. This connection between inner and outer, through the emotions and human feeling, is related to the idea of meaningful actions, and it is precisely here that reflection becomes such a vital ingredient of thoughtful, practice-based research. (2013, 15) Knowledge Acquiring information through a system of prescribed ways of knowing has its limitations — the institution invariably conditions us to think a certain way, by way of order and through classification. Language written down, the grammar conventions that are imposed, effects our understanding, our way of interpreting knowledge. Parallel to this, the conventions of visual literacy taught to a designer (or someone like myself who is also a photographer) arguably limit ways of interpreting and articulating what and how we know. We are told how to read images (twodimensional) and objects (three-dimensional) in ways that adhere to accepted norms/ways of seeing and interpreting our world. We do this through composition, scale, shape, lighting, depth of field, etc. If we are note careful these conventions of knowing can box us in — they reduce and hinder our ability to get at what is beyond the frame or the artifact. They limit our intuition. They limit our capacity to accept ideas outside convention and the social norm. We are rationalized. Alternate - tacit - ways of knowing are seldom understood, acknowledged, recognized as valid. Recognizing this I look to exposing unconventional, intuitive ways of knowledge sharing. I ask questions of others that are often ambiguous to others. That don’t have a clear, distinct way of being interpreted or a single, clear, definitive answer. 10 Sajjad M. Jasimuddin — Tacit knowledge, as originally characterized by Polanyi (1958, 1967, 1969), is constructed from individuals’ own experience in the world and forms the basis for explicit knowledge. (2005, 103) Rhetorical questions guide my work. They allow me to observe, reflect and contemplate. They have led me to ask where does knowledge sit? Stuart Walker — existing knowledge can include procedural knowledge (knowing how to do something), declarative knowledge (rules and methods to be applied) and heuristic knowledge (rules of thumb) (Rogers and Clarkson, 1998). (2013, 8) My questioning of where knowledge sits makes use of the relations between the different types of knowledge: existing knowledge, tacit knowledge, and new knowledge. I see these types of knowledge as transitional in the way they inform each other. To me, existing knowledge is the base or background for all other knowledge. Tacit knowledge is an extension of existing knowledge, it is the embodied knowing that builds on what we come to know by what we somehow already know. New knowledge is a look into the unknown. It challenges existing ways of knowing by looking to the cadence of the undetermined, unfamiliar and unintentional. 11 Language Language has shaped my way of understanding and thinking about different forms of communication. I find myself always contemplating this; I am asking and seeking ways and modes of communicating that allows me to be understood. Earlier on in my Master studies I felt the need to look into language structures, to learn the rules and methods of speaking, writing, and reading as a way to better articulate my thoughts and intentions for others. I hoped that an investigation into language would help me arrive at a clear, resolved methodology. While this did not happen, it has lent me a new way of approaching language. First, through a poetic voice, I am able to articulate myself in an implicit way that is embodied and reflective. Next, I shift towards a voice that is explicit — that sorts things out through descriptive content (what, where, when and how). The movements between the two are a means of working together and with, rather than for. This is an internal and external dialogue – a way of communicating here, through actions that look forward. Ludwig Wittgenstein — the limits of my language means the limits of my world. (2010, 5.6) Objects Lambros Malafouris — ontological correspondences primarily involve conceptions of identity, analogy, similarity, causality, change, time, intentionality space, role, and part of a whole and in some cases representation. (2016, 121) Objects are a means of working through thought. A material practice revolving around objects, is a way for me to look outside the frame. I have set an approach for myself to work with objects as sites for provocations. Provocations challenge thoughts and give up assumptions. The assumptions that all the answers are placed in front of us. Through a photographic lens, objects can hold ways of seeing — that may be missed when one doesn’t know what to look for. Objects, in turn, point us to seeing what they want us to see through an act of agency. The agency of objects is present in an embodied result of working materially. 12 Chus Martinez — the nature of our participation in a project is epistemological but also political — since it implies that the reordering of the relations we establish with many types of otherness, natural and technical, is pressing — it is essential in interpreting our way of being in the world and what the term agency (our capacity to interpret reality ant to act accordingly) means to each of us. (Torres 2017, 6) My understanding happens around objects. Through interpretation and contemplation, I navigate and find my ideas. This movement back and forth and around creates a dialogue in which an assemblage of objects play a propositional function. Deleuze and Guattari — an assemblage emerges when a function emerges; ideally it is innovative and productive. The result of a productive assemblage is a new means of expression, a new territorial/spatial organization, a new institution, a new behaviour, or a new realization. The assemblage is destined to produce a new reality, by making numerous, often unexpected, connections. (Parr 2014, 19) My objects have been a means to pose questions that provoke more questions and act as stepping stones between the different types of knowing I am looking at. 13 Others Others shape who we are and how we see ourselves. They are an externalized look at the ways we relate and react. By placing my objects in front of others I situate myself in a reciprocal way of relating to. What I put out in front of others is shifted and replaced as a set of responses for me to consider I have come to realize we are in constant communication with others even when we are silent. Actions tend to speak for us — we react to certain arrangements. Routines are found and held in the spaces we share with others in our everyday. When we come together, we can break down obstacles, but we also put up barriers (intentionally or otherwise unknowingly). I can speak to the actions I bring forward. I think of others as a site to negotiate perspectives. Everyone brings with them a set of understandings and questions. Susan Sontag — photography is intimately connected with discontinuous ways