PROJECT EQUILIBRIUM
Searching for the flow
What do you really know about yourself? I felt lost and undefined and decided to channel my frustration to fuel future insights and projects, and in the end this 2 year project was worth the effort. Read on to see more of the process; go to the bottom of the page and move upwards to track the progress of the project.
CURRENT STEP: PORTFOLIO
ASSEMBLING PAGES IN THE BOOK
Glue and foresight
The final phase of the project consisted of assembling all the pages. Finishing up texts, printing images, and finalizing illustrations were the main activities, and deciding on the final designs on the pages I had difficulties processing. I am happy with the varied and interactive feel of the finished collages.
ILLUSTRATION
Trying my hand at new things
One of the formats chosen were illustrations. This was a quite new field for me, even though I have illustrated and sketched in earlier projects. However, the topic list and chosen topics of each page assisted in informing the illustration appropriate for the pages. This exercise was wonderful and lead to new discoveries every time, that I had no idea were came from but were obviously deeply rooted in the original raw data for the project.
PHOTOSESSIONS
Mixed sources
The photos used in the collages are a mix of instagram pictures from 2017, photos from a photoshoot aimed to produce specific images for the project, and a very few from google searches.
The list of photos required was prepared beforehand and I asked my friend Ivar Gjessing to be the photographer for the shoot. The photo series on the home page are from this photoshoot.
CREATIVE WRITING
A free flow of familiar ideas
The method used to produce many text pieces in a short time was to set a timer to 15 minutes, and allow only this time to write a first draft for each writing in the plan the pages. The topic and content was decided, and to a great extent the length and shape of the texts. This proved highly effective, and the amount of processing of the content made this task easier and more enjoyable. The text pieces were printed in the correct size and assembled in the book when appropriate.
TOPIC CONTENT
Adjustments and fine-tuning content
For each subtitle, I allowed 5 topic. In total there were 30 topics, which fit nicely in the chosen book for the project. This part took a long time, however the end result was a list of items and texts necessary to create the pages I wanted. All the 300 lines had been processed, moulded and fit into subtitle categories, in the designated format.
ORGANIZING TABLE OF CONTENTS
Equilibrium
Equilibrium is a word that can be divided up into three parts; Equi, Libri, and Um. Equi represent likeness, contrasts and equality. Libri stands for justice, freedom and balance. Um refers to all that is measurable and immesurable. These three became the main chapters of the table of contents.
After reorganizing the 300 lines in excel into more coherent ideas and themes, I closed in on 6 subtitles for the chapters - these were meant to be fleeting and undefinable, and not directly related to the topics. Also, a variety of formats were chosen; touchable, text, image, graphic and interactive were put together in different combinations.
EQUI
Junction and Tangibility
LIBRI
Core and Recalibration
UM
Perspectives and Lenses
The now approximately 150 lines were moulded into 30 individual topics with the help of the chapters, subtitles and format combinations
PROCESSING OF NOTES
A discovery in Skøyen Church
I was attending a practice weekend with KorMajor in Skøyen Church, and on the Sunday I looked up at the glass painting during the service. The way the glass panes were divided seemed to open up my mind to a possible way of organizing the topics I had found in my notes (image from norske-kirker.net).
At around the same time I had found the title for the collage book. It is from the world of chemistry, a natural field for me; Equilibrium. I found that it encompassed the balance I was searching for in vain and the flexibility of movement that I require in my life.
COLLECTION OF NOTES
Dissection and transferral
In this part the diary from 2017 and the independent notes were dissected and transferred to Excel. The result was approximately 300 lines of distinct topics, ideas and pieces of writing.
DIARY OF 2017
Dealing with the past and the present
After a difficult period of my life, I was in need of a check-in on myself to set a new course for my life. Thus I wrote a diary for the entire year of 2017, and in addition several independent notes, not holding anything back. This was the material I allowed myself to process in the project. One could say that this collage-book is a cross-section of my life in my mid 20s. Now, I do not believe that people generally change too much, thus many of the discoveries I would make during the following steps were assumed to be universal facets of myself. During this time period I had not found the title for the book, and called my notes "Facets of Me"
