1_ CREATE A TIME INVENTORY / FIND YOUR PACE

This week, assess your relationship with time.

1) Do you often feel rushed? Do you feel like you have time to observe changes in your self? Environment? Other people?

2) Do you feel like you have the time you want/need or do you wish you had more time? What would you do with it?

3) Do you feel like you move quickly through the world or slowly? Would you like the pace of life to be different?

4) What is your experience of time in daily life? What is your ideal pace of working and living?

5) Do long spans of time (geologic time) feel incomprehensible, irrelevant, interesting? 

Post a reflective paragraph below (addressing the questions above) sharing your current relationship with time, illustrated through specific example(s) from your life this week. 

2_ CONDUCT A SLOW OBSERVATION

Then, choose something to observe at the pace that you want. Make this long or short and say why. What did you notice? 

1. Select your subject for slow looking

Choose a physical object or feature of your environment, home, a person or a group of people, or an interaction or event. This will be your observation “subject.”

2. Observe your subject

Look closely at the subject for at least five minutes and note down as many features as you can. Try to look at the place and/or people you’re observing as if for the first time. You might want to make notes about:

• Everything you see and hear
• Anything that is familiar about what you observe, and anything that seems unfamiliar orsurprising to you
• A close, “zoomed-in” view of a specific aspect of your observation setting

3. Record your “wonders”

Write a list of questions or “wonders” that you now have about your subject. How would you describe the “time” of this material/object or event? 

4. Consider your subject within a bigger system

Think of a bigger system connected to the subject (e.g. the surrounding conditions, weather/temperature, movement, what is shaping this event or object). Try to imagine the bigger system in action and how your subject fits into it.

5. Visualize the system

Sketch a diagram that shows the different parts of the object/person/event with a system and how they might interact.

6. Reflect

Were there any new insights you gained from doing this activity?  Did it feel like it was a good use of time?  Did you enjoy it? 

Upload your responses and image/sketch below and bring them to class next week to discuss.

3_  THE TIME OF DAILY LIFE  IN THE ANTHROPOCENE

After conducting independent research online, share a short description below about the materials and events that you feel define the Anthropocene. Include why it might be important for artists and designers to engage the topic of the Anthropocene. Given the IPCC report summary (see our ANTHROPOCENE lecture from class for a reminder), what do you expect that you can do/experience today, that might not be possible in 2050?

1_ CREATE A TIME INVENTORY / FIND YOUR PACE

During the first week of the second semester, I felt time progressed slower than usual. At the same time, the stress and the environment are continuously changing and shifting. I felt rushed when peers or people around me were rushing and going past me so fast that I couldn’t keep up and had to check in on myself constantly. Consequently, I needed more time to observe objects and people surrounding me, including myself. 

If I had more time, I would work and concentrate on my mental and physical needs, such as going to the gym, eating healthy, and maintaining a six-ten hours sleep schedule. I would also spend more time calling my parents. The irregular sleep and class schedules have taken away communication/interaction with people I care about and love.

The pace depends on the environment and society. I adapt to the atmosphere based on my location. In this big city, everyone is rushing towards different things. For instance, when I walked into the subway station, I felt pressured because of the crowd and because everyone seemed rushing, as if they were almost late to work/class. At that moment, I thought I was unwillingly moving quickly through the world. I would change the pace of life to become slower. I want to move slowly through the world and appreciate things more than I do now. 

My parents and I are so far away from each other. They live on the other side of the world, which to me feels incomprehensible. They are one day ahead of me. They are experiencing my future if I were there. Living in a parallel universe but experiencing different time zones is really interesting. 

2_ CONDUCT A SLOW OBSERVATION

1. Select your subject for slow looking

Tulip 

2. Observe your subject

• Everything you see and hear

• One tulip is bent towards me
• Some yellowish leafs 
• A small bulb on the side is growing but looks unhealthy 
• All the leaves are relatively soft, it doesn’t look healthy. 
• There is one tulip that is taller than the others 
• Two tulips are hidden behind the leaf and it look almost identical 
• On the left the tulip is growing outwards 
• Almost all the leaves are growing and pointing upwards 
• All tulips are white 
• The leaves are velvety looking 
• The leafs are lush green 
• The tallest tulip is starting to bloom 
• There is a label on the bottom, it says “white, tulip”
• The plant is wrapped in a piece of brown paper, it looks like muffin wrapper 
• From the side the bottom looks pretty empty, I can only see the stems 
• From the side the middle is mainly covered and intertwining leaves 
• I can hear the cars honking and passing through in the background, it sounds distanced and muffled because I closed the windows.
• I can hear my own heartbeat as I was concentrating
  • Anything that is familiar about what you observe, and anything that seems unfamiliar or surprising to you.
• I used to work in a floral shop, tulip is one of my favorite flowers, which I work with them alot in the floral shop. I can see that I wasn’t taking good care of my tulips
  • A close, “zoomed-in” view of a specific aspect of your observation setting

3. Record your “wonders”

How long will it take for it to completely dry out?

Write a list of questions or “wonders” that you now have about your subject. How would you describe the “time” of this material/object or event? 

4. Consider your subject within a bigger system

I don’t have enough time and energy to care for my tulips, I haven’t watered it in such a long time. Because of the weather, the tulip isn’t getting constant sunlight and enough nutrients from the environment. 

5. Visualize the system

(see below)

6. 6. Reflect

Were there any new insights you gained from doing this activity?  Did it feel like it was a good use of time?  Did you enjoy it? 

I realized how much I’ve neglected the care of this tulip. I bought this tulip when I just got back from winter vacation and away from my family, I wanted to shift my concentration onto a living object and care for it. Ever since school started, I totally neglected the importance of care and attention I have to give to this object. I saw so many details, flaws, and beauty on this object, things that I’ve never seen before. I felt like it was a good use of time and I really enjoyed it. 

Diagram: 

3_  THE TIME OF DAILY LIFE  IN THE ANTHROPOCENE

I think cotton is the material that defines the Anthropocene. Cotton is one of the most critical crops related to human, labor, economy, technology, and paradigm shift themes. Cotton is so versatile. However, humans are exploiting natural resources, so the pure cotton product might not be possible in 2050.