I’ve spent the last few days looking at artists who use a line of questioning and have been banging my head against a wall trying to decide which direction to go in for the visual direction. Then I had a breakthrough – the art can be a presentation of the research itself.
(more…)Category: Research & Inspiration
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Interim show in 3.5 weeks
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The Five Aggregates
During my recent meditation retreat in India, I attended a brilliant workshop on the Five Aggregates, a foundational Buddhist framework for investigating the nature of self and experience.
The framework resonated immediately with my art practice and research, particularly in how it maps the area I’m exploring through ThoughtCounter.
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Visiting Matrimandir: A 1970s vision of consciousness architecture
A couple of weeks ago, whilst in India, I visited Matrimandir – Auroville’s meditation chamber at the heart of Sri Aurobindo’s experimental town.
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ThoughtCounter logo-mark ideation and design references
Building a visual identity for consciousness research.
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ThoughtCounter website brief & project scope
Over the Xmas break, I reached out to my network for web developer recommendations to help build the initial ThoughtCounter website. My thinking has evolved to launching a working version in order to gather real user feedback and iterate from there.
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How to get 200+ people to participate in a research project
I’m developing ThoughtCounter into a collaborative investigation into our thoughts. I’m asking people to participate, contribute their data, and help build something – but I’m not paying them.
So the value exchange needs to be crystal clear in terms of what participants actually get in return. I researched four successful projects that faced the same challenge:
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When the data doesn’t exist: A research pivot
I’ve been wrestling with how to frame ThoughtCounter. Initially, there were two threads – creating a direct contemplative experience and critiquing wellness capitalism. But when I drafted the first deck, something felt off.
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Sottsass yantra sculptures
I came across Sottsass’s Yantra series from the late 1960s. I’m inspired by his simple geometric forms which were functional (to some degree) but primarily spiritual objects. He described the design process itself as meditation.
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Leaning into ambiguity
The more I think about it, the more I wonder if ThoughtCounter could be something genuinely useful rather than just a parody. And perhaps the ambiguity of that is the point.
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