WORKSPACE

WORKSPACE

Note on notation: In mathematical notation, ordered set operators indicate whether an object precedes or succeeds another. The relationship x precedes y is written x ≺ y.

The Ever-Changing Workspace

• What I call the “Historiotopia” is essentially the three-dimensional “surface” of the Workspace;
• At any given moment in time, the Workspace is in a current “configuration” or “state”;
• The “Historiotopia” is both the current state AND can refer to the changes of such states over time;
• Every working day, the Workspace is in a state AND the state is subject to CHANGE;
• That is to say, the 3D “surface” of the Workspace changes over time, and whenever you have two “work-states” let’s call them, w1 and w2, if there was a physical, “discernible” or “appreciable” CHANGE between then, then in all cases always w1 is said to “precede” w2, denoted as “w1 ≺ w2”;
• Note on “precedence” and “succession”: w1 precedes w2, w2 “succeeds” w1 and also we can say that the state of w2 is always “accessible” from the state w1;
• If w2 was NOT accessible from w1, then there could be no w2, the Workspace could not be in such a state;
• Without getting into too many details and abstractions, we say that thermodynamically speaking, w2 is “adiabatically accessible” from w1;

Adiabatic accessibility: A state Y is adiabatically accessible from a state X, in symbols X ≺ Y , if it is possible to change the state from X to Y by means of an interaction with some device (which may consist of mechanical and electrical parts as well as auxiliary thermodynamic systems) and a weight, in such a way that the device returns to its initial state at the end of the process whereas the weight may have changed its position in a gravitational field.

Deltas in the Workspace

• When there is a change from one “work-state” to another, we call that appreciable change a “delta”;
• Deltas are usually denoted by the symbol “Δ”;
• Workspaces, and changes in Workspaces, are subject to time, i.e. changes always happen “over time”;
• Deltas, then, or Δs, also take place over time;
• When one enters into the Workspace, one must ask oneself: What is different here today? What has changed between the last time I was in this Workspace?;
• One must be hyper-sensitive to changes, Δs, in the Workspace;
• Changes between one Workspace (configuration) which “precedes” another W-configuration can be seen as a “mutation” process or function;
• In this case, we say that a mutation M takes workspace A as INPUT and produces the mutated workspace A’ = M(A) as OUTPUT;
• Ergo, A’ — A = Δ-workspace;
• That is, if time is t and what we might call the “historiotopic function” is h(t), and h(t) takes the Workspace from one configuration to the next, with an appreciable Δ or change between them, and precedence, i.e. A’ is “adiabatically accessible” from A, then we can speak of the historiotopic function h(t) in terms of its “changes over time”;
• What this means, and why we have taken the time to explain this briefly, is that we can quantify or measure changes in the W-config over time;
• That is why one must be hyper-sensitive to changes in conditions in the Workspace, because it’s important to monitor and track these changes, for the simple reason that they “signal” important things;
• For instance, when we start monitoring changes and seeing trends and trendlines and so forth, then we can speak not only of “differences” between states/configurations but also of “derivatives” of functions like h(t);

If the input of the function represents time, then the derivative represents change with respect to time. For example, if f is a function that takes a time as input and gives the position of a ball at that time as output, then the derivative of f is how the position is changing in time, that is, it is the velocity of the ball.

Workspace-as-Historiothèque, Historiothèque-as-“Warehouse”

• We can therefore begin speaking of “historiotopic velocity”, defined as the changes in the configuration(s) of the W-space “with respect to time”;
• In essence, what we have been calling the Workspace or W-space is actually technically referred to as “The Historiothèque”;
• That is, The Historiothèque is the name of the “Art Studio” if you will, and “Office”;
• The Workspace that we are imagining is Modular and the operations that take place there are multifarious, are of a wide range, variety, and are by definition interdisciplinary;
• “Velocity”, then, in the Workspace or Historiothèque is an important thing to consider, since the Historiothèque is essentially a Workshop, or “manufacturing operation”;
• In that regard, we can speak of INPUTS and OUTPUTs, of the “InFlow” of inputs and “OutFlow” of outputs;
• If, for the moment, we regard the Historiothèque as a kind of “Storehouse” (let’s call it a “Warehouse”), then was can speak of a warehouse as having an input flow, or InFlow, of shipments from suppliers, and an output flow, or OutFlow, of shipments to customers;
• In this vein, a Warehouse is a facility that interrupts the flow of goods from the suppliers of products to the customers for those products. This is where the Historiothèque DIFFERS from a standard Warehouse: In the case of the H-house, we would say that it interrupts the flow of INPUTS, of raw materials such as art supplies, other goods, and of SIGNALS such as communications, orders, etc., FROM the outside TO the inside, and from the OUTPUTS towards the outside, TO the end-user or audience for the productions of the operating H-house;
• The H-house seen as a Manufacturing Operation, or H-op let’s call it, has a FLOW which, considered over any time period, consists of ORDERS, which have LINES where each line identifies a STOCK, a unit of handling, and a quantity;
• For the H-house, the functional requirements which must be satisfied are to “consume” the InFlow (inputs, raw materials, resources, etc.) and “produce” the OutFlow: It must have the capacity to UNLOAD and STORE INPUTS and ASSEMBLE and LOAD ORDERS as OUTPUTS for shipment (end of Warehouse metaphor);
• In any case, the attributes of INPUTS and OUTPUTS in the Historiothèque which are relevant for design decision making are: Physical attributes, Operational attributes, and Managerial attributes;
• In another section, we will be speaking of all of this as the “LOGISTICS OF THE HISTORIOTHÈQUE”;

