The Lazarus Archives: THE DISRUPTION.....POSITIVE

I revisited an earlier product that I had developed in my Image Interpretation Series the other day (see Discovery through Process, Part 1), as I wanted a small break from the construction document production of a house I am currently designing. I didn’t have the time to start an investigation from scratch, so I chose one already started, and thought I would just do a variation. I’ll be honest; this was a product that I wasn’t all that engaged with as it seemed like the potential was waning considerably the more it developed. With fresh eyes, and temporal distance from the earlier process, I took a second stab at the products evolution. The original source of inspiration was an image of an old truck (I’d like to give credit where credit is due, but the source of the image has been lost in the vast storage of information contained within the Internet, but I do thank you anonymous photographer!). I went through my discovery process, with the result being what I call The Humming. There’s a tune there, it’s in my head but it hasn’t found the words yet.

The Old Truck (photographer unknown)

The Humming

The second investigation essentially started with me asking the program (Revit for all you interested readers) for its interpretation of the product. Basically I look at the product through the rendering command of the program. The first image Interface unplugged was the result. It contains no user input as to material or color selections, falling back on its defaults. My first impression was that it was interesting, if not just a bit vague. It didn’t jump off the screen screaming “….Look at me!”

Interface-unplugged

I then began making decisions, interpretations as to the products feel and evolution. All of them interesting, and all of them much more engaging than the original Humming. After all was said and done, I realized that I was essentially dictating the style, for lack of a better analogy, of the song. For unknown reasons, the product had a definite pop music feel……not too deep, easy on the ears and doesn’t remain in memory for very long. My assessment of the collection informed me that the product's evolution took a wrong path. There was potential in that first, stripped down version that required further investigation. It was mysterious, and an honest revelation of the products nature….and I had dismissed it as I didn’t understand it. Why?

Interface on 96.2-All Hits, All the Time

Unplugged versions of songs, that is to say any music that requires investment into the story being told and engagement in the effort behind the sounds being produced requires mental ingestion. It requires that you listen to what is being performed as opposed to hearing what is being performed. In hindsight, I was looking for a sound bite, and dismissed the first interpretation because it required mental investment and engagement. Please remember, I just wanted a break from my construction documents!

A curious thing happened…….I couldn’t get the unplugged version out of my head. After taking in a magic show; a trip to the airport; and enduring a wakeful hour interrupting my nightly escape from reality, I realized my error. The error was due to my external pressure and direction to produce something familiar. I brought prejudice to the products evolution, failing to identify the internal nature of the product. This goes against my whole “Discovery through Process” theory.

The true nature of the piece, based on internal discovery………….