Artefacts.
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To make theatre, you only need two people- and a candle. One to act, one to watch- and a light.
“The world is a stage.”
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The act of designing a set, in my opinion, is no different to that of designing a building, public space or environment that plays a performative role in some sort of interaction with an entity. It could be said, that architecture in itself plays a performative directorial role, as does the environment that is built, as do the entities that interact, or don’t interact with that environment. A question exists around what in particular it is about our understanding of a set, for instance, that is believed to be unreal, and at which point that belief has a threshold. It is clear that there are distinctions between representations of what we regard as real, and our own interpretations of what we believe to be real. It is also clear that as humans we feel the need to distinguish and delegate an actual, or factual from that of the unreal, idealised or notional- perhaps as a method of positioning ourselves in a reality we feel have control over. It is where the two concepts collide/blur/junction/interweave and become indecipherable from one another that I find deeply interesting. The moments in which new meaning can be made through abstract treatment and understanding of the real and fake, can form incidental and indirect significance that can inform our existing understandings of reality; and perhaps catalyse a new one. This initial discussion led me to a path of discovery as to how architecture can act as a referential device, to alter a users perceprion of program and sense of place. Major Project Artefacts
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1. Question Everything
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What is... Realness
Fakeness ...and can they do the same thing?
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fig. A: Parisian Set, Paris
fig. B: Moreland Hotel, Brunswick
fig. C: Statue, Moreland Hotel, Brunswick
what dictates the real over the fake? Are there rules of reality? Major Project Artefacts
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fig. A: Botticelli Venus Apron
fig. B: Michelangelo’s ‘Statue of David’ toy models
fig. C: ‘Aphrodite’, ‘Statue of David’ sphinx pop sculpture
what is representation in recognisability?
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fig. A: Grissaille Wallpaper
fig. B: Forest mural, South Bronx 1983, Thomas Hoekeeper
and what does it mean when a reality is referenced? and is decoration as performative as function? Major Project Artefacts
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fig. A: Bouncy Castle house
fig. B: Bouncy Castle Church
fig. C: Inflatable Church
and can things perform more than one role? and can these roles take on other meanings? Major Project Artefacts
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fig. A: ‘Nike’ lookalike brands
fig. B: Real & Counterfeit Gucci ‘Soho Disco’ purses
what does it mean to emulate something? and does it matter if it cannot be recognised or deciphered? what dictates authenticity and what promise does it make? Major Project Artefacts
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fig. A: Fake security cameras
fig. B: Plastic owl
and does it matter if it still performs a role?
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fig. A: Ken Isaac, ‘Beach Matrix’
how does place or location affect role? what is the minimum performance of a role to remain a role? Major Project Artefacts
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fig. A: Greg Girard, ‘Temple Roof ’
fig. B: Temple relocation, Egypt
fig. C: Church relocation, Ireland
at what scale do we associate location and place to? and what happens when this is shifted? Major Project Artefacts
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fig. A: Mike Tyson with pet tiger, 1985
fig. B: Cheetah on screen, unknown
fig. C: Cheetah on screen, unknown
we apply different significance between our perceptions of real and fake
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fig. A: Brad Pitt with his body double, name unknown
importance is placed on distinguishing an original
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fig. A: David Byrne, big jacket ‘Stop Making Sense’ era, 1983
fig. B: Balenciaga big jackets, 2020
at which point does one thing become another? does everything have a threshold of recognisability? how big can a jacket be before it is no longer recognised as a jacket? Major Project Artefacts
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fig. A: James Wines, Laurie Mallett House NY 1985
what role does time play? is meaning made through legacy, historical or cultural significance? Major Project Artefacts
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fig. A: cowgirl at parking meter
conventions are associated with our understanding of histories understanding derives from (perceived & learned) fact
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fig. A: Virgin Mary back tattoo
fig. B: Danny Trejo Tattoos, Mexico 1982
a key observation may lay in the artistic license reserved by representation of historical and spiritual references
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fig. A: Ernst Caramelle, ‘Video Landscapes’
representation can be an abstraction or portrayal of itself, or something else it is in the else that interpretations are often made
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2. Abstract, Test & Discuss
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a set is built for an act to take place.