of seeing (the point is precisely to see the whole by means of a part—an arresting detail, a striking way of cropping). (2005, 133) Methodology 14 Letters to others In an effort to find a way to speak of my work to others, I write four letters to four different design disciplines. To speak in sentences, I look to words. Letters make up words. Letters made out of words. Letters to designers. Letters are in response to words (session 4). As a response to the ways others communicate, I reflect on the performed actions of others. To an Industrial Designer: I tend to see myself as one of you. We both have a way of thinking that looks to function or purpose. Though my purpose(s) looks different from yours. I still feel like you. My previous understanding of design centered on product: its purpose, appearance and value. When I think of how I got here (pursuing a career in design) I remember looking and seeing myself as an industrial designer. You seem to live and breathe design, you are buried in the process of making - the act of making things new and better. Maybe it's my misunderstanding of what you truly do, but I hope to learn from you one day. I say this realizing, now, that we may not see eye to eye. Currently, I am sure we have our similarities. We both are engaged in the process of making. Engaged in a material knowledge that brings our visions to reality. We both have a lived experience where we think through things and constantly go back and refine. But I can’t help but think I let some of that control go. Maybe you can see this as a way to do the same, loosen up and be more attentive to your emotions. It may lead you somewhere where you haven’t gone before. I know that I found something worth it all. 15 To a Communications Designer: I don’t know how to communicate like you. It’s funny because the language you use is the same as the one I think I am using. But it’s all foreign to me. I am amazed as I listen to you speak, I didn’t known design could sound so different. You are very organized, efficient in the ways you communicate. That is something I think I can learn from you. I attempt to organize my thoughts like you. Though they may be organized I can’t help but feel like they are still out of place. You once told me that even though the job is based on communication, a dialogue, a back and forth, the conversations are usually one sided. This surprised me as I always thought that the messages being translated were part of a negotiation. I often thought I would be a good communicator had the term only implied one side - listening. This back and forth exchange is what brought me to objects in the first place. Can I let objects do the talking for me? I thought I could set them up and let them go. But you showed me there is a circulation of information that needs to be collected. That it isn’t enough to just walk away from something and let the consequences settle. I think I’m getting better at communicating though. Maybe you feel the same, but I hardly see you in the room anymore. You are always in meetings and debating the difference between coral and salmon or a serif and a sans serif. I know that’s not all you do but I think we can begin to speak the same language if you approached it more on the implicit side, like I have been trying to develop through my poetic voice. To a Craftsperson: I have found myself understanding you a whole lot more from within this interdisciplinary space. Like you I enjoy honing my skills and thinking through my hands. You’re not much different from the industrial designer, except you just let the unexpected take more control. You are deeply engaged in curiosity, which I admire. I feel like we relate on many levels. I engage materially for the same reasons you do. We exercise our skills in making, holding a certain level of care in all that we do and are passionate about. I fear sometimes we are 16 misunderstood. That we don’t hold to the same levels of ‘clean’ that other designers do. But that’s not the case. If you/we can let go of their definitions I think we can move towards an informative space, one that allows for unexplainable qualities - the ones found in our tacit knowledge. I think we have much yet to say to one another. Our crafts have the same passion but hold different views - I think. I tend to see things more open, while at times I feel like you may not. Maybe that’s just one assumption I have, but I feel like you think it may be true. To an Architect: Why do you hesitate when you speak? Is it because others place you closer to art than design? I can relate to that. I too am placed on both sides, am often asked to choose one or the other. Why can’t there be space for us in the in between? Why do we have to always speak to our work as either? It seems like we are asking many questions from the same voice. Our perspective is unique to the ways we see things. We need to build an environment in which we do not blindly follow. Your background is in the built environment. Mine is in sight - seeing the world through a lens. As a photographer I see can see the ways we begin to think alike. Maybe we can hold more ground together. I am sure that our reach can grasp more. Our hold is stronger than apart. I don’t want these relations to break. But I need to see you, not just to look but to truly understand or even just acknowledge the place you come from. I always wanted to see myself in your place, a field that inspired my curiosity. One that helped me shape how I began to see things around me. 17 a letter to Design (the field of) a stool [a] [a] does not equal [a] Over the past eighteen months, through a material and photographic practice that involved explorations of a stool [a] my understanding and relation to the objects I make has changed. People have contributed to this shift. As I progressively drew out of my internal dialogue with myself, and as I invited others to engage and consider aspects of my design of [a] stool, I came to perceive and know the stool that I now refer to as [a], differently. [a] is a starting point for myself to draw others into my practice, it is the first letter in defining a particular language for myself to articulate with others. From the outside the form of [a] didn’t changed. What I set out to make was made. My understanding of [a] has, however, been reshaped throughout the process. Letters aren’t equal. The stool and its parts have been affected by the responses of and relations to others who have engaged with it as a whole, and those who have engaged with it as parts of an assemblage. I have placed designers in situations that explored various types of relations. I have observed how these relations moved between our self and others, others and objects and objects and our self. In doing so the parts of [a] gained weight and held more meaning than they did before. The actions and responses of others (in space and over time) have lent affordances, affected the multifaceted ways these pieces come together. Highlighting the fact