Viktor Timofeev - Towards 2017 (and other list-related phenomena) - Graduate Proposal
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Towards 2017 (and other list-related phenomena)
Viktor Timofeev
Currently, I am trying to make sense of the last 365 days, their relationship to the 730 days that preceded them and how to shape the following ~275. I am considering the most recent works that were successfully laid to rest, ended up being abandoned, stagnated in the research and planning stage, and some that were dead on arrival. I wrote about these works, which I refer to using the umbrella term ‘Sazarus’, in my Text On Method from Spring 2016. Generally speaking, Sazarus encompassed choreography, programming, sculpture and drawing. The works that are associated with Sazarus are united by themes of rule-based economies, entrapment, n-levels of mediation, improvisation and non-human agency. The complete text can be accessed here: [[2]]
Thinking of the following ~275 days, I have compiled a list of tentative works that I would like to pursue in this remaining time. This list includes a expansion of Sazarus (described above) into unfamiliar territories, as well as experimentation with video, text, software and sound. These new expansions build on themes explored in the previous 1095+ days (with a particular focus on the last 365) and stretch into new areas including an exploration of ritual, character narration, virtual reality and the search for true randomness. I’ve described the what, how and why of these potential endeavors in the first draft of this proposal, which can be accessed here : [[3]]
In order to organize the remaining ~275 days and complete the works described above, I have stripped down my method into its bare bones – list-making. I’ve realized that lists, like atoms, form everything that I make. I use lists to break down long-term projects into short-term tasks, all of which have the potential to be broken down further and branch off into their own sub-tasks. Lists also behave as permutations of a given set of possibilities, grouping together the totality of outcomes into a compressed, consumable, linear form. However, looking back to the last 365 days, the lists of tasks, goals, ideas and reminders set up in my head, my notebook, in textEdit, and on the A4 sheet above my bed (all which have yet to be synced and as a result have a slight-to-medium variance between each other) have mostly not been accomplished. In fact, the average ratio of how many items I accomplish to the total number of these items on a to-do list - imminently, daily, weekly, monthly and yearly - is closest to 1/5 across each of these scales. Almost immediately, a new item was added to the imminent list (this is a list of items that are to be considered imminently – an imaginary post-it note stuck to the inner-concave surface of my eyeballs). It was to not feel disappointed, unaccomplished and defeated by this fraction, which I know will always be <1.
If I am to continue this with process and want to do my best to complete the list of proposed works outlined in the second paragraph, I have to first re-evaluate my relationship to lists – to their functionality, their advantages and their potential hindrances. In order to do this I have written a series of questions to consider, on an imminent, daily, weekly, monthly basis, as the remaining ~275 days fly by. These questions are:
1. How do lists function in my day to day life, across all scales (imminently, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly)?
a. Why do I make lists?
b. Do I even look at lists?
c. Do I feel empowered making lists? Or by “possessing” them?
d. How many times a day do I consult my daily list? Weekly? Monthly? Yearly?
e. Which scale of lists (imminent, daily, monthly, weekly, yearly) do I consult most frequently? Least frequently?
f. Which mediums of lists (mental, notebook, bedside A4) do I consult most frequently? Least frequently?
g. Am I becoming a list?
h. Can lists take on their own autonomous intelligence / agency?
2. What do uncrossed list items mean to me?
a. Do uncrossed list items haunt me?
b. Do I still feel the need to pursue them?
c. How do these items relate to the new list items I make and will make?
d. How often do I actually roll-over items from one list to another after their expiration date?
e. What the frequency and ratio of item d might be (number of roll-over lists to total number of lists and number of roll-over items in list to total number of items on list)?
f. What is the relationship between the ratio in item e to the ratio described in the third paragraph?
3. Is list making a helpful restraint?
a. Is it possible to sustain a way of discovering unknown list items not on a list while maintaining an overall arc which minds the lists?
b. How are new items discovered to be put on a list?
c. Is there a way to introduce new items into a list by force? What could this force be?
d. Is it worth introducing a filter that considers new list items - weighing their potential commitment, forking network of new undiscovered sub-items, and this relationship to the amount of days left to live?
e. Do lists allow enough room for living without lists, even if temporary?
f. Is it possible to make lists and never look at them?
4. Should lists use a prioritization system?
a. Is it possible to introduce a prioritization system into my lists, across all scales?
b. What are the pros and cons of using a prioritization system?
c. How can I decide what is relevant to the given deadlines and what isn’t?
5. How does a project / work get turned into a list?
a. Does completion of this list mean the completion of the project / work?
b. Is there a more to a project / work than a series of tasks & goals?
c. Is it possible to quantify (in list form) potentially unquantifiable attributes of a project / work, such as “state of completion”, exciteability, desirability, etc?
d. Is it OK to abandon the list, if it begins to feel unnecessary?
In summary, I believe that considering, answering and re-considering these questions will help me produce the tentative works discussed in the second paragraph, in the following ~270 days. Though it might seem only tangentially related, I believe that probing the list-related issues described in the list above is the existential heart of my practice. I don’t anticipate finding answers to all of the questions listed - only about 1/5 of them.
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