reflection

Stardom and its alternatives

June 16, 2011 by mbaumgart

It is unlikely that many of us will be famous, or even remembered. But not less important than the brilliant few that lead a nation or a literature to fresh achievements, are the unknown many whose patient efforts keep the world from running backward; who guard and maintain the ancient values, even if they do not conquer new; whose inconspicuous triumph it is to pass on what they inherited from their fathers, unimpaired and undiminished, to their sons. Enough, for almost all of us, if we can hand on the torch, and not let it down; content to win the affection, if it may be, of a few who know us and to be forgotten when they in their turn have vanished. The destiny of mankind is not governed wholly by its “stars.”

- F. L. Lucas

Stepping around the gender exclusivity, I found in the quote above much to consider, and reassurance to be found. It seems to me that a necessary condition of the ‘inconspicuous triumph’ is to aspire to stardom, but it is somehow heartening to be reminded of the enormous value of cultural work, independent of fame and fortune. It would seem important to know and to value those ‘few who know us’, and to avoid taking them for granted. Of course, the corollary to this is to make a mark on the world – to leave a record of progress, of the process of maintaining the ‘ancient values’.

This is a kind of immortality, or at least endurance beyond our short allotted span. I am drawn to this sort of thing, and I have in my possession two documents, one written in 1451 and one written in 1494. (My documents are archivally framed, and difficult to photograph; the image above is of an English document a century older, but the handwriting is similar.) I am yet to have my documents translated, but I know one to be a letter of recommendation for a young man, and the other is a passport, the documentation required to cross the feudal borders of 15th Century Italy. I love these documents, I love that they have survived intact and legible on their tough parchment, and I find them inspiring. Certainly, the handwriting – small and tight, yet flowing and lyrical – brings the presence of the scribe close to the surface of the document.

I aspire to this kind of endurance, this modest form of immortality: it seems far less fleeting, and more achievable, than ‘stardom’, to use Lucas’ terminology. This also lies at the root of my fondness for good paper, bottles of ink and fountain pens. I will continue to write, transcribing my thoughts and aspects of my mundane, workaday world, and we shall in time see what comes of it.

A visual refresher

June 7, 2011 by mbaumgart

I was musing on something the other day. It occurred to me that I am personally equipped with a formidable arsenal of tools for recording and trapping aspects of the world around me, and through this blog and a host of social media channels, I have a live outlet for broadcasting my observed world to the greater universe. I am not alone in this regard, as the tools I have assembled are ubiquitous in the developed world: high resolution still and video cameras, image and film editing software, word processing, document compositing software – and of course simple pen and paper, self-sharpened observational skills, a nice shiny blog and plethora of social media sites to post to. The thought I had about all this was simple. I have so much hardware and software – the full kit of a digital warrior – and yet I feel like I have a deficit of things to say, an acutely felt shortage of things to report using all these lovely tools. In short, I feel all dressed up, but with no party to go to.

I was wondering if this is a shared feeling. I can post about all manner of things here, but what is really essential? What really rocks my world, and might rock yours? When I started this blog I described it as a slow blog, with the intention to post only when I have something to say or an observation of real interest to share. I think that the phenomenon of extraneous posting is rife in the blogosphere, and all it does is contribute to the deafening informational cacophony we are all engulfed in. I hesitate to contribute more noise to the mix.

Despite my reticence, I remain enamoured of, and inspired by the tools in the bloggers kit. The notebooks, the pens, the paper, the cameras, my ipad, its little wireless keyboard, my voice recorder: all of these things seem to vibrate with potential, waiting to be tapped. To me they are like a blank canvas to a painter, challenging and exciting and confronting all at once. All I need now are compelling subjects: but I am careful not to tempt fate, and wish too hard. History has a habit of intervening with momentous events just at the point where it seems nothing much is going on, and people are beginning to complain about things essentially being good. The war correspondent is never really short on subject matter, but I wouldn’t want my life and times to become quite that interesting.

All of which is merely to announce that I am relaunching the site with an excellent new template. The old template was austere, which appealed to me, but in retrospect I think it was a little too stripped out – a little too restrictive. It was excellent at focusing the reader on the written word, but it didn’t handle photographs particularly well, and aflawedmind.com is at least half visual. Enter Graph Paper Press (graphpaperpress.com), an excellent wordpress template outfit geared at creative publishers with a heavy emphasis on visuals. I have decided to trial the Base template – it is perhaps the most ‘bloggy’ and text-friendly of the GPP templates.

Let me know what you think of the new threads.

 

The seasons of the mind

May 26, 2011 by mbaumgart

 

Melbourne is settling into a brooding late Autumn mood today, and it makes me glad. I am a gothic at heart, and as such I like it when the sky is low, the sun is blacked out by a blanket of towering clouds, and a cold rain is falling. This has very little to do with being an ‘indoors’ person, as I find that it is a fine thing to be tucked up indoors under a blanket, or out stalking the streets wrapped in coat and scarf and beneath a large umbrella.

I find this weather, this season, conducive to both idle contemplation and diligent thought. I can imagine more, and more effectively, when it is cold and grey outside. This time of year is all about closing down – about people scurrying off into their homes, and the summer things being shut up and battened down for the cold time to come. Spring and Summer are all about the body: Autumn and Winter are all about the mind. In short, these seasons are my seasons.

What am I? A professional brain-teaser

May 11, 2011 by mbaumgart

Late last year I did some work with a creative studio, thinking through roles, techniques for writing and presentation, and generally brainstorming their creative trajectory as a working organisation. This work was done under the banner of my private consultancy, Archimentor (www.archimentor.com.au). I puzzled over this work to some extent, as I seem to have launched Archimentor without knowing precisely what it is or does. All I did know for sure was that the work was fascinating, the results satisfying and the process of ‘following my nose’ quite rewarding. This was due in no small part to the head of the studio in question, who was tremendously supportive, inquisitive and a creative powerhouse of formidable abilities.

Recently things have come into focus somewhat, and I think I am now in a position to pin down exactly what we were up to, all of us together. I think we were engaging in a process of design thinking, the application of the techniques of design to a business context, coupled with building the design skills and capacity of the team as applied to what was perhaps less familiar territory: their work processes and roles, rather than their commissions. Writing and taking the design initiative were two topics that received some attention in our sessions.

Design thinking is undoubtedly a buzz phrase at this time. Nevertheless I can see its potential, and I can also see the seeds of something enduring amongst the hype. The techniques of design represent a potentially powerful method of problem definition, resolution or solution. Design thinking can establish pathways for alternative and unexpected types of investigation, and yield results that are equally unexpected and well-suited to their application.

I can see how businesses of all types could benefit from the techniques of design thinking, but I don’t want to get carried away with definitions at this formative stage. Strangely, I have enjoyed the organic and slightly shambolic evolution of my consulting sideline to date; it forms a smaller subset of my own creative practice in architecture and design, and I am yet to bring the many strands together. In the meantime I would like to see my strange sideline continue to evolve, and I am not in a hurry to pin it down. At least, not yet.

Check out www.archimentor.com.au for some more clues. Comments and insights are welcome.

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