WRONGNESS: A REFLECTION ON THE IDEA OF MISTAKE AS A CATALYST FOR THE CREATIVE PROCESS MARIA SERRENHO LIMA 1
London College of Fashion, University of Arts London, m.serrenholima1@arts.ac.uk
Abstract: Wrongness is a temporal concept, an approach towards (creative) creation and above all, a process, born from a reflection where the representation of time and a cross-disciplinary practice merge. Explored in the context of a Masters Project in Fashion Media Production, it results from the fusion of the adjective ‘wrong’ and the noun ‘process’ - wrong(n)(proc)ess evolves through the acceptance of the error as a relevant and positive working tool. Referring to a posture towards the conception of a project that embraces the unexpected as a signal leading to new paths of discovery, wrongness surpasses the notion of trial-and-error because the error becomes a creative agent, never a lost opportunity. Keywords: becoming, process, accident, unknown, transience, vulnerability.
1. Wrong(n)(proc)ess Wrong(n)(proc)ess embodies a cross-disciplinary approach that can be found and applied to most creative areas, exclusively dependent on the way one looks and interprets the problematic. From architecture to fashion design, the wrongness thought comprises a condensation of time in the way that it implies a constant state of becoming of ‘the project’, promoting its constant progression into something new - each mistake gives place to something else, catalyzing new solutions and ideas. In the end of the production process, ‘the piece’ encapsulates a set of errors and solutions that are relevant enough to be shown as part of that same project, as a whole. Wrongness refers to those aspects of the creative work considered unfavorable: the mistakes, the accidents, the errors. The negative connotations associated with these words intend to be demystified, through a line of though that proves perfection as a delusion and its search a nonrewarding journey. According to the American philosopher Daniel C. Dennett (2013), “mistakes are not just opportunities for learning; they are, in an important sense, the only opportunity for learning or making something truly new.“ The imperfection of the creative process that accompanies the
conception of a project (independently of its scale, program or use) is regarded as the catalyst for its progress. Wrongness is the mistake at the surface. Wrongness is making the vulnerability visible. Wrongness is fragile.
In the context of an industry that has a known obsession for perfection, the aim of the wrongness research is to question these given values, showing the beauty and relevance of what is unfinished, imperfect and indeterminate.
Figure 1: Scans from Paul Arden “It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be” (2003)
1.1 Indeterminate Mutation Indetermination can be considered one of the main characteristics of the wrongness practice. Unlike the machines that act promptly, creative beings are recurrently targeted by doubts, questions and wanderings. Thereafter, creative processes end up embodying the feelings and moods felt at a certain time, while being reflective of an ability to adapt to new situations, evolving in accordance to the will or necessity of its author. As a reaction towards the extreme determinacy of clothing production processes, Rei Kawakubo created the lace sweater in 1982 – a piece of clothing that, full of defects, is the apparent result of an accidental disfigurement or a technical problem. In her long adoration for the 'imperfect' and as some sort of manifesto, Kawakubo mangled the machines in purpose, so that they give an error and are not able to produce what they are originally scheduled for – determined perfection: “The originality of the sweater is not the disabling of the machine, but the paradox of the actual technological sophistication required to create its imperfection.“ (Koda, 2010, p.30)
In the context of wrongness, indeterminacy refers to the ability of a project to grow, without a prior establishment of its route. It allows the work-in-progress to adapt to changing needs but also to learn and get enriched from that same journey. The state of becoming, embodied in this work philosophy, shapes a time-based approach towards the creative process (and its representation) that 2
comes from the understanding of a project (being it a landscape, an intervention, a building or a piece of clothing) as something that has the ability to continuously progress, even after its conventional 'final outcome'. In this regard, the role of the mistake is crucial as it is the catalyst for the project’s transformation and evolution: “Sometimes you don’t just want to risk making mistakes; you actually want to make them — if only to give you something clear and detailed to fix. Making mistakes is the key to making progress.“
(Dennett, 2013) The reflection upon this constant state of mutation is born from the concept of incompleteness, created and explored in the MA thesis “Incompleteness in the crossing of architecture and clothing” (my surname, 2013), which refers to the impermanent and transient state of all things; incompleteness questions the importance of incorporating time as an integral part of a project, in order to allow its adaptation to the passage of time. In accordance with the notions exposed, the wrongness research intends to practice this adaptation to the passage of time in its indeterminacy. Being generated by the notion of incompleteness, wrongness intends to keep maturing, evolving, through its own mistakes while seeding new concepts and ideas. It is about a coexistence of permanence and change, of cycles that leave things behind but also nurture new knowledge. This approach towards research has been built based on the study of Japanese culture, which has become extremely relevant during the incompleteness research, and still is. Born of Zen ideals and recognized as the principle of wabi-sabi, this main source of knowledge “describes a traditional Japanese aesthetic sensibility based on an appreciation of the transient beauty of the physical world“
(Juniper, 2003). The wabi-sabi concept and its inherent aesthetic ideals promote a reflection on the cycles of life, an appreciation for the beauty of things imperfect, a positive acceptance of mortality and a special affinity for qualities like asymmetry and indetermination; finding its full representation in the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, wabi-sabi differs immensely from the western thought, still stuck to the Hellenic ideals. A very simple and challenging life philosophy explored through the work of Japanese designers Rei Kawakubo, Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto, through the indeterminate and evolving course of their creative process and also of their creations’ post-production life. Kawakubo, Miyake and Yamamoto’s longtime exploration of the wrongness ideals makes them significant case studies, regularly referenced, supporting the construction of the wrongness thought and narrative.
