@ -40,4 +40,4 @@ Now the stories are here, each of them a cake with a filling that tells a story,
The play ends as all plays do. The curtains close, the website stays but the stories will never sound the same. For the final act, I give you the stories. It's one last game, one last joke to ask my question again. Digital intimacies about the digital, our bodies and the cakes we eat. For the last act, I ask you to eat digital stories. To eat a comment, to eat a digital intimacy. Sharing an act of physical intimacy with yourself and with me, by eating sweets together. Sweets about digital intimacies that never had a body.
There is no moral, no bow to wrap the story in. A great big mess of transcendence into the digital, of intimacy and of bodies. The way it always is. Thankfully.\
and signing, waiting again were the main components of this act.</p>
<p><strong>Reflections-Thoughts:</strong> Beyond the information
gathered through my bureaucratic-like questionnaires, the most crucial
element of this experiment was the understanding and highlighting of the
hidden performative elements that entrench these “rituals”. It was
amazing seeing the audience becoming instantly actors of the play
enacting willingly a administrative ritualistic scene. The provided
context of this “play” was a social library hosting a masters course
public event on graduation projects. I am wondering whether this
asymphony between the repetitive bureaucratic acts within the space of
Leeszaal, where such acts are not expected to be performed, evoked
contradictory feelings or thoughts. Over-identifying with a role was
being instrumentalized as an “interrogation” of one’s own involvement in
the reproduction of social discourses, power, authority, hegemony.</p>
<figure>
<imgsrc="../aglaia/queue.jpg"
alt="Leeszaal West Rotterdam - November 2023 – People queuingI was thinking of queues as a spatial oppressive tool used often by (bureaucratic) authorities. The naturalized image of bodies-in-a-line waiting for “something” to happen at “some point” under the public gaze in an efficiently defined area. to receive their documents and sign" />
alt="Leeszaal West Rotterdam - November 2023 – People queuing to receive their documents and sign. I was thinking of queues as a spatial oppressive tool used often by (bureaucratic) authorities. The naturalized image of bodies-in-a-line waiting for “something” to happen at “some point” under the public gaze in an efficiently defined area." />
<figcaptionaria-hidden="true">Leeszaal West Rotterdam - November 2023 –
People queuing<sup><spanclass="margin-note">I was thinking of queues as
a spatial oppressive tool used often by (bureaucratic) authorities. The
naturalized image of bodies-in-a-line waiting for “something” to happen
at “some point” under the public gaze in an efficiently defined
area.</span></sup> to receive their documents and sign</figcaption>
People queuing to receive their documents and sign. I was thinking of
queues as a spatial oppressive tool used often by (bureaucratic)
authorities. The naturalized image of bodies-in-a-line waiting for
“something” to happen at “some point” under the public gaze in an
efficiently defined area.</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<imgsrc="../aglaia/mitsi.jpg"
@ -718,21 +726,22 @@ alt="One of the forms that the audience had to fill out during the Lesszaal even
<figcaptionaria-hidden="true">One of the forms that the audience had to
<p>Description: This scenario is the first part of a series of small
episodes that construct a bureaucratic story unfolding the processes of
my communication with the government. The body of the text of the
“theatrical” script is sourced from the original documents as well as
recordings of the conversation I had with the municipality throughout
this process. I preserved the sequence of the given sentences and by
discarding the graphic design of the initial form, I structured and
repurposed the text into a scenario. The main actors were two
<p><strong>Description:</strong> This scenario is the first part of a
series of small episodes that construct a bureaucratic story unfolding
the processes of my communication with the government. The body of the
text of the “theatrical” script is sourced from the original documents
as well as recordings of the conversation I had with the municipality
throughout this process. I preserved the sequence of the given sentences
and by discarding the graphic design of the initial form, I structured
and repurposed the text into a scenario. The main actors were two
bureaucrats vocalizing the questions addressed in the form, in turns and
sometimes speaking simultaneously like a choir, three applicants
answering the questions similarly while a narrator mainly provided the
@ -784,24 +798,29 @@ standing still behind them while they were surrounded by the audience.
The main documentation media of the act were a camera on a tripod, a
recorder in the middle of the table and myself reconstructing the memory
of the re-enactement at that present - 6 days later.</p>
<p>Reflections-Thoughts: Vocalizing and embodying the bureaucratic
questions was quite useful in acknowledging the government’s voice and
presence as something tangible rather than a floating, arbitrary entity.