that [a] remains in its intended form, could be seen as a call to question the role others had in its development. I have found, however, that relations are fluid and cannot be contained (or undone). They hold their shifting presence even when not present. The implicit nature of relation with others is held in the performative ways the pieces of [a] assemble. Acknowledging this has led me to realize I cannot consider this form as fixed. Even if it looks as though it is. My understanding of this has been gained through an inquiry that uses repetition as a method to understand. This method of repetition constantly and intentionally shifts between explicit and implicit modes of thinking within a materially engaged practice. The acts of making I have explored offer up conversations around my forms (of communication). Acts of making contingent on material also have the capacity to accept aspects of the collective, I wonder how practice can be informed by others and in turn inform others through a material 18 practice. Over time this play between clearly defining rules (the explicit) and reflecting on the nuanced gestures of making (the implicit) creates a space for me to reframe and understand the things I make anew. This repetition is a performative action that highlights the possibilities for others to insert themselves in. A repetition that builds onto itself and breaks apart at the same time. Repetition is a cyclical means — it isn’t held in stasis nor is it prescribed in its next iteration. What’s next? This is an open letter of invitation. A call for fellow designers, to consider what is implicit and explicit in design practices. What would it mean to deploy these aspects into your own practice, intentionally or otherwise, through a means of repetition — could you gain a new understanding of your work and what it has to offer — could this setup an alternative perspective for your work to fit within — could repetition help clarify what is that you may not be able to speak to fully? For myself, I repeat [again]. Now, I look to either [b] or [z]. 19 4. self - stool - site self reflecting self reflecting as a way to position myself [anew] self reflection as a way to place growth and challenge [myself internally] a space for self critique self awareness 1 stool stool as representing the self thoughts thinking and foresight object of knowledge object of others object of relations [seat without rest] 2 site place of place holding and letting go positioning myself outside the frame moving the stool around [the pieces are not grounded] 3 [prior to] before I began this new part of my practice I felt somewhat lost [like I haven’t answered everything] [just yet] maybe I’ll find them [the answers] here [at Emily Carr] 5 I have felt lost for a while not like myself [how did it feel to be myself in the first place] [I don’t think this sense was full] not full in the sense of [completeness] but full as in there [in the present] 6 presently I have disassociated myself from the outside closing myself off [not knowing how to relate] relating to others [mainly] 7 [summer approaches its end] I have been stuck inside my head for so long [how do I move forward] how do I sort through all these thoughts [emotions] 9 so many new ideas racing through my head an overwhelming amount of information to process I can’t make sense of it [just yet] something is [out] there [I just] need [to find it] 10 [before I go] before I leave to find the pieces [peace] I make [to clear my head] a stool that holds [itself] of three planes [round] [square] [coned] 11 I decide to leave [go somewhere else] I decide to go visit a friend in [Glasgow] [how do I make this trip fit within what I am doing] I’ll bring with me the stool [on a plane] will I find a new context will this stool [that I made to bring with me] find what I think I’m looking for 12 [there] I acknowledge that I am a visitor on this land I travel to an isle [of Arran] [alone] I planned a place to reach [a route] 13 I can’t lie to myself [I was afraid] [I just wanted to get this done] [over with] [I can’t be alone with my thoughts any longer] I have no service no way to communicate [with my friend] I arrive at the point I wanted to reach I sit down [letting my mind go blank] I observe [I survey the land] 14 [two rivers flow into one] I climb up to a point facing the center as I rest my stuff and sit down on one of the stones I am greeted by a dog who had spotted me about a mile away [the owner mentioned] as she came over to retrieve him [I think he was a retriever] 15 I took this as a sign of acceptance that the land has brought much to my anticipation of what a sign may look like [this one was most unexpected] I sit cross legged now on the elevated ground I close my eyes and begin to focus on my breath 16 the wind is blowing my skin bumps as I am in a t-shirt [pale green] as though I belong but I fade a green circle [on the shirt] feels like a center point the sun fades in and out from time to time the sounds of the three rivers are distinct each has its own voice 17 as the clouds move the light highlights the side of the mountains as if it were scanning its surface or gently moving along with the wind while the grass [flows] sways along shadows cast new mountain outlines [new horizons] 18 clicking in the grass making its way closer and closer the wind rustling the strips of green my mind begins to clear as I focus on the sounds the water makes as it flows down to the right of me the sounds begin to calm 19 have I found what I came here for have I ever known what to look for [I’ll reflect on this at a later point] 20 the self [performed] fears of performing fears of being under observation [in the light] fears of the public eye [are we constantly observed] the fear of blurring the lines [between private and public] the fear of thoughts [thoughts of others] 22 mis-shaping myself facing discomfort [discomfort in place of faces] the action of performing actions repetition [creating a routine] being stuck in said routine [break away] [from the mundane] [the everyday] these actions are manifestations of the self the holdings [please hold] 23 of a sense of self a sense that has yet to make itself vocal [present] [not so much so as] [uncovering a new sense of self] [but a new way of looking at the self] they are of me and I am of it coming to terms with [oneself] expressing an [externalized state] undoing expectation [stepping outside oneself] to understand internally [gaining new perspectives] from discomfort 24 [after session 3] time passes [four weeks exactly] 26 I slip [low] [how do I regain sight] time passes and I stay still [I haven’t made in a while] [lost in the foresight] [in over thinking] sometimes [my hands are weak] [my mind is drained] can I continue [I need time] [not more] [just enough to hold] I need to step outside [outside sight] 27 [outside myself] [outside in nature] [breathe in the air] [stare at the sky] [feel the ground] [reflect] make some [thing] again hold [please] 