Ref. McGinnis, L.: An object oriented and axiomatic theory of warehouse design. In: Carrano, A., Gue, K., de Koster, R., Ogle, M., Montreuil, B., Smith, J. (eds.) 12th International Material Handling Research Colloquium — 2012. Material Handling Industries of America (2013)

ADDENDUM ON HISTORIOTOPIA:

Historiotopia

• In essence, the Historiotopia is the three-dimensional “surface” of a Workspace;
• The Artist inhabits and works in the Workspace, called “The Historiotheque”;
• At any given moment in time, the Workspace itself is in a current “configuration” or “state”;
• The Artist is continuously, perpetually “archiving” the given “Points-in-Time” or configurations/states of the Historiotheque (Workspace):
• The “Production-Year” in the case of the (AG)-Method begins more or less in the Fall;
• The Production-Year always starts with an official, and public, DECLARATION OF NEW PRODUCTION-YEAR;
• The Declaration itself is the first official document of the new Production-Year;
• The document of the Declaration always contains the (AG) symbol, representing the license of the (AG)-Method, and acts as Signature; (see: Authentication);
• Once again, at any given Point-in-Time, the workspace is in a given three- or even four-dimensional “configuration” that is constantly being “archived”;
• We say that the worker engages in “Session Management”, with each moment that he/she is actively working being called, considered a single “Session”;
• In essence, the artist/worker at any given Point-in-Time (“PiT”) only has “access” to “Surfaces”; (See: Point-in-Time, a.k.a. “PiT”, a.k.a. “PiT-stop”, a.k.a. “Artists-In-Transition Need Art-Stops”, to be extrapolated);
• That is to say, the artist is working amidst all of the “exposed surfaces” of the Workspace; (only surfaces are “accessible” at any given moment in time, even something in the Archives, once exposed, is an outward-facing surface)
• The artist essentially takes a “Snapshot” of the current state of the Historiotheque; (“Snapshot” or “Savepoint”)
• The Session is “saved”, and put into the archive, with proper Documentation; (Documentation to be treated in its own section)
• The HISTORIOTOPIA, then, is the three-dimensional configuration of the Workspace (Historiotheque) at any given moment in time;
• The HISTORIOTOPIA is composed of all the outward-facing, exposed, SURFACES of the Workspace;
• The HISTORIOTOPIA is what is effectively being Archived at any given time in the Session Management process;
• After the DECLARATION OF NEW PRODUCTION-YEAR, the worker in the Art Operation or “ArtOps” begins with an Introduction To The Historiotheque, an introduction to the workspace;
• This is important because the Declaration already gave forward-looking statements about the new Production-Year, for investors and other interested parties, so that they can have a “taste” or “preview” of what to expect to come out of the Laboratory in the period covered in the Declaration (Historiotheques are Laboratories, to be explained in its own section);
• In the Introduction to the Workspace, a “taking-stock-of” operation/process is necessary, a taking-stock if you will of “Inventory” (also a public declaration), which is essentially repeated at the beginning of any given “Session” (not necessarily publicly declared in those instances);
• Now the worker can more or less start working. To give you an example, I just did my annual Declaration and the first actual Painting I will be publishing is called an “Archive-Painting”, part of the Archives-Project. Essentially it will be a “Snapshot” (“Savepoint”) of the current “State of Affairs” of the Workshop called The Historiotheque. Consider it a “picture” of the Archives, to get us started on new Projects and Operations;
• In the Historiotheque, the Art Operator works on “Projects”, which are ongoing Series” and therefore growing “Collections” of works, pertaining to given Projects, which always have their clusters of new Concepts the artist is working on;
• The work is very complex and is one of the main reasons such “formalities” are needed, of the official public “DECLARATION” and so forth;
• That is to say, we are talking about a serious, mature Art Practice, hereby called an “Art Operation” or “ArtOps”;
• That is to say, the Art Operation is a serious professional practice, and a legal entity in its own right;