Figure 2 & 3: Rai Kawakubo Lace Sweater (1989); wabi-sabi symbols, utensils of traditional tea ceremony.
“What is the universe like? Things are either devolving toward, or evolving from, nothingness... While the universe destructs it also constructs. New things emerge out of nothingness. But we can’t really determine by cursory observation whether something is in the evolving or devolving mode...“ (Juniper, 2003) 1.2 Imperfection: Condensation of Time Imperfection comes across this investigation as the characteristic that allows a project to adapt to the passage of time - the ability to condense in one material object the constancy of change due to the project’s loose ends, which promote its progress, evolution and appropriation. The potential of imperfection comes from the understanding of perfection as something static and untouchable that eventually becomes out of context due to its response to one unique moment in time. The creation of something perfect involves a dedication towards the determinist conception of the project, not allowing any part of it to be explored by the user. This strict approach towards design incites the creation of 'monuments' - inert objects stuck in time, not able to evolve or adapt due to their inability to incorporate change. As noted by Fraser: “The fullness of the world appears to us as properly represented only if formal expressions can be found embodying the permanent and accommodating the changing nature of reality.“ (Fraser, 1968, p.586)
The imperfection of a project has its start in the creative process and extends itself into the formal conception and posterior appropriation by the user. It is a continuous and unstable process that relies on the existence of the mistake to grow into something new. Imperfection is about a 'permanence in change', through an ability to recognize and accept change according to a desire of permanence; this approach towards creation is presented by Fraser through three different guidelines (Fraser, 1968, p.586): the first one deals with the concerns for the future, where expectations are projected; the second refers to the memory of the past, which holds its continuity; finally, an awareness of the present through the integration of expectation and memory. These three main ideas refer to the perception of time, expectation and memory, being key thoughts in the study and understanding of mistakes. As the palimpsest1 retains the marks and traces of time, so does a 'wrong' piece of clothing, in the way it positions itself in between place and time – the object is able to condense in itself its journey, encourage change and promote a new indeterminate future route. Yohji Yamamoto’s work incorporates these same ideals through clothing that is never finished and does not belong to one specific time, reflecting the imperfection of the surrounding world. His known wish to design time is responsible for the rejection of symmetry and for conceiving garments that, despite new, appear to be lived-in. “Exploring the history of clothing in all its most aesthetic variations, the Yamamoto style
celebrates and at the same time incessantly questions the ambiguous marriage between the enduring and the ephemeral. Out of this, as all great moments in fashion, “classics” are born – contemporary forms imbued with a wealth of historical references that secretly perpetuate themselves in new guises.“ (Baudot,
2005, p.10) Imperfection, mistake and failure are implicit to Yamamoto’s work. His clothes work as communication tools, through which he explores fundamental questions of human existence. The imperfection of his garments goes beyond their unfinished look to be about a condensation of time where a base of permanence (the garment) welcomes human existence through the coexistence of mistakes, of age, of living experiences: “If one has only one piece of clothing in life, it becomes patched together, exposed to the sun and rain, frayed from de course of daily life, I wanted to create clothing with the same kind of unconscious beauty and natural appeal.“ (Yamamoto quoted by Frankel, 2010) 1 The palimpsest is a manuscript page from a book, used during the Middle Age (VII-XII); the text was recurrently erased so that it could be used again.
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It is possible to conclude that wrongness inhabits the Yamamoto clothes, as it does in all projects that are able to condense time. Imperfection works as the mirror of past failures and achievements, through the traces of time inscribed on the piece. Yamamoto’s garments communicate wrongness in his holistic approach towards fashion design, becoming an example of wrongness materialization. When mistakes are exposed, confessing a relatable story, they behave as a communication tool that contextualizes the project at issue. The traces inscribed can be interpreted and continued by the user, as the mistakes catalyze appropriation, stimulate actions, and imperfection allows the re-creation of something new.
Figure 4 & 5 – Yohji Yamamoto Menswear SS13; palimpsest from the Middle Age.