28 site [revisited] I revisit the site that started this all not physically but through memory through a recollection of thoughts held by a sketch [lines and marks made on paper] 30 they place the senses together each gesture holds embodied space [a space removed from place] place of mind place of site [sight] [re]newed [re]seen [re]thought 31 stool [reflected] I finish the stool it came together at the end it looks the same [the same] as I had planned form didn’t change [but] perspective did 33 how I see the stool is embodied throughout the process through [every] relation [form doesn’t follow function] a is not equal to a [eh] the stool functions as a perspective on relations 34 shifts can not be measured externally perspectives move within [fluid and uncontained] the form holds implications [implications] that relations are [layered] [stacked] [embodied] [implied] [hyper] [present] 35 I now need to shift the stool [shift myself] [again] to look at it [its implications] from a different angle [another perspective] make shift [repeat] 36 5. provocations – performance – people [Fall 2018] In an effort to break away from a closed off - self focused - internalized approach that aimed for a complete and resolved designed outcome, I shifted my focus. Frustrated at not being able to speak to my work with my peers and tired of being constantly challenged to articulate why what I produced was design rather than art I decided to draw others directly into my work - to take on a series of open-ended investigations with my peers. I wanted to see if I could find a means for us to speak about objects just as they are (on their own terms) rather than being caught up in a conversation between art or design. I designed a set of objects and came up with four provocations in the form of group sessions with my peers and colleagues at Emily Carr: The questions I ended up asking were: how do we (as designers) talk? how do we (as designers) think? how do we (as designers) read? how do we (as designers) write? I saw each of these four provocations as a means to explore and (ideally) challenge our relationships with objects. How can objects help us speak to others? The range of designers within my cohort (fashion designers, product designers, systems, service designers, communication designers) could provide a good insight into the ways designers communicate across disciplines. By responding to a series of ambiguous (designed) objects – each designer was put in a position of contemplation and negotiation by the objects I placed in front of them. Each session started from a series of rhetorical questions. How do we talk? How do we relate? How do we observe? I wasn’t looking or expecting to get to the root of the question or receive any answers. I saw these provocations as a starting point and means to introduce peers and colleagues explicitly into my practice. Each session that followed the next was a response to the latter. 1 Set up and intentions Session 1 — [October 12, 2018] How do we talk? I begin with four sets of objects placed in a row on a single table in the middle of a room. Each set with equal distance between the next. First a photograph: an image taken a couple years back in Rotterdam that depicts an urban landscape of a hidden grotto within the city’s center. A large Brutalist style column stands just slightly off to the left of the image. A body of water sits at the foot of the column with tall grass peeking through. The area is enclosed, with an opening at the top allowing a slight sliver of light to pierce through. Next to this photograph is a circular wooden piece of oak that resembles a donut with a hole cut through its center. One interior edge is rounded over with the opposite outer edge rounded as well. The direction on the grain on one face runs perpendicular to the other. The donut is untreated, raw. The wooden donut is paired with a wooden dowel with both ends rounded. The dowel is stained grey. The third object is a stone; taken from outside the building it is placed in. It fits itself in the palm of my hand. I set it down to the right of the wooden objects. It is a dark grey with white marbling lines on its uneven surface. Last; a stack of textile swatches. Taken from an interior design trade-show as free samples. There are twenty-three types of textiles of different weaves, colours and materials. Each has a multiple of three, for a total of sixty-nine swatches. Each swatch is stacked on top of the other to create height and variety in tones. The order of the stack is random. What sorts of provocations do these sets of objects have or need in order to facilitate conversation and engagement? Are they themselves provocative? My underlying intention of this first session was to gain responses that might offer up clues about how we talk - and to my two (internal) questions above. [fig. 9 — session one - setup] 2 Session 2 — [October 26, 2018] How do we think? I revisit the setup of the previous session. I reintroduce the four sets of objects. They have been adjusted - just a little. This is my way of responded to the outcomes at the end of session one. Same table, same room, and same positioning of objects. The only difference is the objects themselves and the group of people (some individuals from the first session are no longer present, and some new ones - absent before - are introduced to my set up). One image now becomes two, a second hidden grotto taken at the opposite side of the first. Scale is increased, the size of the images is larger, giving more context within the frame of the images. The two images are placed next to each other to form a diptych. The paper bridges the images to a closer proximity to one another. Two donuts instead of one; smaller in scale, red in colour and both made from the same layer of oak. The wooden dowel is smaller in diameter with one end rounded and the other remains flat. Two stones, both different from the previous. One almost perfectly rounded in an oval like shape, one that resembles that of an egg. Porous in texture with light tones of grey and sands. Stained with a dark strip that runs around the perimeter of the stone at an angle, giving hint to it being in contact with water over a long period of time. The other, smaller stone has a speckled granite like texture with greens, greys, light browns, dark greens, tans and peaches. An uneven surface with an edge that almost runs flat. There are about three distinct lines that almost cut the rock at angles, giving it the appearance as if though it were cut into smaller pieces and brought back together at some point. Larger swatches stacked at a smaller height than previous. Each swatch now sewn in groups of four, two by two. Sewn in a pattern, each group was pulled from the stack at the end of the first session when asked to be rearranged and placed back to how it was at the beginning of the session. Each new swatch has a different configuration. I wanted to see if reintroducing the same setup with various changes