Recognizing change : a set of short studies in pattern

Abstract

This thesis presents a set of investigations on how pattern can be used to register change. Pattern--a set of attributes repeatedly transformed by rules--can be used to make apparent objects or ideas that transform and the operations that alter them. Our reactions to change, whether accepting or resisting it, are often repeated over time in a behavioral pattern. Repeated resistance to change is one of the patterns marking the psychological concept of Narcissism, a condition which can be both a useful defense mechanism and a paralyzing affliction. Faced with increasing technological change, contemporary culture has exhibited distinct patterns of resistance, patterns that describe a cultural condition of Narcissism. This project examines the production of pattern through different mechanisms of change. Each mechanism distances the designer from decisions about the object's final form. This distance suspends a Narcissistic desire for control. Rather than controlling change, the designer's rules must adapt to it. This thesis does not use pattern as an imposed form. Instead, this use of pattern creates models for a reciprocal dialogue between the intelligence of the designer and larger processes of change.