act
• take action; do something. • behave so as to appear to be; pretend to be.
a set is a device that infers a reality.
reality
• the state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them. • the state or quality of having existence or substance.
location
• a particular place or position. • the action of locating someone or something.
performative
• relating to or of the nature of dramatic or artistic performance. • characterized by the performance of a social or cultural role.
stage
• a scene of action or forum of debate, especially in a particular political context. • present a performance of (a play or other show) / cause (dramatic or unexpected) to happen.
decoration
• the process or art of decorating something. • a thing that serves as an ornament..
meaning
• implied or explicit significance. • intended to communicate something that is not directly expressed.
precede
• come before (something) in time. • preface or introduce something with.
time
• the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole.
a set can be built in any location.
all built space is performative.
stage. the world is a stage.
a decoration performs as much as a wall.
a set holds as much meaning as its location.
a performance precedes a set.
reality is implied, meaning is made through time.
aaset real set isisreal. Major Project Artefacts
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Initial set design research & imaginings of a South-West Australian logging township, circa 1887 Bath
Bath
Kit/Living
Kit/Living
Balcony
Loft
Open
Bed
Bed
Living Room
Kitchen
Verandah
2m
1m
01 Single Cabin
2m
1m
02 Double Cabin
1m
03 Wide Cabin
2m
Verandah
Kitchen
Kitchen Verandah
Pantry Kitchen
Parlor
Dining
Bath
Store
Bed
Bed
Bed
Bed
Bed
Bed
Parlor
Bed
Dining
Drawing Verandah
Verandah
01 Small Weatherboard
1m
02 Stilted Weatherboard
2m
1m
2m
03 Stone
1m
2m
WC
Store Conservatory
Scullery
Bath
Kitchen
Pantry
Kitchen Box Room
Dining Verandah Pantry
Servery Servants Hall
Kitchen
Dining Room
Drawing
Bed Billiards Room
Pantry
Passage Hall Inner Hall
Library
Dining
Bed
Bed
Boudoir Drawing Room
Entrance Hall
Porch
Hall
Parlor Verandah
Veranda
Verandah 1m
07 Homestead
05 Double Front
1m
2m
06 Double Storey
2m
23
1m
2m
1m
01 Store
06 Store
13 Victorian
1m
1m
2m
2m
07 Store
11 Cluster
2m
1m
02 Store
2m
1m
03 Store
1m
2m
04 Store
1m
2m
2m
08 Log Shed
24
1m
2m
09 Stone Jail
2m
1m
05 Store
2m
1m
1m
2m
Bath
Kit/Living Bed
Plan
A1 Fowler House
1m
2m
“A small, timber cottage surrounded by majestic forest and rugged farmland. Firelight flickers from behind the window.� 25
Outhouse Elevation Kitchen
Parlor
Bed
Bed
Verandah
Front Elevation
A2 Weaver
1m
2m
Plan
Setting Elevation
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cut!
The previous work protrayed set design imaginings of a time and place based on three things..
THE QUIET
Written by Ben Young
Based on, the short story by Carys Davies 1st DRAFT June 28, 2020
© Carver Films +61 3 94956678 carver@carverfilms.com 1/59 Keele StreetCollingwood VIC, Australia 3066
1. A fictional narrative in the form of a feature film script titled ‘The Quiet’ 2. A body of historical and referential research utilizing archival resources 3. An imagination.
I seek to investigate how we understand meaning through the familiar and the constructed, using the idea of ‘set’ as a device to question how semiotic architectural representations of the ‘real’ and ‘unreal’ are interpreted and can be reshaped to form a new polemic.
Firstly, in extracting formal and aesthetic meaning from a constructed narrative as well as a body of archival research, there is both an act of abstraction and projection taking place simultaneously.
It is this act that an interesting transition occurs between what once may have been ‘real’, and a comparatively ‘unreal’ or synthesised representation, displaced from an origin of time and place.
