Living With Your Own Ideas

Deliverable 1

The objective was to collect in about fifteen minutes some low-cost, low-effort materials of which we could make a prototype. This product had to represent what we were doing and what our current stance in the project-orientation is in relation to ourselves and each other.

Process:

I cut linear C-shapes in a coffeecup, connected a thin rope to its end and integrated it onto a PET waterbottle filled with soil. The cup being the representitive of my head, the bottle my body and the rope my arms and efforts. Pulling the rope would open the cup as a metaphor for my process of learning, trying and reflecting troughout the studies. The soil inside the bottle stood for my interest in applied agriculture and - in broader context - the earth beneath our feet that literally is the common ground in everything we do. The reason for the soil being inside the bottle rather than outside of it is because aside from all external aspects I also feel a need for a pragmatic introspective standpoint.

Group reflection:

The interventions in the group revolve around various discourses one makes, in search for identity of oneself. There is a shared common interest in finding a balance between the internal and the external parts of life. This balance is explored by different ways of engagement tied together by a common aspect of positionality.

Personal reflection:

I felt that the words we pick and the descriptions we give them stay too open for interpretation and limit the process of converging/narrowing down our interests. In a way it seems for me that it would be better to have 5 or more concrete subjects than one or two 'open-for-interpretation' topic(s). This assignment was useful in that sense. Because it forced me to specify where I want this to go.

Challenge:

Involving and challenging ourselves into a first-person-perspective (1PP) for a whole day.

Deliverable 2:

A video of the encounters I had. The video summarizes the day.

Personal reflection:

What did you make and why did it matter?

I did a physical exploration of the area of my main interest. It mattered because I gained insights by involving in this unknown context with me as a tool.

What happens when you involve yourself?

Unexpected things, that lead to new insights. I did not know anything about the area except for a few places adressed by my classmate who does know the region.
Just being there, moving around, searching for agricultural and rural expressions led to inspiring encounters.

What happens when you use yourself as an instrument?

You learn. Both about the topic and about myself. I learned that there are people in Horts del Baix, just south of Viladecans, that become happy when they explain their process of growing food 🌿. I learned that there are people that want to share what they know, even if that other person enters their workspace unannounced and speaks foreign words to them. I learned the value of speaking someone's language which I used to take for granted too often. The insane worth and potential that just unlocks when you are able to communicate one-on-one. I learned that even in November 🍁 there is still a lot of activity in the Catalan countryside. I confirmed that my rural appreciation is inter-locational as it invokes the same energy regardless of being in Spain or in The Netherlands.

Did anything change in your way of working?

Aside from new exploration I think that in the next step I would not approach a target-group on the same manner I did here. The reason for this is that the next involvement with the 1PP will ask for a more complete preperation and - depending on the context - more adjusted way of communicating (as in with someone translating, written text etc.)

What does it mean for your future work?

It means that I will continue learning and searching for ways to apply digital fabrication into rural restoration. Next steps include an appointment with a ex-MDEF collaborator of the Centrinno project 🏨 to discuss some of my questions concerning my focus area, the aspects of their work and the possible overlap between those two.