aRt Story

Much as I wanted not to claim it, I guess I have to confess that this would be my first serious shot on blogging. I don’t consider answering questions on friendster’s bulletin board as blogging, and neither do I constantly post notes on facebook. The closest thing I can relate to this is my livejournal account, which I barely used (anyone who could remember?) I had it way back when having a mobile phone with multi-color housing that matches your outfit puts you on the pedestal of demigods. So please bear with this neophyte. As Henry Ford once said and was quoted in the documentary, “Every object has a story,” and so is this blog… and this is my version of it.

The documentary, “Objectified”, brought compounded thoughts in my head, with a running time of an hour and half, more than 10 interviewees, and presentations of various products and designs, from toothbrush to cars, laptops and mobiles. It was actually an information overload. My trail of thoughts, as I watch the film, ran in crossroads as disorganized as my handwriting as I curved these words. So to put into method my thoughts and better understand my insights, I will make use of an acronym very close to the documentary, and to the course that we are taking, baduy as it may sound… A.R.T.

Appreciate

I guess after the film, I or maybe even some of you would never look at a toothpick the same way again. I guess one might even check those tiny lines on its tip, or even try snapping it after used, or simply look into its details. Those tiny details that little did I know has a meaning, a purpose, and a reason that root back to a culture or symbolism. Details of designs where there because it serves a purpose. The innovation that the designer went through, those sleepless nights and long awaited eureka moments just to improve the product, to develop it for the consumers’ convenience; it is for us and worth our salute. It made me appreciate more and thank God that I was born in this generation where most things are fast and easy. I bet you wouldn’t like, not even dare to imagine, being in the era when peeling a potato would need a sharp rock and do it the Flintstone way. As I look around my tiny space, seeing a hanger hooked on the edge of my bed, hampers in shape of rectangle and circle, rotating stand fan, music playing on my phone, these are the things I see everyday but did not really dwell much on its usefulness on how it makes life less complicated. Now, I no longer see mere products, but man’s ingenuity. What I see are people with great mind, untiring hands, and flaming passion to create products not for themselves alone but for all.

Respect

With much appreciation, I give my high respect not only to the designers but also to their products. I used to think that some products or designs are non-sense, of no use, waste of resources, and made with one eye shot and half of the brain dead. Honestly, at first, I thought that the laptop featured by one of the designers would need a miracle in order to sell it, not even to his relatives, unless it will come as free. I don’t think it’s efficient, I don’t like it being bulky, it looks heavy, and its monitor and keypad are too small for its size. Its only saving grace is the “automatic eject” if incase your pencil rolled on the side of the monitor (genius…err… right?). But after much pondering and guilt eating my conscience for being nasty, I realized, who am I to critique someone’s work. I don’t know the effort he exerted for it; I wouldn’t know what he went through to come up with such product. Who am I to really critique when I haven’t even tried spelling my name backwards. Perhaps at times I think out of the box, but this guy, he thought out of this world that led him to create a box that is yet to exist. I guess it would take me forever to create one, even with my two eyes wide open.

Take Action

All those innovations and product development take me back some years ago when being cool means having moving phone saver screen and an infrared that allows you to play the mobile game Snake in two players. There I was engaged on a debate, trying to argue why innovation must have some repercussions, limitations and considerations. I was standing on the opposite side… alone. My point is that while the rest of the world is advancing with all these high technological gadgets and moving forward in zip and zaps, there are people, somewhere unknown, who haven’t even heard a music through a radio, or the word television is gibberish, or electricity, radio waves, or satellites have reached their community. Who knows that maybe, just maybe, there are really some who still live in the realm of Fred or Tarzan. It made me feel bad to desire more, to want more, I was afraid to be engulfed by materialism and advancement. Some thought I am acting weird, thinking slow, an old soul… and I thought so too. If all of those meant looking forward but trying to preserve culture and origin, reaching and grasping innovations but holding to what really matters most, stepping forward towards a new world but leaving a trail so as anytime I can look back and go back or let others follow, and to ensure no one gets lost or left behind… then by all means I am weird, slow and old soul.

The documentary reminded me of an action I almost forgot for sometime. As said in the film, at the end of the day the purpose of these products is to help us survive each day, we put meaning to it, value to it… but with that I guess, I put on my hand the responsibility to make use of these instruments, to be an instrument to create a bigger impact and greater cause not only for me to survive and to savor each moment, but most importantly for others as well.