It was interesting observing the bureaucrats performing their role with
confidence and entitlement, contrasting with the applicants who appeared
to be more stressed to respond convincingly and promptly. There is a
notable distinction between performativity and performance. Performing
consciously and theatrically amplifying real bureaucratic texts by
occupying roles and overidentifying with them can constitute a
diffractive moment, a tool itself. From bureaucratic text to
performative text scenarios to speech. The embedded (but rather
<p><strong>Reflections-Thoughts:</strong> Vocalizing and embodying the
bureaucratic questions was quite useful in acknowledging the
government’s voice and presence as something tangible rather than a
floating, arbitrary entity. It was interesting observing the bureaucrats
performing their role with confidence and entitlement, contrasting with
the applicants who appeared to be more stressed to respond convincingly
and promptly. There is a notable distinction between performativity and
performance. Performing consciously and theatrically amplifying real
bureaucratic texts by occupying roles and overidentifying with them can
constitute a diffractive moment, a tool itself. From bureaucratic text
to performative text scenarios to speech. The embedded (but rather
unconscious) performativity of “real” bureaucratic rituals establishes
and empowers (bureaucratic) institutions through repetitive acts. These
theatrical moments attempt to highlight the shrouded performative
elements of these processes.</p>
<p><ahref="../aglaia/postal.png">A6 booklet of the first chapter of the
<figure>
<imgsrc="../aglaia/postal.png"
alt="A6 booklet of the first chapter of the “theatrical” scenario created out of the Postal Address Application documents and performed by XPUB peers" />
<figcaptionaria-hidden="true">A6 booklet of the first chapter of the
“theatrical” scenario created out of the Postal Address Application
documents and performed by XPUB peers</a></p>
documents and performed by XPUB peers</figcaption>
This thesis is an assemblage<sup><spanclass="margin-note">I live somewhere in the margins of scattered references, footnotes, citations, examinations embracing the inconvenience of talking back to myself, to the reader and to all those people whose ideas gave soul to the text. I shelter in the borderlands of the pages my fragmented thoughts, flying words, introspections, voices. Enlightenment and inspiration given by the text “Dear Science” written by Katherine McKittrick.</span></sup> of thoughts, experiences, interpretations, intuitive explorations of what borders are, attempting to unleash a conversation concerning the entangled relation between material injurious borders and bureaucracy. I unravel empirically the thread of how borders as entities are manifested and (de)established. How does the lived experience of crossing multiple borders change and under what conditions?
@ -31,8 +32,11 @@ In the third and last chapter, I bridge the written text with the ongoing projec
---
<<<<<<<HEAD
## borders
=======
>>>>>>> 4d862d536e0c633a3cbd8cfd41517c7a6764385d
> “on the other side is the river
> and I cannot cross it
> on the other side is the sea
@ -94,6 +98,7 @@ According to Hannah Arendt, the right to have rights and claim somebody else’
> “…<sup><spanclass="margin-note">This is a transcribed recording of my phone during a protest on migration at Dam Square in Amsterdam. I insert part of the speech of a Palestinian woman addressing the matter of undocumentedness. Date and time of the recording 18th of June 2023, 15:05.</span></sup> I am here for the rights of the children which haven't be in the taking part in the education since they have undocumented mothers and they are more than *<sup><span class="margin-note">“*” means undecipherable</span></sup> years. I am here to represent mothers who are looking for a place to have a sense of belonging or how long are you trying to continue humiliating them and the female gender. I am here to express my frustration with IND<sup><spanclass="margin-note">Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst - Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service</span></sup>. So frustrated. And I will not stop talking about democracy. Democracy is the rule of law where everybody feels included. Democracy is a rule of law where everybody feels * We, undocumented people, we don't feel a sense of belonging from the system."
---
## bureaucracy as immaterial border
Apart from the rigid visible borders, bureaucracy related to migrants, refugees and asylum seekers can also constitute an in-between less visible borderland. I used to perceive bureaucracy as an immaterial and intangible entity. However, now I can claim that this assumption is not true. Bureaucracy is material and spatial and can be seen as an apparatus, a machine, a circuitry, an institution, a territory, a borderland, a body, a zone – a “dead zone of imagination” as Graeber claims. It can be inscribed on piles of papers, folders, drawers, booklets, passports, IDs, documents, screens, tapes, bodies, hospital corridors, offices, permissions to enter, stay, work, travel, exist, come and go, leave, visit family, bury a friend.
@ -171,6 +176,7 @@ How performing a collection of small bureaucratic stories can function as an ins
I started working and engaging more with different bureaucratic material that my peers and I encountered regularly or appeared in our (e)mail (in)boxes and are partly related to our identities as foreign students coming from different places. I chose to start touching and looking for various bureaucracies that surround me as a personal filter towards it. From identification documents and application forms to rental contracts, funding applications, visa applications, quality assurance questionnaires related to the university, assessment criteria, supermarket point gathering cards, receipts. A sequence of locked doors to be unlocked more or less easily via multiple bureaucratic keys. The methods and tools used to scrutinize the administrative artifacts are not rigid or distinct. It is mainly a “collection” of small bureaucratic experiments - closely related to language as well as the performative “nature” of these texts themselves. I was intrigued by how transforming the material conditions of a piece of text could influence the potential understandings and perceptions of its meaning.
