Before this recent year I hated reading, it was something I felt like was a chore. I know where this came from -the schooling days. I remember having to read lots of texts that were un-relative to my interests so I never put much interest or effort into it. So in substitute for reading I became a visual learner. I would learn best from images and videos, but I have discovered recently that something a plain as text can more effective than any image or video.
Because of this "learning difficulty" with reading, I love to look at visual images to learn and communicate ideas. This is why I have chosen to base my project on the translation from text (data/information) into a visual structure. Recently though, reading has grown on me and I feel rather than see the beauty in it. What fascinates me even more is the structure behind the textual and visual content. Here is a visual model with some text to explain what I mean (my point seems to be proving self-evident):
All forms of art, music, poetry, stories, technology, etc. are first created in the mind and then manifested into the world. You could be thinking about a candle. To give expression to that thought you can do it in three primitive ways; illustrate it (visual(1)), write it (visual(2)) or say it (auditory(2)). So, we can primarily express ideas through the visual and auditory channels. What about the other two channels - kineasthetic and olfactory(/gustatory)? These sensual channels are usually not associated to the arts.
The point I wan to make here is that in the time the artist, writer or creator of a creative piece is in the creative process, they are trying to transmute a world of ideas from their neurology, through their nervous system, through their body, through their instrument and into the medium. This process reduces the content of their communication of their creative piece dramatically. Imagination is rich, where as the medium is bold in comparison.
So if I think about a candle, I have thousands of memories in my brain that relate together to form the generalization "candle." All of my past experiences (memories) of candles can not be expressed by words or images alone - they are in fact private within my world. For example, when I was younger I could have burned myself on a candle and since then I have a slight phobic response to any candle near by. How can this (which exists in my mind) be expressed fully (as much as it is real to me) to another person? I could write it, but as the reader reads, they can not help but to imagine their own version of the instance no matter how much detail I put into it. So really I am just guiding their imagination to be able to relate to my own - but it will never be my own.
RESEARCH
How to Better Understand the Textual Form
The question is; how can we communicate our ideas richly, effectively and alternatively? Stephan Thiel takes Shakespeare's theatrical texts and creates a visual form to better understand it. Shakespearean language can be hard to read, so having a visual aid to structure it can be of use.
Rather than just focusing on the application of the textual-visual aid of understanding ideas, it is also important to focus on the aesthetics. I find something rather attractive in Stephen Thiel's work. It is rather minimal, technical with a great use of typography. This, in addition to reading a book based on linguistics and NLP (The Structure of Magic, from John Grinder and Richard Bandler) I am formulating further ideas for my project.
For now, this is enough theorizing.
Peace, excitement, mystery, love, growth and giving.
Sebastian
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