Anatomy of Order: Curating as Design
With information overload in this post-digital period, we "receive" when reading, searching, and listening rather than "reflecting." Without reflection the gap between perception and truth becomes blurred. Anatomy of Order takes a curatorial approach to ordinary conversations, Google searches, newspaper articles and common objects. By systematically collecting, re-collecting, ordering, and re-ordering, the project explores the gaps between perception and truths in the everyday.
In our state of information overload, we rely on first impressions to make critical distinctions, yet these accumulate as mere assumptions, rather than established truths. How do we interpret received information?
"Our brains form first impressions by creating a composite of all the signals given off by a new experience. How good these impressions are at making accurate judgments of people depends on the observer and the person being observed."
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200405/the-first-impression)
When developing a relationship with any person, the deeper interactions we have with the individual allow for new and even unexpected findings not discoverable during the initial meeting. If this were to be applied to everyday collected information such as the news (through passive and active modes of collecting), what can be found when a second look is taken through a process of variations? For my thesis, I collected stories from everyday media outlets (newspapers, conversations, online search engines, e-mailed personal stories) using design-based investigatory tactics to expose "truths" or possibly merely compel "reflection." The aim of these investigations was to consider the "second look" in order to gain alternative and newfound perspectives about our media-influenced social environments. By curating the found material through various designed systems, the goal of this project is to display the multitude of unexpected perspectives that emerge beyond the first impression to create a practice of second looking by creating deeper engagements with our surroundings.