---
## prototypes
#### 1.
@ -190,6 +196,7 @@ These 'rituals' are components of a larger “culture of evidence”, serving as
---
#### 2.
**Title:** “Department of Bureaucracy and Administration Customs Enforcement”
@ -208,6 +215,7 @@ The provided context of this “play” was a social library hosting a masters c
---
#### 3.
**Title:** “Passport Reading Session”
@ -233,6 +241,7 @@ We read the embedded signs, symbols, categories, texts, magical numbers in our p
---
#### 4.
**Title:** “Postal Address Application Scenario”
@ -250,6 +259,7 @@ The first and the last moment of the performance was during a semi-public tryout
---
## conclusion
### next chapters of the case with reference number A.B.2024.4.03188
@ -261,17 +271,20 @@ My case has finished by this time. I withdrew my objection [7/03/2024] and I de-
My intention is to facilitate a series of collective performative readings of bureaucratic scenarios or other portable paperwork stories as a way of publishing and inspecting bureaucratic bordering infrastructures. The marginal voices of potential applicants are embodying and performing a role. “The speech does not only describe but brings things into existence” (Austin, 1975). I would like to stretch the limits of dramaturgical speech through vocalizing a document in public with others and turn an individual administrative case into a public one. How do the inscribed words in the documents are not descriptive but on the contrary “are instrumentalized in getting things done” (Butler, 1997). Words as active agents. I am inviting past and future applicants, traumatized students, injured bearers, bureaucratic border crossers, stressed expired document holders or just curious people to share, vocalize, talk through, read out loud, amplify, (un)name, unplace, dismantle the injurious words of these artifacts.
---
---
---
#### “we didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us”(20)
As I sit in the waiting area at the gate B7 in the airport preparing to come back to the Netherlands, I am writing the last lines of this text. I am thinking of all these borders and gates that my body was able to pass through smoothly, carrying my magical object through which I embody power- at least within this context. However, I yearn for a reality where we stop looking at those bodies that cross the multifaceted borders and get crossed and entrenched by them, but on the contrary we start interrogating and shouting at the contexts and the frameworks that construct them and render them invisible, natural and powerful.
---
## references
Agamben, G. (2000) Means without end: Notes on politics. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
My mom makes these really soft and cakey that I love. Once, when I was a kid, I brought them to Sunday School to share. Nobody understood them. They said they were too strange and cakey. After school, I found one on the ground, crushed under a car, tyre marks etched into it. From then on, my family started calling them “Volvo cookies”.</p>
My mom makes these really soft and cakey cookies that I love. Once, when I was a kid, I brought them to Sunday School to share. Nobody understood them. They said they were too strange and cakey. After school, I found one on the ground, crushed under a car, tyre marks etched into it. From then on, my family started calling them “Volvo cookies”.</p>
[{"name":"test","post":"test"},{"name":"ddwdede","post":"ada"},{"name":"test","post":"test"},{"name":"work?","post":"this"},{"name":"hello ada! thanks for this amazing website. welove you too","post":"fofi"},{"name":"hello ada! thanks for this amazing website. welove you too","post":"fofi"},{"name":"my brother is autistic","post":"mati"},{"name":"","post":""},{"name":"vv","post":"vv"},{"name":"vv","post":"vv"},{"name":"","post":""},{"name":"vv","post":"vv"},{"name":"","post":""},{"name":"","post":""},{"name":"c","post":"c"},{"name":"f","post":"f"},{"name":"f","post":"f"},{"name":"f","post":"f"},{"name":"","post":""},{"name":"","post":""},{"name":"siblings are real","post":"f"},{"name":"","post":""},{"name":"","post":""}]
@ -33,8 +33,7 @@ Unless otherwise stated, all photography, illustrations and other types of visua
Writing in Etherpad. Version control in git. Design in Inkscape. Layout in paged.js. Printing in Adobe Acrobat.
### Licensing information
This publication is free to distrubite or modify under the terms of the SIXX license as published by XPUB, either version one of the SIXX License or any later version. See the SIXX License for more details.
A copy of the license can be found on vulnerable-interfaces.xpub.nl/license
This publication is free to distribute or modify under the terms of the SIXX license as published by XPUB, either version one of the SIXX License or any later version. See the SIXX License for more details. A copy of the license can be found on [vulnerable-interfaces.xpub.nl/license](vulnerable-interfaces.xpub.nl/license).
