Written Component 3

With reference to a text or someone’s creative practice, explore the development of a position in relation to iteration. Explain how this helps you approach your own emerging position.

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Extremely relatable to the diagrammatic interpretation, non-linear thinking is the most common way that viewers follow to shape a story out of my diagrams. Its experiential and unconscious processing of information (Groves and Vance, 2015, p. 113) urges the viewer to follow and understand a diagram as a whole piece. This consists of various smaller elements connected in a less direct way, leaving space for a holistic approach and interpretation. A significant example of someone else’s creative practice that iteratively engages with diagrams and non-linear thinking/ compositional work is Ricardo Basbaum’s artistic practice Diagrams, 1994 – ongoing.

In Basbaum’s own words he treats the diagram as a “tool for intervention, a sort of drawing (or visual poem) that mediates the dynamic flow between words and image – discursive and non- discursive spaces – or literary and plastic spaces” (Basbaum, 2016). His iterative process and the continuous repetition of diagrams, shaped and developed his position; exploring diagrams as a collective conversation. Although he engages with a series of subjects, having sources such as music songs/choreographies, his diagrams are abstract, leaving the interpretation up to the viewer even if he uses captions as part of the composition. Experimenting by adding text/captions to my diagrams, I have noticed that the imagination behind the viewer’s interpretation narrowed down, which is something I didn’t want at this stage of my project.

Moreover, the way of presenting the diagrams in a huge size on the walls of a museum enables his aim of building ‘spaces’ to become reality. Spaces that people can interact and identify with. The sizing/presentation of the diagrams contribute to the way of interpretation and engagement with
the viewer. Besides, very important is the relationship between the designers and their artwork; once left the hands of the designer it is open to interpretation and the intended message might be misunderstood. Through my project I advocate GCD as a means to encourage that interpretation, challenging the intended message of a diagram; there is not. My work is currently growing based only on the interpretations of the viewers. Nonetheless, Basbaum’s way of approaching the diagram as a storytelling intervention challenged me to explore how a story can be built out of diagrams, and more specifically how the viewer will interpret a sequence of connected diagrams.

Quite different from my position, but using the same medium (diagram) as a tool of investigation
is Jenny Holzer’s project Diagrams 1976. Trying to explore time and space, she precisely copied diagrams from physics textbooks along with their captions (Holzer, 1976). Holzer’s approach consists of a source that functions as a foundation behind the diagrams she designs. Her repetitive process, creating hundreds of iterations by copying diagrams from a book around the same topic, shaped her position; studying the representations of larger-than-life ideas through diagrams.

Her way of working articulates for me that the source can be a really important tool, motivating
me to try something similar at this point of the project, where I am exploring how diagrams are interpreted in a form of a sequence. I have considered finding a source without a specific context/ subject, as my aim (for now) is to leave the interpretation as open as possible; building stories I am not aware of, stories that will occur based on the interpretations I will receive.

Having in mind that Jenny Holzer used something really accessible as a source (his boyfriend’s physics textbook), reminded me that every day, we come across different kinds of diagrams we don’t even notice; on food packages, maps, manuals, signs, etc. They are everywhere, sending a specific message, serving a specific purpose. Creating a small collection with some examples will provide enough inspiration (not copying as Jenny did in her practice) at this stage of the project, and it will be interesting to see how some of these diagrams can be used → interpreted in a different way.

The diagrammatic sequence will take the form of a one-page book as this is an apt solution to explore how a story can be formed through a series of connected diagrams in a non-linear way. In this way I will be able to examine how the viewer engages with a piece of paper consisting only of shapes, lines and arrows. The reader can unfold it, flip it, rotate it and follow the various elements in order to form a story. A unique story that is generated out of diagrams without context. These elements are enough for the viewer to compare it with something and imagine an ‘image’.

Reference List

Basbaum, R. (2016) Diagrams, 1994 – ongoing. Berlin: Errant Bodies Press. Available at: https:// www.errantbodies.org/Basbaum.html (Accessed: 16 May 2021).

Groves, K.S. and Vance, C.M. (2015) ‘Linear and nonlinear thinking: A multidimensional model and measure’, in The Journal of Creative Behavior, 49(2), pp.111-136.

Holzer, J. (1976) Diagrams 1976. Available at: https://projects.jennyholzer.com/drawings/diagrams-1976 (Accessed: 16 May 2021).