Text for Office Exercise:
'Office Exercise' is growing collections of small projects that grew out of my interest in the difference or similarities between experiments and exercises. In an experiment any outcome should be good, in an exercise the fundamental drive is to progress and reach a certain goal.
Working in my studio I often used studio experiments as a means to begin some sort of process that would eventually go on to out-live the original construct. However outside of this context such as in a office setting this no longer works, predominantly because in this context all time spent needs to be productive in a material sense, you need to have something tangible to show for your time. The one exception being with learning, which would however feedback into the efficiency or quality of ones future product, again tying back into the product of future time spent.
Office Exercise was my attempt at short circuiting this situation by experimenting under the guise of exercise and producing a miscarriage of both in the process. Whereas the product of the the "successfull" experiment - 'Innovation' - is desired in within the office, in practice it is only the process of exercise that is accepted. It is this that produces the strange relationship between exercise and experiment within the office setting.
All the work follows three basic rules:
1. The works needs to be done at my desk after hours.
2. Whatever it is, it needs to be completed before I leave.
3. It needs to be related to the office in idea, object or insight.
'Office Exercise' is growing collections of small projects that grew out of my interest in the difference or similarities between experiments and exercises. In an experiment any outcome should be good, in an exercise the fundamental drive is to progress and reach a certain goal.
Working in my studio I often used studio experiments as a means to begin some sort of process that would eventually go on to out-live the original construct. However outside of this context such as in a office setting this no longer works, predominantly because in this context all time spent needs to be productive in a material sense, you need to have something tangible to show for your time. The one exception being with learning, which would however feedback into the efficiency or quality of ones future product, again tying back into the product of future time spent.
Office Exercise was my attempt at short circuiting this situation by experimenting under the guise of exercise and producing a miscarriage of both in the process. Whereas the product of the the "successfull" experiment - 'Innovation' - is desired in within the office, in practice it is only the process of exercise that is accepted. It is this that produces the strange relationship between exercise and experiment within the office setting.
All the work follows three basic rules:
1. The works needs to be done at my desk after hours.
2. Whatever it is, it needs to be completed before I leave.
3. It needs to be related to the office in idea, object or insight.