### Postal address
Master of Arts in Fine Art and Design: Experimental Publishing,
@ -40,13 +43,26 @@ consumerism and low attention span is a rising issue especially amongst
young readers, this was an important task to tackle. The thought of Wink
emerged to find a more sustainable and creative way of reading for
elementary school children.</p>
<p><imgsrc="../irmak/improv.JPG"
alt="A tag made by a participant in the public moment at XPUB studio. Trying to understand different approaches to certain emotions/states for a bee" />
<imgsrc="../irmak/leeszaal knot poems.jpg"
alt="From the event at Leeszaal West, experimenting with knots and poetry. How can we see movement in text?" />
<imgsrc="../irmak/knotpoems2.jpg"
alt="From the event at Leeszaal West. Some of the results of knotting text." />
</p>
<figure>
<imgsrc="../irmak/improv.JPG"
alt="“a tag made by a participant in the public moment at XPUB studio. Trying to understand different approaches to certain emotions/states for a bee”" />
<figcaptionaria-hidden="true">“a tag made by a participant in the
public moment at XPUB studio. Trying to understand different approaches
to certain emotions/states for a bee”</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<imgsrc="../irmak/leeszaalknotpoems.jpg"
alt="“From the event at Leeszaal West, experimenting with knots and poetry. How can we see movement in text?”" />
<figcaptionaria-hidden="true">“From the event at Leeszaal West,
experimenting with knots and poetry. How can we see movement in
text?”</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<imgsrc="../irmak/knotpoems2.jpg"
alt="“From the event at Leeszaal West. Some of the results of knotting text”" />
<figcaptionaria-hidden="true">“From the event at Leeszaal West. Some of
the results of knotting text”</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Working as a children’s literature editor for years, I came to a
realisation that picture books were turning into another object that
kids read and consume on daily basis. At least this is what I observed
@ -57,11 +73,18 @@ for children as there is for adults; such as ebooks, audiobooks etc. But
moreover a “book” that can be redefined, reread or be interacted with.
So I revisited an old story I wrote, translated to English and named it,
“Bee Within”.</p>
<p><imgsrc="../irmak/printp3.jpg"
alt="Example page from the print version of the picture book." />
<imgsrc="../irmak/printp4.jpg"
alt="Example page from the print version of the picture book." />
</p>
<figure>
<imgsrc="../irmak/print3.jpg"
alt="“Example page from the print version of the picture book.”" />
<figcaptionaria-hidden="true">“Example page from the print version of
the picture book.”</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<imgsrc="../irmak/print4.jpg"
alt="“Example page from the print version of the picture book.”" />
<figcaptionaria-hidden="true">“Example page from the print version of
the picture book.”</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bee Within, is a story about grief and it is based on my experiences
throughout the years. I erased it, rewrote it, edited it, destroyed it
multiple times over the past years, simultaneously with new experiences
@ -71,30 +94,51 @@ to the fear of forgetting which I now think is a great and sweet battle
between death and life. I think it is an important subject to touch
upon, especially for children dealing with trauma in many parts of the
world.</p>
<p><imgsrc="../irmak/printp1.jpg"
alt="Example page from the print version of the picture book." />
<imgsrc="../irmak/printp2.jpg"
alt="Example page from the print version of the picture book." />
</p>
<figure>
<imgsrc="../irmak/print1p.jpg"
alt="“example page from the picture book”" />
<figcaptionaria-hidden="true">“example page from the picture
book”</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<imgsrc="../irmak/printp2.jpg"
alt="“example page from the picture book”" />
<figcaptionaria-hidden="true">“example page from the picture
book”</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Over the past two years, experimenting with storytelling techniques,
interactivity options and workshops with children and adults, around
reading and doing various exercises on Bee Within, I improved the story
to be a more playful and interactive one which can be re-read, re-played
and eventually re-formed non digitally to be reachable for all children.
</p>
<p><imgsrc="../irmak/twine.png"
alt="The twine map of text based story, reachable from Bee Within by clicking to hear more about Gray the tree." />
<imgsrc="../irmak/clickgame.png"
alt="Click game story of the Queen Bee that is reachable within Maya's main storyline." />
</p>
<p>
Here is some documentation from the beggining of this journey towards
making accesible interactive narratives…</p>
<p><imgsrc="../irmak/animationseq.png"
alt="A small sequence of onclick animation for Bee Within." />
<imgsrc="../irmak/fictionfriction.CR3"
alt="Fiction Friction cards from SI20, working on storytelling of collective traumas." />
</p>
and eventually re-formed non digitally to be reachable for all
children.</p>
<figure>
<imgsrc="../irmak/twine.png"
alt="“The twine map of text based story, reachable from Bee Within by clicking to hear more about Gray the tree.”" />
<figcaptionaria-hidden="true">“The twine map of text based story,
reachable from Bee Within by clicking to hear more about Gray the
tree.”</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<imgsrc="clickgame.png"
alt="“Click game story of the Queen Bee that is reachable within Maya’s main storyline.”" />
<figcaptionaria-hidden="true">“Click game story of the Queen Bee that
is reachable within Maya’s main storyline.”</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Here is some more documentation from the beggining of this journey
towards making accesible interactive narratives…</p>
<figure>
<imgsrc="../irmak/animationseq.png"
alt="“A small sequence of onclick animation for Bee Within”" />
<figcaptionaria-hidden="true">“A small sequence of onclick animation
for Bee Within”</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<imgsrc="../irmak/fictionfriction.CR3"
alt="“Fiction Friction cards from SI20, working on storytelling of collective traumas”" />
<figcaptionaria-hidden="true">“Fiction Friction cards from SI20,
working on storytelling of collective traumas”</figcaption>
### Fair leads or Fair winds is a saying sailors and knotters use to greet each other. It comes from the working end of a string that will soon be forming a knot.
