Travis' notes from 3-22-11

The inclusion of 'fun' has vastly improved the presentations.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT? Sure. One of the things was keeping it to 15 minutes. Didn't work so well.
Let's pick up the pace, start tightening things up. Inevitably, one will never have that time in a presentation.
Let's consolidate these presentations to be more efficient. For now it's okay, but for the near future let's do that.

Goldstein will either be there on april 5th or 12th. SOMEONE will be here on the 5th. It may be Barbara or not. Depending on who that is, the schedule will change. When she comes, we will not have 4 presentations. We'll have about 5 minutes to lay out EVERYTHING. It's about illuminating the STRATEGY of our investigation, and a conversation about the OPPORTUNITIES.

Notes:
• Thinking through what we're doing… as a kind of strategy for revealing SYSTEMS.
Systems are sets of inner parts that work together as individual wholes.
Our system was CLOSED (nothing comes in or goes out). A board game is restricted. St. James is NOT. Let's accommodate that.
NONSUMMATIVITY: Assertion that a system gets to a place where it may become a separate entity from its sum of its parts. (GESTALT)
The synergy of its parts makes it something more.
°A representational-only system is doomed to only be that. It lacks identity.
Systems have interdependence. This means every part of a system has an effect on every other part. A single cog missing in a watch/clock would cause it all to stop working. (Beckons Chaos theory) When designing systems, everything matters, one must know the relationships!
HOW DOES THE DESIGN OF ST JAMES PARK RELATE TO THE BUILDINGS' DESIGN? THE BUILDINGS LOOK THE WAY THEY LOOK FOR A REASON.
MOST SYSTEMS ARE DESIGNED TOP-DOWN. Hierarchy is key in this approach. (Not all systems work like this… some are FLAT.)
SOME ARE FLAT. When it works, it's very slow but everyone has equal footing. Top-down works quickly but puts off the people on bottom.
THE POINT IS as we compile strategies, we must also incorporate structures for how all this makes sense. How will this all work?
What is the management structure for the California Theater?
° Self-management/Self-control is inherent in stable systems.
The circle of Palms is a performance stage, and it's very clear in what it is NOT.
It's the stage for a skating rink, for instance.
° Environments impact these systems as well. The environment effects how the system operates & performs.
The California theater does not sit by itself. It is amongst other venues, managed by a team of many people. THAT'S its environment, with consequences political and social. St. James is in a similar situation. The landscape is situated in the Urban Plan of SJ. Unless we can equate where these relationships are, we're not going to be able to discern what the space is about. It's not just what it is today, it's what it's been as part of an urban plan.
WHAT IS THE DESTINY OF ST JAMES PARK?
IF YOU CANNOT ANSWER THIS QUESTION YOU DO NOT KNOW THE PARK.

° Balance. Systems fail when they cannot achieve balance.
All systems have points of imbalance, simply for being created and existing. Some gears are better optimized, but that in and of itself means there's imbalances between the gears! ALL THINGS ARE PRONE TO ENTROPY.
° Lastly, Change. Systems that survive are systems that adapt. What will be the thing that sustains our system as an organization over time? THAT'S WHERE THE MONEY IS. Not literally money… as in, the flip-switch, what drives the ability to get on the same page with us and get what we want to happen done. If we don't help the system become sustainable, we shan't succeed.

THAT'S WHY THIS IS NOT ABOUT DECORATION.

ARTISTS MAKE THE WORLD WORSE.
They insert gears into systems that don't understand it and therefore cause it to disintegrate. WE. ARE. DANGEROUS. BEINGS.
That's not a bad thing, per se! We disrupt systems, but sometimes that's necessary! Doing so in a way that doesn't play along the rules, THAT'S where things go wrong! Artists are not necessarily vandals!
So.

Moral of the Story: Don't decorate. Explicate.
FOLLOW. THE. PATH. Do so and you'll get to where you're going. If you think you SEE where you're going, you're not on the path.