“I think perfection is ugly. Somewhere in the things human make, I want to see scars, failure, disorder, distortion. If I can feel those things in works by others, then I like them. Perfection is kind of order, like overall harmony and so on... They are things someone forces onto a thing. A free human does not desire such things.” (Yamamoto quoted by Frankel, 2010, p.181) 1.3 Improvisation: adhocism Following an indeterminate capability of adaptation and an imperfect performance, improvisation refers to a valuable creation tool, as it instigates a positive approach towards the act of making mistakes and consequent way of dealing with them. As a characteristic of the wrongness practice, improvisation has its understanding based on the adhocism principle. As a reference for the study of the subject, a literary piece was adopted as a main guide: “Adhocism: the case for improvisation” (2013) by Charles Jencks and Nathan Silver. Originally published in 1972, the book conveys an alternative way of creating that reacts against the deterministic doctrines of the modernist movement, dominating architecture and design
methodologies at that time. As relevant today as it was during its emergence, adhocism refers to a timeless strategy that works efficiently towards the solution of a problem, through an existing system, taking advantage of the resources available at a certain place and time. “Charles Jencks first used adhocism, as a term, in the context of architectural criticism, back in 1968. The word was born form the phrase Ad Hoc that means 'for this specific purpose' and reveals the desire for immediate and purposeful action which permeates everyday life.“ (Jencks and Silver, 2013, p.16) Contradicting massive ways of production and the diffusion of homogenized products, adhocism promotes the value of personalized invention through the combination of pre-existing components. Generating a cross-disciplinary thought, the Ad Hoc doctrine can be applied to all forms of composition, from small everyday actions until main design processes. The basic principle of this thought is based on the idea of assemblage, working on the combination of different layers for the conception of one consistent unit: “Where everyone can create his personal environment out of impersonal subsystems, whether they are new or old, modern or antique. By realizing his immediate needs, by combining ad hoc parts, the individual creates, sustains and transcends himself.“ (Jencks and Silver,
2013, p.15) The concrete practice of adhocism reflects the process of improvising in order to achieve one specific goal. “Where luck or random, or trial and error, do enter into successful creativity, they enter in as an aid to purposeful searching and not a substitute for it.“ (Jencks and Silver, 2013, p.18) The conception of a transparent project that is born from a specific context is achieved through a collection of different units that, being exposed, can establish a link to places, ideas, moments in time. Therefore, the product ends up being the reflection of its own meaning. There is an implicit story telling to this practice that establishes the connection with the wrongness concept - the desire to conceive a project where the exposure of its own flaws allows the reading of the creative process, turning it into an unique source of knowledge.
Figure 6 & 7 – Robert Rauschenber Accident (1963); scan from Paul Arden “It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be” (2003)
“This is a lithograph by Robert Rauchenberg entitled Accident. (…) The glaring feature of the print however is this diagonal crack that runs along the left side of the sheet. (…) What I love about this is that it is really a print about printmaking. Rauschenberg embraces the process and the pitfalls of making a print. We all have experienced an accident. And it is about how you sort of deal with the accident, where many others would have abandoned the work. Rauschenberg ingeniously made it central to the print. It is not about uniqueness but became about the idea of reproducibility. It is about spontaneity and turning chance of facts into a work of art.” (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013) 6
2. (IN)Visible representation The motto of this essay is to reflect over a representation question - assuming a creative project as a process that is never complete or finished, the conventional 'final outcome' is not enough as a definition. Therefore, the imperfect practice, usually hidden from the public, becomes relevant as a key part of the product’s identity and meaning: “We need to understand artworks as products of specific processes, of production and reception, that operate within a further expanded and interdisciplinary field.“ (Rendel, 2010, p.43) Referring to a context of creative practice applied to clothing conception, the specific processes of production (with mistakes included) become relevant moments in time that mark the course of the creative process, and are decisive for the representation of that same project. For that reason, the representation of production processes becomes as relevant as what is considered to be its final outcome, as defended by adhocism principle and exemplified by the recent Mars rover called Curiosity: “like all adhocist concoctions, the parts of Curiosity show what they do, where they come from in the past, and how they are put together. Such legibility and dissectibility are key expressive aspects of adhocism, goals in themselves, part of the definition.“ (Jencks and Silver, 2013, p.vii) The question of representation posed by this essay remains on how to represent a clothing project considering his conception processes, its formal questions and its eventual appropriation by the user. How to represent a project in its incompleteness? In an attempt to answer these questions, a main case study was taken under consideration with the aim to further examine the role of the mistake in the creative process, but also to perceive a concrete process of production and representation that fits the parameters of this research - Lara Torres, Portuguese fashion designer, has been developing, since 2005, a research that focuses on the question of memory through clothing. During an interview held on the 25 th of November 2013, Lara explained the relevance of the mistake during the production processes and the coexistence of physical and digital processes in her work. Through her many collections and projects, Lara has been working, developing and understanding the question of memory, at the same time that she raises questions related to identity and failure. Remaining transversal to all her body of work, the mistake is embraced by the designer: “This idea of mistake was something that came naturally within the practice of experimental fashion research. (…) The idea of failure in the production process was very close to this idea of trying to remember something and not being able to do it accurately.