can get us to a point of familiarity. One that enacts us to think through the objects more so than with the objects. [fig. 11 — session two - setup] 3 Session 3 — [November 2, 2018] How do we read? Session three begins with the same set up of objects (again) placed along a table. This time the table is placed in a gallery setting in another area of the building. Removed from the classroom context. The table is placed against the back wall. A long brown strip of paper occupies the center of the small gallery. A stack of papers with a printed script is placed on the floor at the entrance to the space. My peers enter and are invited to pick up a script and sit against the walls of the room. I then begin. I pick up each set of objects from the table and place them onto the piece of paper on the floor. Each object has been made to adjust and fit together. A performance around, through and with the objects takes place. The script guides the audience to interpret and follow each action - following along to my gestures, reactions and hesitations. This is the first time these actions are performed. There was no rehearsal, no time for memorization. The movements happen naturally, following closely to the script but not entirely bound to it. The intentions with shifting the space from a classroom setting to a gallery space was done to help shift the role of the designers from one that is active to a passive, observational one. It was time for me to take on the active role and shift from the observer to the performer, the designer, the artist. Would this shift in site disrupt the flow of understanding around my provocations? Or would this help give context to what I am looking at through the objects I make? These were the types of questions or thoughts I had when thinking about the implications this larger shift would have on the work I was building with people. I felt hesitant, was concerned that this shift would undo the conversation that had been building up with the prior two sessions. I prepared myself for a conversation around whether or not this work was art or even, how is this work design? [fig. 13 — session three - script] 4 Session 4 — [November 30, 2018] How do we write? A piece of long white paper (20‘) rolled up. The two ends have long wooden blocks (squared and 3‘ long) through them, a means of holding everything together. Objects on a table. Placed on the white paper once it is unrolled (a blank timeline of each of the past three sessions). The buildup of context. All in attendance have taken part before - have informed the intentions of this last session. I ask everyone to split up amongst themselves into three groups. Communication designers, industrial designers and craftspeople. Each group is given a stack of papers with single action words on them. An assemblage is formed out of the group of objects on one end of the scroll. It consists of a dowel placed between the patchwork of textiles on one end. Two wooden donuts reflected at forty-five-degree angles from each other held together in place with another wooden dowel pierced through each center hole placed on top. A stone (one resembling an egg) nestled in between at the points where the wooden donuts meet. [fig. 15 — session four – assemblage prompt] This assemblage was the point of reference. I thought of it as a guide, something for each group to consider and use in forming a script for me to perform a set of actions. The scripts are ways I challenge the designers to write together. Using a set of words that describe actions - each part a vocabulary I built around performing. I wanted to use this session as a form of rulemaking. Given the three prior sessions, where the designers gained an understanding around these objects and my intentions, I felt the need to shift the agency from the objects to the designers. I had used a certain vocabulary in the previous three sessions. This time I needed to challenge the groups negotiations around the relational qualities of the work and the language used one final time. I hoped that the outcomes from this session would allow me to be able to reflect and better understand the relations between people and objects and people and myself, as well as myself and the objects. 5 Insights and Observations Session 1 How do we talk? I did not speak during the first portion of the activity. I did this to see what it would take for such objects to initiate conversation on their own. This tactic did not induce conversation or entice response at first. Time stopped, the physical installation was met with silence. I recall the tension - not one designer seemed to know what to say or how to interact with my table of objects. I was fortunate, however, to have invited an individual who was not a designer to this session. Based in the arts, my external guest was used to being confronted with ambiguity, of speaking about, reflecting upon and responding to various artifacts set in front of them. They spoke up, and inadvertently acted as facilitator. The initial tension, the silence of the session was broken. The reluctance and non-engagement dissipated. A conversation built up and around the objects. A back and forth action as the individuals in the room shifted, and physically moved themselves (stance, gesture) and the objects set before them. Many responded to the image of the ‘hidden grotto’ as a guiding point or more of an instructional guide as how to link each other object together. The materiality of each object spoke loudly. There was a lot of tactile engagement with the textile swatches by the fashion and craftspeople in the cohort. There was an intimate and personal connection with the stone from a couple classmates. A sense of protection was placed on the stone as it spent the most time in the hands of others than any other object. The stone was also the only natural untouched object out of the group. Those that participated spoke to how they relate to the objects they interacted with. Many still didn’t participate, the ones that did however, gave insightful remarks to this set of provocations. As designers, it is clear that we tend to speak with our body, with our hands. We can’t just sit with a set of objects and piece everything together verbally or even metaphorically. We must talk things through quite literally, be it through our voices or even hands or gestures. After this session I knew I had to revisit this format and challenge these sets of relations once more, this time after altering the objects based on the responses they were given from my peers. I revisited each object and reframed them accordingly to how they were being used within the first session. Playing with scale and quantity, I manipulated the objects to reflect back. [fig. 10 — session one - responses] 6 Session 2 How do we think? How do we think of objects differently apart from them just being different? This was the question I set for myself as the purpose of the second session. Taking the same approach as the first session, the second