April 06, 2011

Positive Sign #7 & 8

by Christine Wong Yap

Positive Signs is a weekly series of interpretive diagrams, quotes, and speculations on creativity, optimism* and the lives of artists, published every Wednesday through June.

Christine Wong Yap, Positive Sign #5 (Manipulating Symbolic Systems), 2011, glitter and neon pen with foil print on gridded vellum, 8.5 x 11 in / 21.5 x 28 cm. Axis 1: complexity. Axis 2: Time and effort. threshold: manipulating symbolic systems. axioms: easy - challenging. stasis - personal and cultural growth. accessible pleasure - rewards slow to emerge. distraction/amusement - potential for satisfaction. Not all forms of enjoyment are equally worth pursuing, though it is easier to find pleasure in things that are easier and much more difficult to enjoy doing things like manipulating symbolic systems and learning from doing these things about the world and about ourselves.

Christine Wong Yap, Positive Sign #7 (Manipulating Symbolic Systems), 2011, glitter and neon pen with foil print on gridded vellum, 8.5 x 11 in / 21.5 x 28 cm.

Christine Wong Yap, Positive Sign #8 (Flow and Happiness), 2011, glitter and neon pen with iridescent foil print on gridded vellum, 8.5 x 11 in / 21.5 x 28 cm. from timeline of flow, add complexity and productivity to result in happiness. from timeline of flow, add purposelessness or harm to unhappiness. The link between flow and happiness depends on whether the flow-producing activity is complex, whether it leads to new challenges and hence to personal as well as cultural growth. Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi.

Christine Wong Yap, Positive Sign #8 (Flow and Happiness), 2011, glitter and neon pen with iridescent foil print on gridded vellum, 8.5 x 11 in / 21.5 x 28 cm.

*Notwithstanding brief forays into the nature of space, stuff, experience, and cognition.

—

Next Wednesday: Positive Signs #9 & 10 on distractions and the ambitiousness of tasks.

See all Positive Signs to date.
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