I would like to clarify and introduce some terms for you in order to read this text in the desired
way. For a while, we will stay in the bight of this journey as we move into forming loops, theories
and ideas on how interactive picture books can be used to foster curiosity for reading and creativity
for children. I am building a web platform called Wink that aims to contain a children’s story I
wrote and am making into an interactive experience, in relation to my research.
Through this bight of the thesis, I feel the necessity to clarify my intention of using knots as a
“thinking and writing object” throughout my research journey. Although knots are physical objects
and technically crucial in many fields of labor and life, they are also objects of thought and
are open for wide minds’ appreciation. Throughout history, knots have been used to connect, stop,
secure, bind, protect, decorate, record data, punish, contain, fly and many other purposes. So if
the invention of flying -which required a wing that was supported using certain types of knotswas
initiated with the knowledge of how to use strings to make things, why wouldn’t a research
paper make use of this wonderful art as an inspiration for writing and interactive reading?
I would like to clarify and introduce some terms for you in order to read this text in the desired way. For a while, we will stay in the bight of this journey as we move into forming loops, theories and ideas on how interactive picture books can be used to foster curiosity for reading and creativity for children. I am building a web platform called Wink that aims to contain a children’s story I wrote and am making into an interactive experience, in relation to my research.
<figure>
<imgsrc="../irmak/unnamed.png"
alt="knot words from Leeszaal" />
<figcaptionaria-hidden="true">knot words from Leeszaal</figcaption>
</figure>
Through this bight of the thesis, I feel the necessity to clarify my intention of using knots as a “thinking and writing object” throughout my research journey. Although knots are physical objects and technically crucial in many fields of labor and life, they are also objects of thought and are open for wide minds’ appreciation. Throughout history, knots have been used to connect, stop, secure, bind, protect, decorate, record data, punish, contain, fly and many other purposes. So if the invention of flying -which required a wing that was supported using certain types of knotswas
initiated with the knowledge of how to use strings to make things, why wouldn’t a research paper make use of this wonderful art as an inspiration for writing and interactive reading?
## KNOTS AS OBJECTS TO THINK WITH
There is a delicate complexity of thinking of and with knots, which ignites layers of simultaneous
connections to one’s specific experience; where one person may associate the knots with struggles
they face, another may think of connecting or thriving times. In a workshop in Rotterdam, I
asked participants to write three words that comes to mind when they think of knots. There were
some words in common like strong, chaotic, confusing and anxious. On the other hand, there
were variations of connection, binding, bridge and support. Keeping these answers in mind or by
coming up with your words on knots and embodying them in the practice of reading would make
a diff erence in how you understand the same text.
Seeing how these words, interpretations of a physical object were so diff erent to each other was
transcendental. In this thesis, I am excited to share my understanding of knots with you. My three
words for knots are resistance, imagination and infinity. Keeping these in mind, I experimented
There is a delicate complexity of thinking of and with knots, which ignites layers of simultaneous connections to one’s specific experience; where one person may associate the knots with struggles they face, another may think of connecting or thriving times. In a workshop in Rotterdam, I asked participants to write three words that comes to mind when they think of knots. There were some words in common like strong, chaotic, confusing and anxious. On the other hand, there were variations of connection, binding, bridge and support. Keeping these answers in mind or by coming up with your words on knots and embodying them in the practice of reading would make
a difference in how you understand the same text.
<figure>
<imgsrc="../irmak/knot1.jpeg"
alt="knot words from Leeszaal" />
<figcaptionaria-hidden="true">knot words from Leeszaal</figcaption>
</figure>
<br>
<figure>
<imgsrc="../irmak/knot2.jpeg"
alt="knot words from Leeszaal" />
<figcaptionaria-hidden="true">knot words from Leeszaal</figcaption>
</figure>
Seeing how these words, interpretations of a physical object were so different to each other was transcendental. In this thesis, I am excited to share my understanding of knots with you. My three words for knots are resistance, imagination and infinity. Keeping these in mind, I experimented
with certain reading modes as you will see later on.
Knots are known to be used 15 to 17 thousand years ago for multiple purposes. These purposes
were often opposing each other. For example, it could be used to let something loose or to restrain
it; for pleasure or pain; for going high above or down below… I believe this diversity of uses can
also be seen in how people approach knots as an idea or a metaphor. One can think it represents
chaos where someone else might see it as a helpful mark. Essentially, this diversity is what got
me interested in knots years ago and since then, I have found ways to implement this “loop of
thought” in my daily life and research methods.
There are two main reasons to why I chose to write this essay in a “knotted” format. One is that I
would like to share my process and progress of research on this project and this involves “thinking
with an object”, in this case types of knots. In Evocative Objects, Sherry Turkle, who is a sociologist
and the founder of MIT initiative of technology and self, refers to the object in the exercise
of thinking as emotional and intellectual companions that anchor memory, sustain relationships
and provoke new ideas. I completely agree with this statement through personal experience. The
second reason is that I see this as an opportunity to experiment if I can use knots as an interactive
(which is not in knots’ nature since they are mainly practiced in solo) and playful element in
writing. This is also why I would like to take a moment to mention what happens to the interplay
of processes in which we call thought when we think with knots in specific.