“ (Torres, 2013) Considering herself available for accidents to happen and accepting them as a working tool, the designer refers to the failures of the creative process as calls of attention for new unseen perspectives - “they usually tend to give me more interesting answers.“ (Torres, 2013) Lara Torres’ work is especially relevant for the wrongness discussion as she embraces the 'wrong aspects' of the production process and shows them to the viewer as part that same work. Not separating the moment of presentation from its actual conception, her presentations are always rich, complex and intricate. Besides questioning many aspects of the fashion industry, the time-consciousness of Torres’ work honors the long and intense creative journey taken to achieve those results: “In relation to the public, I think it is very important to value the work in progress within itself, to get in touch with the mistakes and the achieved pieces.“ (Torres, 2013) Being naturally attracted towards imperfection, the choice of her working tools rely on the challenge they imply, choosing tools that allows her to fail, which are not precise only by themselves. One of the many addressed subjects throughout the interview was the crossing of digital and physical processes in the conception of fashion designs. Admitting the importance of that crossaction, Torres explained how those processes are mirrors of the project’s concepts, opting not to reduce them to mere working tools.
In the context of her current work, the physical and digital processes are very relevant as they reflect her questions regarding the material and immaterial world. As explained by the designer, the combination of both allows and catalyzes a discussion on the transient nature of fashion. Taking “An Impossible Wardrobe for the Invisible” (2011) as an example of this approach, a collection of garments was produced with the intention of being destroyed, remaining nothing of them but a set of seven videos - “I have used video as a sort of memory and that leaves the objects into a sort of limbo because they were actually material objects but now they are only recorded images.“ (Torres, 2013)
Figure 8 & 9: frames from Lara Torres “An Impossible Wardrobe for the Invisible” (2011)
The deterministic behavior of digital technology is referred by Torres as responsible for the disappearance of the possibility of mistakes. In that sense she raises questions related to how this digital environments affect and change the course of the design process? Being sure about the fact that 3D software changes the approach towards the conception of an object, Lara uses the expression 'translation' referring to the act of approaching something through a tool – not being a direct intervention, the work is made upon an abstract representation or reality. Perceiving it as a challenging new working tool, Lara Torres justifies why she puts herself and her work through those new processes of discovery: “I am using the 3D software as I have ever used everything, as a tool for questioning.“ (Torres, 2013) Is possible to conclude that Lara Torres’ explanation of her creative and production processes brought awareness to a cross-disciplinary practice, in the sense that she embraces both digital and physical tools as part of her project’s own definition. The understanding of Lara’s concrete and complex work philosophy allowed this research to extend its formulation of wrongness, questioning the definition of mistake and proposing a maximum usage and benefit of working platforms, in the context of creative production. Therefore, lies in the power of the creative mind, to take the most advantage of the available working tools, enriching the project with these extensions, rather than being limited to a direct and constrained application. Wrongness as a work in progress, moves into the unknown as it keeps building itself as a work philosophy and methodology. It is the unique result of an individual experience, of a path that witnessed the creative power of moving through the imperfetion and the mistake. The moment when the impoverishment of both the process and final result of the journey that seeks perfection 8
became clear, a new path of learning began - through the incompleteness that crosses architecture and clothing, while submerse into the wabi-sabi wisdom. Welcoming transience and imperfection, opened a new door for knowledge: a route of 'wrongdoing' as the only 'rightdoing'. The final hipothesis of the 'wrong paper' relies on: the process of creating something already known or seen is appealing due to the safety of its journey and is commonly perceived as the only rightdoing, because it has already been approved by someone, whereas the wrongdoing leads us through the world of the unknown, of the uncertain – which is the only one that allows the discovery of something new. The process of wrongdoing will always take the research and the thought into failure, erros and mistakes as the only way of generating new knowledge. Wondering about the representation of the 'becoming of the clothing', through wrongdoing, should be above all, a tool its own questioning.
Figure 10 & 11: Tracey Emin Terribly Wrong (1997); Mark Borthwick photography.
Acknowledgements My most profound gratitude to all my loved ones, who have been supporting me and encouraging wrongness since its embryonary state. Many thanks to my tutors Nilgin Yusuf and Thomas Makryniotis, my inspirational spiritual guides Lara Torres and Cidália Silva, and my dear friend Fernando. I dedicate this paper to my parents and my little sister Ju.
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