Journal - June 3, 2006

JULY 7 2006

Once I had made a decision on what to make, there seemed no need to write about it. Writing is a means for me to work out problems; and if I encounter answers not questions, solutions and not problems, it seems I have little need or interest in writing.

I have been collecting seating plans and re-drawing them in Illustrator as spare grey floor plans: a bride, a groom, a couple mothers and fathers, and the odd step-parents; that is all for people. Consistent and somehow reassuring among the plans are the dance floor, the bars, the cake table.

They are dry, to be sure. Spare. Clean. And grey. Black, white and grey. One plan alone doesn’t seem to move far beyond these characteristics and yet alongside other plans, they begin to expand. Instead of talking about the space, the plans begin to talk about the differences between the spaces. Instead of talking about the couple and their family, the plans together talk about the differences between these members. And the similarities. Again: the dance floor, the bars, the cake table.

“Then what do you search for?” And this is an embarrassing question. We search for something that will seem like truth to us; we search for understanding; we search for that principle which keys us deeply into the pattern of all life; we search for the relations of things, one to another…
–John Steinbeck

I just finished reading what I think is an obscure and peculiar little travelogue by Steinbeck–The Log from the Sea of Cortez–from a scientific expedition he undertook with a marine biologist friend. Chock full of characteristic philosophical musing, his thoughts always begin with a consideration of the natural world and its species, and the nature of study. He brings an inquisitive and very casual attitude to his subject, and lets his thoughts and writing wander. What I have found especially relevant is the way he transfers the scientific approach of study to an investigation of human nature and history, here no longer superior to the logic and patterns of survival found in starfish, anemones and sea cucumbers.

I find it a parallel approach to the way I think about these plans. Studying one couple, family, and reception will give you a deep but narrow perspective, while studying the patterns among a wide selection will tell you about trends and variation, painting a broader picture of the nature of the “species.” I like thinking about it this way, especially as it seems to confirm this method’s ability to reveal truth. Hopefully it will be a poignant truth, yet–perhaps like scientific study–arriving at truth may or may not bring you the answer you set out to find.