session looked to expand and build on top of what had happened previous. Unlike session one, I observed a sense of comfort - a sort of familiarity was present within the space. Others seemed to know the rules. This time there was little hesitation to begin interacting with the objects (in their altered state) on the table. Rules that I established (open ended in the first round) moved to rules that the group established. There was more engagement as people moved to see how each object connected / might connect to one another. Conversations became more about the objects themselves and their relation to the space, the setup of the table and the formal qualities of the objects. A few of the designers focused on the stones - reacting to their form in terms of representation. One of the stones was said to resemble an egg. The designers who saw this reacted by nestling it in a bedding of textiles. Later other designers in the room felt the need to place the nested stone under the table - giving it space and seeking to introducing the idea of separate planes to the built environment. Considerations of extending beyond the table and room were introduced as well as a proposition to experiment with size on a much larger scale. People’s individual reactions were different based on their design backgrounds. Those who had a background with textiles were interacting more with the patches that were sewn together - able to manipulate and change their form and structures by the way the folds in the patches gave the tiles their own support. The photographs placed on the table even enticed one of the designers to fold the piece of paper in half and standing it upright. Though many spoke more about interpretations - wanting to build their own narratives with the objects - as in the textiles as a nest for a rock - or creating smaller structure out of the constructed patches and even images - many still didn’t participate. The ones who didn’t participate remained silent - except for one who mentioned that the only natural objects I had brought in were the two stones. Everything else had been constructed or manipulated by a human touch. Later I had conversations with some of the designers who had not participated - they told me they were confused and did not understand what I was trying to do - that limiting my provocation to a single table hadn’t created an inviting space. Reflecting on these notes it was clear to me that I had to attempt a third trial with the group of designers to help inform / manage to communicate with those who didn’t understand what I was doing. I knew from their feedback that I was to consider 7 looking at the ways in which we don’t relate to the objects just as much in the ways we do. In this third attempt I will have to reconsider my role within these sessions. [fig. 12 — session two - responses] Session 3 How do we read? I knew that after having observed the varying range of engagements and disengagements of the group throughout the two sessions it was time for me to show them how I would have interacted with the objects had I participated. I moved from passive observer to active participant. This was a huge stepping stone for me. In directing the attention to myself I shifted out of my comfort zone. Performing a set of actions live without the benefit of rehearsal put me in a vulnerable position., I was afraid of messing up - missing a step. I feared silence and no response from my peers to my actions. Throughout the performance I can feel my heart race as my mind jumps from line to line. Playing the script in my head over and over again. My body starts to translate words into action. Movements become second nature. Disruptions are unanticipated. Thoughts go blank. I am pulled in and out of the space. I have no sense of time except for the flow of the script. I finish, step back and observe. The room is quiet - this is a stronger silence, more overwhelming than I had anticipated. I almost give up and break the silence - almost. Finally, someone speaks. An observation that sets things off. What comes out from the painful silence is fruitful. It is a conversation that involves many in the room and is one that I almost didn’t think possible. People are engaged. People begin responding in ways I didn’t expect. Much of the conversation centers on the actions I performed and how these apply to everyday actions designers work with and consider. Observations are made about what is s not present -- all the artifacts that were left out - not there: the sawdust from the wood; cuts and threads from the fabric; the bits of stone cut out from the hole. The action of performance had unanticipated results. It directly affected the environment of the space - the rock acted as disruptor and ripped the paper as I 8 began to push it back and forth on the floor. It also affected perspectives (mine and others) indirectly. The significant silent pause after the performance ended was a time for collecting (all of our) thoughts. The audience was left to observe and reflect and contemplate what was being performed in front of them as well as what had been done in the prior sessions. While I didn’t realize it at the time, it also affected my understanding of my work and intent moving forward - I began to make connections around the ways we communicate, it was observed that these sessions were looking into the building blocks of communicating with others; talking, thinking and reading. [fig. 14 — session three - assemblage] Session 4 How do we write? Things started to make sense as time moved on. There was, however, a time gap between the third and fourth sessions - four weeks. While the third session ended on a good note, I still felt that somehow my interactions with others was not fully resolved. I knew that I wanted to attempt one more session, but I did not know how to proceed. I started by reflecting on the past three sessions. It was clear that the intention of the first session was question how we (designers) talk in relation to objects. The second session effectively built on to the first - it was evident to many of the designers in the group that it sought to question how we begin to think things through and allowed me to reflect on thinking as an ongoing responsive process. In the third session I had wanted others to follow along through/with my thinking, this took the form of a script for others to read and follow my course of action. Not everyone understood the actions in the same way. People drew different insights from the words and actions. This, for me, called into question how do we read as it was another aspect in forming human communication when we were younger. This, for me, exposed the missing gap that a fourth and final session with the class could offer: the question of how do we (others) write as reading and writing go hand in hand. After this final session I am left with 4 scripts to perform. Each from an alternative perspective across different design disciplines. Industrial, Communications, Craft and Architecture. 