For Turkle and Seymour Papert, who is a mathematician, computer scientist and educator that
did remarkable research on constructivism, being able to make a reading experience tangible, or
even physically representable makes the process of thought more concrete. Concrete thinking in
this sense is a way of thinking that I adapted to in the past years, where you think with the object
and imagine it vividly during the process and address meanings to it as you read or write along.
This way it’s easier to compartmentalize or attribute certain parts of a text to an imagined or real
physical item which makes the mind at ease with complex chains of thought.
Imagine you are reading a story… What if you think of the string itself as the journey and the
slip knot (which is a type of stopper knot) as a representation of an antagonist because of its specific use in hunting, would this change your approach to reading this story? I believe so…
What if instead of a slip knot a Bowline was on the string, would that represent something else in
the story because of its usage in practice. A Bowline is commonly used to form a fixed loop at the
end of a string; it’s strong but easy to tie, untie. Due to these qualities, we can imagine the bowline
to represent the conclusion in a story. What if we have a Square Knot, how would that change the
course of a narrative? Square knot is used to bundle objects and make the two ends of the same
string connect. From just this, we can use it to represent the connection between the beginning
and end of a story. My point is, there are limitless implementations on how to use knots in literature
because of their versatile purposes and the narrative vocabulary they create. Topologists are
still trying to identify seemingly infinite numbers of combinations which we simply call “knots”
and I see this as an inspiration to keep writing.
One example of the wondrous versatility and potential of knots is how they are used to archive
and encrypt information. Incan people from the Andes region recorded information on Quipus,
dating back to 700 CE. Quipus are textile devices consisting of several rows of cotton and/or
camelid string that would be knotted in a specific way to record, store and transmit information
ranging from accounting and census data to communicate complex mathematical and narrative
information (Medrano, Urton, 2018). Another example is the Yakima Time Ball, which was used
by North-American Yakama people to show life events and family aff airs.
This is why I humbly decided to document my research process with a Quipu of my own. I am
trying to symbolize the twists, decisions and practices throughout this year with knots of my
choosing. I was inspired by Nayeli Vega’s question, “What can a knot become and what can become
a knot?”
Knots are known to be used 15 to 17 thousand years ago for multiple
purposes. These purposes were often opposing each other. For example, it
could be used to let something loose or to restrain it; for pleasure or
pain; for going high above or down below… I believe this diversity of
uses can also be seen in how people approach knots as an idea or a
metaphor. One can think it represents chaos where someone else might see
it as a helpful mark. Essentially, this diversity is what got me
interested in knots years ago and since then, I have found ways to
implement this “loop of thought” in my daily life and research
methods.
There are two main reasons to why I chose to write this essay in a
“knotted” format. One is that I would like to share my process and
progress of research on this project and this involves “thinking with an
object”, in this case types of knots. In Evocative Objects, Sherry
Turkle, who is a sociologist and the founder of MIT initiative of
technology and self, refers to the object in the exercise of thinking as
emotional and intellectual companions that anchor memory, sustain
relationships and provoke new ideas. I completely agree with this
statement through personal experience. The second reason is that I see
this as an opportunity to experiment if I can use knots as an
interactive (which is not in knots’ nature since they are mainly
practiced in solo) and playful element in writing. This is also why I
would like to take a moment to mention what happens to the interplay of
processes in which we call thought when we think with knots in
specific.
For Turkle and Seymour Papert, who is a mathematician, computer
scientist and educator that did remarkable research on constructivism,
being able to make a reading experience tangible, or even physically
representable makes the process of thought more concrete. Concrete
thinking in this sense is a way of thinking that I adapted to in the
past years, where you think with the object and imagine it vividly
during the process and address meanings to it as you read or write
along. This way it’s easier to compartmentalize or attribute certain
parts of a text to an imagined or real physical item which makes the
mind at ease with complex chains of thought.
Imagine you are reading a story… What if you think of the string itself
as the journey and the slip knot (which is a type of stopper knot) as a
representation of an antagonist because of its specific use in hunting,
would this change your approach to reading this story? I believe so…
What if instead of a slip knot a Bowline was on the string, would
that represent something else in the story because of its usage in
practice. A Bowline is commonly used to form a fixed loop at the end of
a string; it’s strong but easy to tie, untie. Due to these qualities, we
can imagine the bowline to represent the conclusion in a story. What if
we have a Square Knot, how would that change the course of a narrative?
Square knot is used to bundle objects and make the two ends of the same
string connect. From just this, we can use it to represent the
connection between the beginning and end of a story. My point is, there
are limitless implementations on how to use knots in literature because
of their versatile purposes and the narrative vocabulary they create.
Topologists are still trying to identify seemingly infinite numbers of
combinations which we simply call “knots” and I see this as an
inspiration to keep writing.