• WARNING: No one should take any of this as “counsel” or “advice” on launching art practices or business operations. This is not meant to motivate or inspire anyone to venture into some commercial endeavor or venture, for Business with a capital B is ALWAYS RISKY. I cannot be held responsible for anyone’s RISK-TAKING BEHAVIORS. This is merely a document explaining, describing, MY method, the (AG)-Method; (Further warnings to be included and made evident);
• So far, this is merely a Github repository with Text; later, Images will be included, and possibly Sounds;
• That is to say, this public Github repository and the textual data it contains is not a “business transaction”; it is merely explanatory textual data on the Historiomic Theory of Art Operations and consequently of THE HISTORIOTOPIA;
• NOTA BENE: These Declarations and Statements are important. For instance, in the Introduction To The Workspace (Historiotheque), the Statement made on current Inventory (the “taking-stock-of” process or operation) is as important as the forward-looking Declaration of the New Production-Year itself;
• That is to say, investors, stakeholders, all interested parties need to know what is being held in stock, as Inventory. Also, the public statements on the whole are important, the Documentation and so forth, the Archiving process, the everyday operations of the Art Practice;
• These are important, and it is essential that they are public so that the Art Operation itself can leave an “audit trail” if you will, or be auditable in general; (public statements similar to the maintenance of a kind of public ledger);
• Why should an Artist care about the audit trail? This is one of the very significant developments that led to the possibility itself of my conception of the “Art Operations 4.0” I like to call it. The Artist is for all intents and purposes a “public servant”. The Art Practice itself is essentially positioned as a) a Service and b) a PUBLIC service, though of course it aims to be a commercial endeavor that is also product-oriented; (that is, the “creation of products” is itself a public service, in the case of the cultural worker in the Arts & Culture Industry);
• Why the formalities? Again, it is important that everything that goes on in the Historiotheque be auditable, observed by outsiders. Evidently, there are processes that are not publicly visible, which make up the various methods and methodologies, techniques, processes, of the actual practice itself, of the actual “Painting” if you will, in my case. Not everything needs to be auditable, though in principle everything should be;
• Another important development is that in the case at hand, the Artist or “art worker”, “Art Operator” is also an Independent Scholar/Researcher;
• That is to say, the Artist is doing “Practice-Research”, or “Research-Practice”, “research-as-practice”, “practice-as-research”, “Reflective Practice”, “arts-based research”, etc.;
• That is, SINCE the Artist is ALSO doing a form of Research, this necessitates the strict maintenance and observance of the very best practices in terms of the always-available, easily accessible, public-facing audit trail;
• Therefore, and in conclusion, it is necessary that the day-to-day operations of the Art Operation 4.0 be made public via some kind of public ledger, in this case, a Github repository as well as other public-facing web properties, where future Declarations and Statements will be made. People need to know what’s going on in the Art Studio, the “Atelier”, “Workspace”, or my preferred term, “THE HISTORIOTHEQUE”;
• THE HISTORIOTOPE OR HISTORIOTOPIA THEN IS THE CURRENT STATE OR CONFIGURATION OF THE ENTIRE ART OPERATION AT ANY GIVEN MOMENT IN TIME. THIS MAKES THE DAY-TO-DAY OPERATIONS AUDITABLE, SINCE EACH SESSION IS MANAGED AND CONTINUOUSLY ARCHIVED. THE ENTIRE “HISTORICAL TRAIL” IF YOU WILL IS WELL-DOCUMENTED, ARCHIVED, AND MADE PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE. AGAIN, THE HISTORIOTOPIA IS THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL “SHAPE” IF YOU WILL OF ALL OF THE OUTWARD-FACING “SURFACES” OF THE HISTORIOTHEQUE;
• Why is this pertinent? It is pertinent because any inefficiencies or any “bad practices” will be viewable, browsable, navigatable, and findable by any interested persons or parties. It is all about Transparency, Responsibility, Integrity and Accountability. The Artist in the 21st century is a SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR; (more to be said about this at a later time, sooner than later).

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