9 Working with other designers, I saw different interpretations of the objects - ways we reach, approach and respond to them. I had my own assumptions and ways of interacting with them. Seeing how the group of designers worked with the objects validated some of my assumptions I had around ways people would connect the objects - like sticking the wooden pin through the hole of the wooden donut, arranging the textiles to form larger ones, or flipping the image around to reveal the same image. But not all assumptions I had were observed - like placing the stone on top of the hole of the wooden donut or even covering the other objects with the textile swatches. New interactions came up that I hadn’t thought of or expected. I responded to these interactions, realizing that time played an important role throughout the semester of investigations. Giving myself time to respond to what I had seen and not seen, shaped a new understanding of the objects that helped inform the way I see them, others and myself. [fig. 16, fig. 17, fig. 18, fig. 19 — session four - responses] Gifts - Objects Given (back and forth) I gave seven objects and seven disposable cameras to seven people. The seven objects were pieces of a stool. I gave them to the seven people who are close to me. Seven new relationships that I had formed over the last year and a half through this degree. It was the December Holiday break, I said “I made this for you, please photograph it.” Each person took the objects with them back home to various parts of the world over the holiday season. Many had told me they were able to bring it home with them The seven pieces making up the components of the stool included: a stool top, three extension pieces and three legs. Friends tell you things - they share. These are the things I now know: The stool top was on its way to Tokyo, Japan but stayed here in Vancouver, Canada. One of the extension pieces went to Quito, Ecuador. 10 Another to Orlando, Florida. And the third to Taipei, Taiwan. One leg went to Tehran, Iran. Another to Bangalore, India. And the third stayed in Vancouver, Canada. Friends tell you things - they also return things and ask favors I received many of the cameras back. They wanted me (the photographer) to develop the rolls of film for them. I received almost all of my gifts back. They wanted me to make something more. I did. The images were responses to the object gifts given. I am a designer - I sort. The photos I was asked to develop had a variety of content - windows into the ways others responded to the objects I gave. Some of these photos seemed to have a documentive approach: gifted object within the frame of the image. Other photos were random images taken by themselves or by relatives they were spending time with. These were some of the most interesting images. The objects were not there directly within the image - but they still seemed to capture something connected to where the objects were. It was interesting to see the many ways others physically inserted these objects to their surrounding environments. Some even chose to respond to their objects gifts by adding new content to them such as stickers on one and a roll of fabric around another. Even the missing object - now captured only in an image it leaves a trace that could be considered as an extension of its missing presence. [fig. 20 to fig. 26 — responses of others to the gifts through images] I responded to my returned gift objects by looking through the images that were taken, accepting the state of each object and roll that came back to me in. I chose a few images from each person to work with. I looked at composition, lighting, pattern, texture, form, environment and space. I chose the images that best represented the way I see each individual or the least expected results I got. My responses to each object varied from colour to physical attachments in the form of stickers, fabric and found objects. Each reworking of the objects amounted to a new set of understandings or ways of relating to each individual. For myself, I was able to 11 gain a stronger sense of the individual through the relations encountered around the objects and images. [fig. 27 to fig. 33 — my responses to the objects given back] I hoped to piece together the seven objects to see how they interpret the form of the stool. The responses I took to them have made each object that much more individual, an individual negotiation of my relations to others. I have decided to keep each separate for the time being, to allow each object to embody the responses. Bringing people along the way with these objects has proven the complexity around the relations with others. There is no set way one could expect results. People bring with them their own perspectives and experience, each one different. That is the beauty I see within each object, there isn’t a way for me to connect them all in a way that could speak to this. For me they all speak louder on their own. Reflecting on the relational Observations that come from sorting through the text(ile). The material embodying this form of thinking has many implications. It has turned up many new sequences of relations to consider, observe, respond and reflect on. My thinking is organized into six areas: people (external), material practice (objects), self (internal), knowledge, structures, land & care. Each have relations with one another in many different ways. Together some contradict and others compliment. I begin by mapping out the thoughts of others onto the text(ile). This patchwork from my four sessions was set in an order that was determined by other designers unintentionally. Others connect my theory and the thoughts of other thinkers in ways that goes beyond the scope of relations I looked at. This text(ile) sets up future work in uncovering and linking its implications in the seemingly unlimited number of possible relations that have come from it. The text(ile) is a continuum of relations that sits between a constant flux of changing parts. Though the materiality of it is static, it has the potential in being constantly reconfigured, recoded and expanded on. 12 [fig. 36 — text(ile)] I pull on seven types of relations from my research over the past 18 months to reflect on: People - Object Designers and objects - we tend to talk with our hands, we want to know the rules of the game, we manipulate things physically rather than standing back and talking with them. When we engage - the unexpected turns up in the responses of objects objects respond to our actions. Object - People Moving agency to the object - objects are dictating the relations - the way things are set up dictate how we respond to objects. Forms dictate - physical presence plays a role in the ways we accept our compilations around these objects - people negotiate the space objects take hold of. Object - Object In the act of assembling, objects become artifacts that hold the space for these conversations - questions are posed without