so, i was clearing off my desktop a while ago [ i wish i could make my room/studio/life that neat and tidy ] and i found a text file that was supposed to be notes for a blog post… it’s not all relevant here but i’ll post some of it… i was also trying to clear out my inbox [ 600+ messages waiting to be archived or read… ugh ] and found a link to an SRL site with a video clip… one of the things mark pauline said and of course all of the work that i haven’t looked at for a year of more made me think of what i am doing and realize how far i have to go to create something new… something that isn’t just a poorly hacked together approximation of work already done 10 years ago [ a lifetime ago with respect to technolgy ] …

anyway, here is the SRL site with a video somewhere of mark pauline saying:

“it should happen too fast, it should be too extreme. it should be like a giant accident scene so that everyone just sits there and tries to figure out what really happened. nobody really gets a clear picture of it, it’s always sort of slightly… out of focus.”

and then the earlier post that never made it to the web [ i don’t think… sorry if it’s a repeat ] but i was looking at a program called processing and read the description on their website or somewhere in the documentation…

Why is it called “Processing”?

At their core, computers are processing machines. They modify, move, and combine symbols at a low level to construct higher level representations. Our software allows people to control these actions and representations through writing their own programs. The project also focuses on the “process” of creation rather than end results. The design of the software supports and encourages sketching and the website presents fragments of projects and exposes the concepts behind finished software.

// i like this description… it’s how i think about design and what i was trained to do as an architect and designer without equating the human mind with the computer, which has been a constant problem in understanding the complexity and beauty of the computer and its derivative and compounded applications, that is what we do… we modify, move and combine symbols at a low level to construct higher level representations… of course we, perhaps i, like to think it is the creation of actualities [or potentialities] rather than ‘representations,’ but i’m beginning to rethink that assessment without feeling as though i have conceded any creative control.

so… i’ve sort of lost my train of thought here and i think there was supposed to be more to this post that i can’t begin to reconstruct, but i’ve been thinking off and on about presentation and representation… mediation and immediacy… the process that goes into getting to those definitions and what that means to my work…