PROJECTS ARE MADE UP OF SERIES
Seasons in The Life of a Serial Painter by A.G.
My interdisciplinary art-research practice works across three disciplines or “modes of expression”, namely: Images, Sounds, Texts. My practice is “project-based” and each project is an open-ended SERIES of works, across those three disciplines, including both ART and RESEARCH.
Each new workday, whenever I get to work, I merely choose whatever project is “nearest-at-hand”, mentally or physically, and I add a new, atomic “unit-work” to one of its three series (Image, Sound, Text). I either choose an existing project, or when necessary, I create a new project.
Projects have complex conceptual schemes underlying them and each work in each of the series has to do with a unique set of concepts from the general scheme. That way, during the workday, I merely choose concepts pseudo-randomly from the “set of all concepts” (from the “set of all projects”) and work on a given concept in a series in a project.
The projects and their conceptual schemes are all based on facets of reality, of the universe, the world, society, my fundamental experience, etc., that are most relevant at any given time. New projects are created when new situations or states of affairs present themselves, as well as new understandings of all these basic realities.
I call this “THE SWITCHBOARD METHOD”, because I work on any given task for roughly 15 minutes and then “switch” to another task. The list of n number of tasks is virtually endless, as I “invent” each new tasks on the spot. I merely take whatever projects and concepts are most “near-at-hand”, either in my physical vicinity or neighborhood in the studio space, or that are “near-at-hand” in my mental or cognitive space, and work on the next iteration in the given series (or sub-series).
That way, I have taken out the “decision” problem out of scheduling and assigning tasks throughout the workday, making it a “decisionless” process or system, for the most part. I don’t have to spend time scheduling tasks either because I just choose a task pseudo-randomly from whatever concepts and projects are most “near-at-hand”.
I believe that this kind of “randomized algorithm” for solving the “single-machine scheduling problem” is optimal, because I can work on dozens of different projects and their series without any “waiting times”. I just switch task/project/series every 15 or so minutes. I also take short breaks.
The complex conceptual schemes that underlie each project and their series are already formulated beforehand and don’t really change. So I don’t need to “juggle” complex abstractions in my mind while doing my work throughout the workday. I understand the complex conceptual schemes perfectly, since I invented them, and I can navigate through them with ease. This differs from some kinds of work, like computer programming, where one can spend hours working up a complex “abstraction” where the slightest interruption can cause the “house of cards” to crumble down.
That rarely ever happens to me. In the worst case, I get interrupted and lose at most 15 minutes of time, in one of my 15-minute slots. I just start the process up again after the interruption, and no time is lost trying to “build up complex abstractions” because those have all already been worked out beforehand. I am also constantly reinforcing those conceptual schemes so that I really know them like the back of my hand.
This frees up a lot of time. I can do deep work for 8–10 hours with only a few pauses or breaks. It’s just that my work is “distributed” pseudo-randomly across n number of projects and their series. For instance, I can choose a project, say “The History-Project”, and add a new “History-Painting” to its Image Series. I can then take another project, “Pilgrim Bronze”, and write a piece of music in its Sound Series. All the dozens of projects are related in intimate ways anyhow, so I never get lost.
I’ve been working in this way since the late 1990s. That’s why I started this publication, called The Painter’s Almanach, because I also use a system of calendars to organize my work across the various “seasons” that I call “seasons of the heart” (also the name of my latest project and album of songs). My “Production-Year” starts each Autumn and consists of works produced 1–2 years in advance. I always have 1–2 years of leeway where I can easily take a sabbatical period where I don’t work on my of my art-research projects, since I’m always way in advance of schedule.
Sincerely,
Chief Art Operator @ The Historiotheque
A.G. © 2023. All Rights Reserved.
