Symon Oliver ∅ ∴
2011, May
Our ability to design is a critical element in how we have defined ourselves throughout our histories. Design as a general descriptor, is more of a synecdoche describing a framework for problem solving often referred to as the design process. At present the most successful design processes begin with one fundamental step, problem framing. Our aptitudes for recognizing problems have remained relatively unchanged; however, the complexity of the world, which we have created, has grown immeasurably large. Communication design plays an important role in managing this complexity. However, the key to communication design is concision and therefore translation, the result being a form of information that is divorced from its original context. It is precisely the lost context that can negatively influence the outcomes of the design process. How might we frame a problem, situation, or theme, without oversimplifying and divorcing the context?
The intent of this thesis was to introspectively explore new conceptual metaphors for framing problems, themes, or situations, while observing the power relations between subject and object. Using approaches from contemporary documentary media and ethnography I attempted to document Grange Park in its totality. Every Thursday for ten weeks I would spend 5–6 hours in the park. This time was spent collecting visual, verbal, aural, and physical data that at a later point would need to be disseminated. The idea that the park could be documented in its entirety was an ignorant thought that is embodied in a positivist ideology. No matter how careful I might be, there would always be subjects both temporally and spatially isolated at the boundaries of the frames. If total documentation is impossible, then what remains are gaps, spaces between the content. In the end these voids are fundamental to building new metaphors for explaining problems, situation, or, themes.
If considering Trinh Minh-ha's concept of the interval between truth and meaning, the breaks between the content is an important aspect in building an understanding around a topic. Following this concept of the interval I began constructing an immersive system that would attempt to bridge the gap between meaning (the books) and truth (the collected artifacts). Each page spread with indicators will trigger a new media event related to the content on that page. With this I am asking a user to begin deconstructing the content of the page and the immersive content they receive. Furthermore, the installation seeks to build new metaphors through juxtaposition of content and context. These new metaphors can impart a larger perspective of the documented space onto a user that would otherwise never have been generated. The forms of the books, the desk, and the lamp have been carefully considered to signify specific institutional tools that govern the landscapes of knowledge and understanding.