One example of the wondrous versatility and potential of knots is how
they are used to archive and encrypt information. Incan people from the
Andes region recorded information on Quipus, dating back to 700 CE.
Quipus are textile devices consisting of several rows of cotton and/or
camelid string that would be knotted in a specific way to record, store
and transmit information ranging from accounting and census data to
communicate complex mathematical and narrative information (Medrano,
Urton, 2018). Another example is the Yakima Time Ball, which was used by
North-American Yakama people to show life events and family aff airs.
This is why I humbly decided to document my research process with a
Quipu of my own. I am trying to symbolize the twists, decisions and
practices throughout this year with knots of my choosing. I was inspired
by Nayeli Vega’s question, “What can a knot become and what can become a
knot?”
## WEAVING INTO THE TEXT
This thesis expects participation from its reader. You have the option to have a mode of reading,
where you will be guided by strings to start reading from a certain section according to the type of
reader you are and read the loops one by one until the end, weaving through the text. To determine
the string or mode of reading, there are some simple questions to answer.
The three modes of reading are combine, slide, build . After you discover the starting point
with the yes or no map in the upcoming pages, you will continue the reading journey through the
strings of diff erent colors that will get you through the text. This way, the linear text will become
in a way, non-linear by your personal experience.
Bear in mind that you can choose to read this thesis from beginning to end as a single string too if
you wish so.
Combine mode of reading is for readers who are more interested in the journey and the connections
between process and result. Slide mode of reading is for more laid back readers who
aren’t looking to connect ideas but are more focused on the motivation and purpose of the
project. Build readers are detail oriented and academic readers who would prefer a “traditional”
lead to reading.
Alongside the different strings to follow the text, there will be little drawings in the margins as seen above, which will have diff erent representations like in a Quipu. Certain knots represent the experiences that raise interesting opportunities for research and distinct events I went through while making the project and underneath the drawing you can find the relation to the knot itself explained.
For example if I couldn’t manage to do something I planned to do, this will be represented with a
broken knot. Bend knots which are used to connect two strings, will be representing the relation between theories and my ownexperiences/motivations. Hitches which are knots that are formed around a
solid object, such as a spar, post, or ring will be representing the evidence or data I have collected on the subject. We move on now with the working end and make some loops!
## HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR STRING
This map will reveal your mode of reading. The order of reading will be indicated with a loop sign
Please hold a string in your hand as you read the text and make knots or loops as you weave through the
reading as an exercise for concrete thinking. See you at the standing end!
and a number on top of the sign with a color. This is the numeric order you can follow to read the thesis.
This thesis expects participation from its reader. You have the
option to have a mode of reading, where you will be guided by strings to
start reading from a certain section according to the type of reader you
are and read the loops one by one until the end, weaving through the
text. To determine the string or mode of reading, there are some simple
questions to answer.
The three modes of reading are combine, slide, build. After you discover the starting point with the yes or no map in
the upcoming pages, you will continue the reading journey through the
strings of diff erent colors that will get you through the text. This
way, the linear text will become in a way, non-linear by your personal
experience.
Bear in mind that you can choose to read this thesis from beginning to end as a single string too if you wish so.
Combine mode of reading is for readers who are more interested in the
journey and the connections between process and result. Slide mode of
reading is for more laid back readers who aren’t looking to connect
ideas but are more focused on the motivation and purpose of the project.
Build readers are detail oriented and academic readers who would prefer
a “traditional” lead to reading.
Alongside the different strings to follow the text, there will be
little drawings in the margins as seen above, which will have diff erent
representations like in a Quipu. Certain knots represent the experiences
that raise interesting opportunities for research and distinct events I
went through while making the project and underneath the drawing you can
find the relation to the knot itself explained. For example if I
couldn’t manage to do something I planned to do, this will be
represented with a broken knot. Bend knots which are used to connect two
strings, will be representing the relation between theories and my
ownexperiences/motivations. Hitches which are knots that are formed
around a solid object, such as a spar, post, or ring will be
representing the evidence or data I have collected on the subject. We
move on now with the working end and make some loops!
## Working End
## HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR STRING
This map will reveal your mode of reading. The order of reading will
be indicated with a loop sign Please hold a string in your hand as you
read the text and make knots or loops as you weave through the reading
as an exercise for concrete thinking. See you at the standing end! and a
number on top of the sign with a color. This is the numeric order you
should follow to read the thesis, if you choose to read with a mode.
Every reader starts from 1 and continues until 12, with a consecutive numeric order, according to their color/mode.
<figure>
<imgsrc="../irmak/map.png"
alt="knot words from Leeszaal" />
</figure>
## Working End <sup><spanclass="margin-note">
### Loop 1
### Why am I doing this?
@ -623,7 +659,7 @@ Taking a step to make Wink and using the story I wrote and feel is important in
as a prototype was a breakthrough. I feel like my interest and desire to discover new ways of
writing, reading and experiencing literature is ongoing and it was a beautiful journey so far. I am
looking forward to making more knots on this long and mysterious string at hand.
