So here I've put together a rough draft of an opening statement for our project. I went about it by kinda Frankenstein-ing together pieces of our blog posts and elaborating a bit. Please revise/edit as much as you want! I know you can make it sound more sexy and more coherent! Also, I had no idea how to conclude, so I just sort of left it hanging. If you can think of a great way to wrap it up, please add it. Anyway, here goes:
Consideration of the word "classic" brings to mind several different associations. Something described as "classic" may have qualities that endure through time, or may be considered representative of a certain era, or even may be considered traditional or typical in contrast to others. It can be applied to classify design, art, literature, modes of communication, schools of thought, systems of accomplishing objectives, and more.Yet the passing of time yields change, and a variety of inputs barrage these original classic forms, forcing them to evolve. The newly adapted forms become hybrids, which contain elements of the initial form as well as new elements. Hybrids are often seen as "outrageous", as the offspring of the tame & the wild, in possession of both the familiar and unfamiliar. A useful tool for understanding the hybrids that exist around us is the catalog. Sometimes taking the form of a list, a register, or other methods of classification, a catalog offers a new way of understanding things that allows us to step back and examine various groupings and inputs related to a concept or object. Something cataloged is at once itself and something not itself; it becomes an element in a system, an object with markers, viewed as a collection of characteristics rather than a whole. The human desire to classify seeks new ways of understanding a thing; it achieves distance from it; provides perspective and separation.
A cataloge is in itself a system; the process of adding new inputs in order to re-catalog challenges its constructs and creates new systems within it. A study of systems theory is therefore helpful to analyze this process. Joanna R. Macy writes in
Mutual Causality in Buddhism and General Systems Theory: The Dharma of Natural Systems,
"The processes by which the system sustains and creates order in Fleiss-Gleichgewicht are seen as twofold. One is homeostatic, whereby the continuity of structure or pattern is maintained. The other is self-organizing, whereby the structure is modified, its organization increased. In this complexification the system moves toward greater improbability and variety." One can regard the catalog in its purest original state to be the homeostatic process, or the control. Adding an input to the catalog restructures it, increasing its organization and complexity and leading to a variety of observations that would have before gone unseen.
"An open system is characterized by what von Bertalanffy termed Fliess-Gleichgewicht, which means 'steady state' or literally, 'flux-balance'. Flux is stressed because the system is in a continual state of inflow and outflow; never in chemical or thermodynamic equilibrium, its substance is continually altered by interacting events." What happens when these inputs interact? Can we reveal even more underlying information about our subjects? Can we create new forms from old? At what points do tension of interaction occur, and how can we apply these points to new systems? The original/classic form with new inputs and combinations of inputs can create new hybrid forms. As Macy describes, "Changing conditions, however, can produce a persisting mis-match between perception and construction." Methods of analysis can vary based on the answers or information sought. "In order to make the new data meaningful and useable, new constructs are evolved."
The act of cataloging and recataloging a group of ideas, objects or events can help reveal patterns that evolve over time. As Macy writes, "The system maintains its dynamic equilibrium by looking ahead. It keeps its balance not by standing still, subsiding into stasis, but moving forward, projecting its constructs into the future." Can the act of cataloging allow us to imagine the future evolution of our subject?
The format of this project follows these ideas in four major areas. In the first component, we illustrate our earliest conversations through our search for classic forms and icons. We choose to catalog and re-cataloge by using different inputs, and create our own hybrids by finding various unforeseen relationships. The next component splits into 3 different catalogs; one grouping of classic books, one of classic chair design, and one of the icons of Taiwanese culture. This section shows the control groups that will be used for further study. The "Process" component adds the inputs to the controls, and presents opportunities for interaction between the inputs and the possibility of new systems. The final component seeks to use information learned during the process in the imagination of new forms and future scenarios. Also presented are ideas for creating interaction between the 3 control groups, allowing for the possibility of even further complexified systems and more outrageous hybridity.