Abstraction Projection Synthesization Assosciation Representation Recognisability Identification Simulation Displacement
Time
Time
Origin
Origin
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1887
2020
Setting
Location
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Victoria
South-West Aus
Displacement of time and place forms a feedback loop of abstraction and reapplication of formal meaning. A question of origin is raised as to whether accuracy of past reality is what is being projected, or merely a suggestion that can be understood by a reader Major Project Artefacts
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Many of these questions revolve around perspective, in which as we understand has an inherent subjectivity. Perhaps the meaning made from understandings of location, place, the real and unreal are able to be divided into interpretations, or scales of reality. These could be understood as layers.
fig. B: Reality diagram
Reality 1 Reality 2 Reality 3 Reality 4
fig. A: Set sketch diagram
Reality 1 Major Project Artefacts
Reality 2
Reality 5
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This diagram attemts to describe this layering of meaning and reality based upon immediate perspective.
Jack Stirling s3544564
The Formal Test
Permancy of Structure, Formal Readings, Performative Use A set supporting a narrative uses associative mechanisms in order to capture and suggest an immediate atmosphere. In ‘REAL LIFE’, conventional and familiar programmatic tropes also do this by using architectural devices which serve to identify themselves for particular and prescribed uses. Taking the set items as listed from ‘The Quiet’ which present formal and material conventions of the era, this tests a formal reductivism in which semiotic meaning can be attributed through the programmatic use of the built space.
Church
Bank
Undertaker
Courthouse
General
Doctor
Vegan Meat Factory
7 - Eleven
Funeral Home
Courthouse & Jail
Church
Hotel
Bank
Butcher
Doctor Jail
5m
Hotel
10m
The temporal understandings of set design componentry can be attributed to the modular utilitarian structural nature serving as pure function to then project meaning upon. In other words, functionalist and structuralist architecture for the purpose of use and meaning to be later applied. It is in this The fact that we have commonly understood conventional readings of what we aesthetically identify to be a bank or general store, suggests this learned knowledge can be altered in the proposition of a new formal typology. Major Project Artefacts
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Program Masterplans Here, I am taking the idea of a temporal set construction formality, and doing the opposite- twisting it to become unrecognised and disassociated from its respective program, in a way the antithesis to what a set does, and testing the implications of this. 7 Eleven Bank Vegan Meat Factory HQ Bank
7 Eleven
Vegan Meat Factory HQ
• Platforming • Exploded Circulation • Reductive FuneralGeometries Home • Utilitarian Formality Funeral Home
Doctor Surgery
Hotel
Jail + Courthouse
Church
Doctor Surgery
Hotel
Jail + Courthouse
Church
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10m
20m
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A. Bank
Elevation
10m
20m
Plan
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Isometric
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B. Butcher (Vegan Meat Factory)
Elevation
10m
20m
Plan
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Isometric
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C. 7-Eleven
Elevation
10m
20m
Plan
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Isometric
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D. Funeral Home
Elevation
10m
20m
Plan
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Isometric
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E. Doctors Surgery
Elevation
10m
20m
Isometric Plan
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F. Hotel
Elevation
10m
20m
Plan
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Isometric
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G. Courthouse + Jail
10m
Elevation
20m
Plan
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Isometric
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H. Church
Elevation
10m
20m
Plan
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Isometric
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The High Street
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A Requiem For a Town
And you may find yourself Living in a shotgun shack Major Project Artefacts
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And you may find yourself In another part of the world Major Project Artefacts
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And you may find yourself Behind the wheel of a large automobile Major Project Artefacts
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And you may find yourself in a beautiful house With a beautiful wife Major Project Artefacts
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And you may ask yourself,
“well, how did I get here?” Major Project Artefacts
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Another area where realism is applied to the idealised and notional can be found in the semiotic symbolic and spiritual realms. These questions pertain as to what may be considered to be tangible and quantifiable, of which the symbolic, referential and spiritual worlds surpass where meaning is made.
fig. 19: Shell Church, Huntington CA
Symbolism in many ways is referential to time, as is perspective. For instance, the semiotical cross symbolises a secular historical representation and belief as held by many, in the eyes of many- does the presence of a cross hung on a building change the meaning or spiritual nature of that building? And secodarily, if a building has applied to it the title and representational badge of a church (of any particular nomination), does the presence of another symbolic reference change the nature of that church? Is the above a church, or a shell fuel station, or both? Major Project Artefacts
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In unpacking the meanings made behind these understandings, it is important to take recognisability into account. Symbols are one example of recognizable gestures used to represent meaning, as can be said for the formal. As shown below, the formal and symbolic are tools used to make reference to a broader concept, and behave as conventions, as opposed to that of a rule, where symbolic and spiritual meanings are projected and extracted.
