Experiencing Secondness

When project 4 was announced in class I thought I had my idea set. I was going to make a non-traditional book except I had no theme. Soon after, I was randomly assigned Charles Sander Peirce’s theory of secondness. I was glad that I got secondness because it has always  been the one that makes the most sense to me when it comes to firstness, secondness and thirdness. I began my research and the first words that began to stand out were: physical force, senses, and “the non expected rear-end collision.” For this reason I decided that it was best to represent secondness through experience -since it is in fact all about the actual existent. On my sketchbook I wrote out ideas that involved an interactive book that would be composed of surprises and different materials. After the next class, I decided to change my idea when I heard more about the project in general. I did additional research and found examples of secondness such as “opening a door and noticing it is stuck, before knowing the root of the problem.” I began to develop a clear idea, and I decided to create a book with a combination lock that would not open. Afterwards I realized I was directly giving secondness as opposed to represent ing it naturally. For this reason, I went back to my research, and my sketchbook and I decided on my final idea. I created a series of poster-cards which contain research on Pierce’s life, theories, and secondness; however, the viewer is not able to read them since most of them are covered in coffee and coffee bean debris. I created these A5 sized cards on illustrator, and then printed them in order to stain them. My plan involves setting up a space in the classroom where my postcards will lay on a tabletop below a cup of coffee that has “recently” and perhaps accidentally been poured over my project. The ultimate goal is to have people react to this as they walk by or as they looks at it. Perhaps some will think a project was ruined, or be confused about what the text on the cards says. All of these reactions will be them experiencing secondness.