</span></sup>
## Bibliography
Cope, B. and Kalantzis, M. (2009) ‘“multiliteracies”:
New Literacies, new learning’, Pedagogies: An International Journal,
title: What do graphic designers do all day and why do they do it and what does "graphic design" even mean?!????!!1!?
title: do you ever dream about work?
author: Stephen
---
# What do graphic designers do all day and why do they do it and what does "graphic design" even mean?!????!!1!?
# do you ever dream <nobr>about work?</nobr>
## stephen kerr, 2024
I cut my thumb so every time I type i can feel it in my nerve endings. Not true, it's my left thumb so I don't type with it. Not true, I feel it anyway. Why are most of the function keys on the left of the keyboard. What's so functional about pressing buttons. Stephen Kerr is a designer and musician based in. Have you ever loved an instrument? The Ctrl key broke like four times since I moved here. I have one more replacement because I bought a bunch of them but at some point I gave up and use an external keyboard. I dunno I'm more confused than ever. It was something to do with dreams and working. It's the middle of the night I'm writing this on my phone. If I had a dream this is when I would be writing it. The memory is fuzzy: either I don't remember or it didn't make sense in the first place. It was something to do with fuzziness and memory no wait. Phones don't have keyboards in real life this doesn't make sense. I'm trying to type but I don't think I can get it on the way to the office for the weekend and I think it was a good idea to do it and I was thinking about you and I was thinking of you and I was thinking about you and I was in the same place as a friend of mine and I was in the studio and we were in the studio and we were in the studio and we were in the studio and we were in the
Reading an email in a dream and you can hear the voices of every word you read. Or the one where you're on a computer working, frantically typing, late, stressed, rushed. What about that dream where you had no idea how to do your job, everyone is going to know you're a fake. In this project I have made spaces for us to share our dreams about labour, and through that allow conversations about our work, our working conditions, and the feelings we're left with when we fall asleep each night.
For the past year I have spoken with designers, artists and makers finding out how they spend their time in everyday life, what they believe and how they feel. In our dreams we feel the weird bits the most: hmm a bit uncomfortable, ooh that gave me a fright, aah so, so sad. Through performances, online tools and storytelling, I want to hold these dreams together, to unite our experiences. Online I have made [tools to gather stories](https://stephenkerrdesign.com/dream/){.ext} and [tools to tell them](https://stephenkerrdesign.com/typing/){.ext}. I have facilitated [group dream re-enactments](https://worm.org/production/opening-experimental-publishing-graduation-show-2024/){.ext} ([a few times](https://art-meets.radical-openness.org/2024/program/turning-off-the-internet-slot-1/){.ext}), using felt dolls to share our night time theatre.
Practice-led artistic research into the 21st century phenomenon of the graphic designer. I held graphic design in my hands using ethnography, toolmaking and performance as research methods. I examined how designers spend their time in everyday life, this designer, me, as well as you, what are we doing? What are our worldviews, belief systems, mythologies and ideologies?
*stephen kerr is a graphic designer or a musician or a very weird and long dream.*
<button>[Wiki: more about the project](https://pzwiki.wdka.nl/mediadesign/User:Ssstephen/Final_presentation){.ext}</button>
> Secondly, during my studies at XPUB, I plan to combine different strands of my practices (design, music, programming, theatre). Being a designer is an important part of my identity, and I am keen to make work true to who I am.
<button>[⊞ (the research thesis)](https://stephenkerrdesign.com/theeeeesis/){.ext}</button>
Excerpt from xpub application letter, March 15th 2022.
---
<figcaption>Interactive dream telling. Click then type your story.</figcaption>
</figure>
{.desaturate}
{.desaturate}
### Licensing information
This work is free to distribute or modify under the terms of the SIXX license as published by XPUB, either version one of the SIXX License or any later version. See the SIXX License for more details. A copy of the license can be found on [vulnerable-interfaces.xpub.nl/license](vulnerable-interfaces.xpub.nl/license){.ext}.
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<!-- I cut my thumb so every time I type i can feel it in my nerve endings. Not true, it's my left thumb so I don't type with it. Not true, I feel it anyway. Why are most of the function keys on the left of the keyboard. What's so functional about pressing buttons. Stephen Kerr is a designer and musician based in. Have you ever loved an instrument? The Ctrl key broke like four times since I moved here. I have one more replacement because I bought a bunch of them but at some point I gave up and use an external keyboard. I dunno I'm more confused than ever. It was something to do with dreams and working. It's the middle of the night I'm writing this on my phone. If I had a dream this is when I would be writing it. The memory is fuzzy: either I don't remember or it didn't make sense in the first place. It was something to do with fuzziness and memory no wait. Phones don't have keyboards in real life this doesn't make sense. I'm trying to type but I don't think I can get it on the way to the office for the weekend and I think it was a good idea to do it and I was thinking about you and I was thinking of you and I was thinking about you and I was in the same place as a friend of mine and I was in the studio and we were in the studio and we were in the studio and we were in the studio and we were in the -->
