Thursday, October 07, 2004

Notes on achieving masterhood, part one

Originally the plan called for flimsy rice paper to lead a path to Enlightment. But treading softly enough so as to not rip its surface betrayed heavy feet borne of a carnivorous diet and an unsteady step. So the alternative is to find a shortcut instead. Rather than suffer the pain of arduous and lengthy apprenticeship (who can really invest the time anymore?) to master said feat, newer configuration circumvents lower body balance and center of gravity for pure upper body strength. Build monkeybars over the test strip in question. Climb over as opposed to stepping through. If Kirk can rely on guile to overcome the Kobayashi Maru simulator then changing the rules or context in this case is justifiable by reason of exhibiting initiative. A simple matter of brain over brawn maybe. Or of overintellectualizing the intended purpose as something else. Such is the zeitgeist the work hopes to portray. That the easy route is, well, easier.

But often the deceptively simple disguises the overtly complex. The linear, or that which heads inexorcably in a singular albeit straight direction, can also involve tangents which shift, rotate and figure-eight between points thus mathematically speaking, the distance from point A to point B is the endless road much travelled and rarely completed. So to punctuate this point requires either purchasing old-fashioned wooden ladders perhaps twelve to fifteen feet in height be suspended from the ceiling underneath which runs the Japanese paper runner or handcrafting a variation to reference and indeed lampoons the particular functionality or lack thereof of the object. The latter offers additional breadth and depth though.

A knotted looping open conduit if you will whose purpose confounds the philosophical and physical as it resembles a snaking stepladder gone awry; each step, a potential leap of faith. Such a Minimalist structure overall emulates an intricate latticed Chinese screen except for its chaotic dysfunctionality. Perhaps cover the gapped spaces with the rice paper itself to enclose its form but doing so may evoke the Isamu Noguchi lamp too readily which goes against the grain in terms of aesthetics. Fragile versus sturdy, fragile in spite of sturdy, fragile in unison with sturdy strikes an appropriate yin and yang.

Now revise the official paperwork.

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