Shape Sifting
TAoN No. 182: An alternative (or sequel) to a color journey. Plus a new Missing Word, and more
I wrote about my take on color walks a few months ago — an old-favorite exercise that plenty of readers suggested variations on. Today I want to endorse an alternative, or maybe a sequel: the shape walk.
Yes, it’s what it sounds like: looking out for certain shapes (circles, triangles, cones, crosses, fleur-de-lis, or more esoteric choices) instead of colors. But it can also be something more that this.
Lately I’ve been looking out for circles on my bike rides, and as with hunting for color, the practice has caused me to note other elements of the environments that I’m passing through, things I would likely have missed. (I wrote a little about that in a Supporter post; you can also check out TAoN Supporters’ circle-spotting adventures here.)
And as I’ve continued this practice, it has led to thinking about human-made shapes vs. nature-made shapes more broadly. The old saw that there are no straight lines in nature isn’t strictly true — but I think it’s fair to say that nature prefers more varied, intricate, unpredictable shapes. Maybe straight lines bore nature?
There are several ways to look for shapes, or potential shape-walk parameters.
Look for shapes in relative isolation.
Notice shapes in combination.
Pay attention to the contrast between human shapes and nature shapes. Note where something human-made is shaping or altering the shape nature seems to prefer.
Pay attention to the opposite phenomenon.
Pay attention to both happening at once.
Play a game: count horizontal rectangles vs. vertical rectangles, for instance.
Look for human-made shapes inspired by or ostensibly representing nature.
Note shapes that are human-made, but unusual or idiosyncratic.
Note shapes that are nature-made, but orderly (like a spider web).
Play with a friend, a child, a class, a team. Make up your own variations — I’d love to hear ‘em in the comments.
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Dictionary of Missing Words is an exercise in paying attention to phenomena you encounter — sensations, concepts, states between states, feelings, slippery things — that could be named, but don’t seem to be. More here and here.
This week’s missing word is from reader Linda:
You wake up feeling too warm and your skin is sticky. Before you venture a leg out from under the duvet, you seek out a cold spot in the bed. You might find it right at the bottom of the bed, or by turning the pillow over. That all-too-fleeting moment of deliciousness as the cold linen touches your skin and you feel your temperature regulate is surely deserving of its own word.
Thanks Linda!
Describe your Missing Words in the comments, or send them to my email below.
IN OTHER NEWS
Haiku Vandal. Nice. (Related: poetry bombing, one of my all-time favorite projects.) (Thx Erin B!)
The #oneblockwalk — a good idea!
“This website collects movie clips with inaccurate binocular shots (i.e., two overlapping circles instead of one, as you would see in real life).”
Daily Heller interviews Paola Antonelli about the new MoMA exhibition, Pirouette: Turning Points in Design.
Photographer documents the basketball courts — all 2,549 of them — of Hong Kong.
“The Assignment: Interpret a routine public sign as a musical instruction.”
Fun prompt from KBB: draw your favorite article of clothing.
“The End Files is a weekly newsletter featuring stories about death.” Notable obituaries, news, art, etc. This week’s poll: “After someone dies, what keepsake do you want?”
OKAY THAT’S IT!
As always, I value your feedback: suggestions, critiques, positive reinforcement, etc. Constructive insults may be directed at me, not at anyone else. I also welcome your tips or stories or personal noticing rituals, things we need a word for, and of course your icebreakers, at consumed@robwalker.net. Or use the comments.
—> Tell someone about TAoN! Or just click the heart symbol. That always makes my day.
And thanks for reading …
rw
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All this by Rob Walker PO Box 171, 748 Mehle St., Arabi LA 70032. Send me mail!
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I walk at least 5 times a week. I live in a residential suburb. I am noticing feathers at the moment. I stand them in the soil. It’s kind of a ‘I was here’ when I walk past the next day they’re there waiting, a message to my future self.
I love this post, Rob!
You got me thinking about…
How nature changes our color,
Sun tan, wind burn.
How humans change the shape of water; place hand in the ocean, the wake of the water, as the fishing boats return to the harbor.
How humans change the shape of the atmosphere; a baseball sailing over home plate, a jazz concert.
I love the way the sunlight illuminates, reflects, shadows, and shapes itself around Holman objects.
How human and natural sounds interact; singing in the rain, the sails of a sailboat slapping against the high winds of a Nor’easter.