us knowing - the ones that surface are the ones that objects tell. There must be some sort of questions that objects tell us on their own. This space is outside the human. Objects exist outside our understanding of them. We simply just respond by asserting a hierarchy over them, this only stipulates on the idea that objects have no agency. People - People Designers talking to designers - people are in constant communication with one another. These relations are immediate yet hold nuanced intricacies. Misinterpretation, mistranslation and miscommunication are presented at times more directly. Ways in which we communicate with one another signify the roles we take as designers and how we in turn respond to each other. People - Self Interpersonal relations build up our perception of ourselves in the eyes of others. The ways we respond to others is the negotiation of sorting through this space. Ways we perceive ourselves are heightened in situ to others. This heightened selfawareness is a response to being projected by the thoughts of others. We can only interpret what is being said through the responses of others. Self - Objects An inner negotiation that is provoked by an external factor. Objects hold placement for our externalizations of thinking through a material engagement that is more 13 innate to some than others. Building on a sense of materiality, objects allow us to gain an understanding of the ways we think and navigate through the world. I see this as being a process of sorting oneself through the habitable world. Self - Self Thoughts make up the innermost personal understandings we have of ourselves. We think internally and act out externally. An embodied sense of knowing helps to project our thoughts through identity. How we understand ourselves is contingent on the relations we build with our thoughts and outside perceptions of self. 14 6. text - tiles text(ile) 6 categories of thinking (m) (e) (i) (k) (s) (l) material practice people [external] self [internal] knowledge structures land & care arranged by others I place quotes in relation to one another how they fit within the tiles is dependent on their context fig. 36 - coded fig. 36 - quoted bibliography [bibliography] Abramović, M. Rhythm 0. 1974. Allhutter, D. (2012). Mind Scripting: A Method for Deconstructive Design. Sage Pub Baladrán, Z., V. Havránek, and Tranzit. (2010). Atlas of Transformation. Tranzit (Series). JRP/Ringier. Feest, U. (2017). Phenomena and Objects of Research in the Cognitive and Behavioural Sciences. Philosophy of Science, 84(5), 1165–1176. Foucault, M., Bouchard, D. F., & Simon, S. (1980). Language, Counter-memory, Practice: Selected Essays and Interviews. Cornell University Press. Ingold, T. (2008). Bindings against Boundaries: Entanglements of Life in an Open World. Aberdeen: Pion Ltd Jasimuddin, M. S. et al (2005). The paradox of using tacit and explicit knowledge: Strategies to face dilemmas. Emerald Group Publishing Limited Kosmidou, Z. (2001). Transitory objects: a conversation with Marina Abramovic. Sculpture, Art & Architecture Source. 20(9), 26–31. Malafouris, L. (2004). The Cognitive Basis of Material Engagement: Where Brain, Body and Culture Conflate. In E. DeMarrais, C. Gosden, & C. Renfrew (Eds.), Rethinking materiality: the engagement of mind with the material world (pp. 53–61). Malafouris, L. (2016). On Human Becoming and Incompleteness: A Material Engagement Approach to the Study of Embodiment in Evolution and Culture. In Etzelmüller G. & Tewes C. (Eds.), Embodiment in Evolution and Culture (pp. 289-306). Mohr Siebeck GmbH and KG. Malafouris, L. (2016). How things shape the mind: A theory of material engagement. Cambridge: The MIT Press. Melzer, T. (2015). Taxidermy for Language-Animals: A Book on Stuffed Words. Rollo Press. O’Neill, P. et al (2016). The curatorial conundrum: What to study? what to research? what to practice? Cambridge (Massachusetts): The MIT Press. O’Neill, P. et al (2017). How institutions think: Between contemporary art and curatorial discourse. Cambridge: The MIT Press. Parr, A. (2014). The Deleuze dictionary. New York: Columbia University Press. Schatzki, T. R. et al (2010). The practice turn in contemporary theory:. London: Routledge. Singh M, Anderson BL. (2002). Toward a perceptual theory of transparency. Psychological Review Sontag, S. (2005). Susan Sontag on photography (1st ed.). New York: RosettaBooks LLC. Tomas, D. (2004). A Blinding Flash of Light: Photography Between Disciplines and Media. Les Études. ABC Art Books Canada Distribution. Torres, M. G. (2017). An arrival tale: Fact-checking, recognizing, reconstruction. Berlin: Sternberg Press. Walker, S. (2013) Imagination’s Promise: practice-based design research for sustainability, Chapter 28 of Handbook of Design for Sustainability, Walker, S. and Giard, J. eds., Berg Publishers, London Wittgenstein, L., B. Russell, and C.K. Ogden. (2010). Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Cosimo Classics Philosophy. Cosimo, Incorporated Zabel, I., and I. Španjol. (2012.). Contemporary Art Theory. Documents (Zurich, Switzerland). JRP/Ringier. __________________ post [script] appendices [scripts] 1 . placements [session 3] 2. [session 4] communications design 3. [session 4] industrial design 4. [session 4] craft 5. [session 4] architecture start I place place to place place of place [placing] I hold place [holding] place holding I give space space apart I pace pacing around pacing around I frame [framing] I rotate [rotating] [rotating] [rotating] [pause] I place again [replace] [reframe] [rehold] [repace] I unfold uncover I hold down [pulling] I flip [turn] flipping around around and around [stop] I skip skipping to return skipping rocks I cover covering by turning turning the page [turn the page] I reach [pause] grab grabbing [lift] [set down] I pull towards [pulling] I push away [pushing] [pause] I repeat [repeat] and [repeat] and [repeat] [stop] I fit fitting the pieces [piecing] I stack stacking [stacking on top] I reverse [flip again] reversing the stacked [what was stacked?] I separate separating [to jump] [jumping over] [when is it over?] I wrap wrapping [roll] [rolling] and [rolling] and [rolling] [repeating] [pause on and] wrapped I put together [through] through and through [piercing] I let go let fall [release] [pause] end start from here [ fold ] [ fabric ] x23 rotate [ stick ] x23 lift rock x23 lick [ wood donut ] [ x23 ] slide [ stick ] [ into ] [ donut ] move x5 x23 [ fabric ] [ under ] [ donut ] end . . . . start throw rock roll order x23 pause raise lick embrace lower pause shift place fold stack end reflect start place fold x3 layer x3 unfold x3 rotate [ insert ] embrace roll roll pause repeat order flip tilt en d lic k x5 st op rock roll lo w er raise ro ll reflect 1 x1 [ [ it ] x11 move fold order slide start ] rock drop [ place shift reflect ] pace unfold repeat [ hesitate ] [ rotate x5 x3 raise pause repeat slide [ with care ] ] throw rotate pause roll [ for 1 min ] frame stop and break end