fig. 20a: Church on truck, early 1900’s
fig. 20b: Combineed McDonalds + Church, Tsawwassen, British Columbia USA
fig. 20c: St Gildas Canal Du Blavett, Brittany, France
fig. 20d: Paraportiani Church, Mykonos, Greece
The above four examples are all licenced premises where the practicing of faith is sanctioned Major Project Artefacts
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Take, for instance, St Patricks Cathedral, one of Melbournes most notable original places of practiced faith. It could be said, that its symbolic meaning in form and scale, as imposing and explicit as they are, became less important in the eyes of the public than the spray paint on the front door, also a gesture of symbolic meaning.
fig. 21a: St Patrick’s Cathedral East Melbourne aerial, 1946
fig. 21b: St Patrick’s Cathedral ‘Pell Protest’, 2020
It is in the weighting of these counter-perspectives that interesting comparisons can be made.
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Location Test: The Grand Set ‘7 Capital Vices’ - The 7 Deadly Acts. Semantics of Location
fig. 22: St Patrick’s Cathedral East Melbourne, aerial
Film Set Location?
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If, a church is seen as a real place where acts of faith take place, what happens if other acts, seen to be unreal or part of a fictional narrative, take place in the same location? Other acts such as theatre or film production, requiring the building of a set... 1. ‘Lust’ Film Set Brothel setting 2. ‘Gluttony’ Theatre Set Abbotoir + Meat Hall setting 5.
1.
3. ‘Greed’ Film Set Stock Market + Casino setting 4. ‘Sloth’ Film Set Hot Spring + Foot Spa setting
2. 7.
3.
4.
5. ‘Wrath’ Film Set Colliseum Cage Fighting setting 6. ‘Envy’ Film Set Catwalk + Modelling Studio setting
6.
7. ‘Pride’ Film Set Trump’s Oval Office setting A.
fig. 23a: St Patrick’s Cathedral East Melbourne, The Grand Set Masterplan Major Project Artefacts
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A. Recording Studio Trent Reznor + Marilyn Manson’s 1996 hit record: ‘Antichrist Superstar’ Jack Stirling s3544564
The Grand Set
‘7 Capital Vices’ - The 7 Deadly Acts. Semantics of Location
5.
1.
2. 7.
3.
4.
6. A.
fig. 23b: St Patrick’s Cathedral East Melbourne, The Grand Set Program Major Project Artefacts
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By imagining the locating and staging of these sets/settings within St Patrick’s cathedral, this deliberate provocation begs the very question- what holds more meaning? The sets themselves, or the location they are positioned in? The fact that in the writings of catholicism, in which the church directly references and physically represents inherent meaning, these 7 acts and the promotion of them are thought to be the antithesis of what the building itself represents. However, the sets themselves are real only to certain people- actors, production crew and future viewers? Could the same be said for the church and the priest? It is the suggestivety of lude or innapropriate treatment that undermines the supposed weighting of power by the more recognisable church, having its histories and popularity to bolster its symbolic power over that of the creation of another reality through the building of a set. Does it matter that these sets are built and ‘acts’ occurring in this location? If so, why, why not? How does one affect the other..
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The Nature Test
Atmospheric Undertsandings of the Natural vs the Unnatural Nature or ‘the natural’ holds great symbolic meaning to human kind, and is a key component to the discursive problem in identifying the ‘real’ from the ‘unreal’. We, being both a part of, and seperated from the natural world, as humans, inherently seek truths in deciphering between these two phenomenon, and of course there are a myriad of existing fields of thought/knowledge, research and conceptual approaches to this- many of which argue for the ‘singular organism as Earth’ i.e, the ‘Two Tornados, One Wind’ predicament. For centuries we have been testing ideologies of the made and the maker, and for the same length of time we have been projecting made meanings into these junctions of the fabricated and the natural.
fig. A: Column Diagram
fig. B: Garouste and Bonetti, 1982
fig. C. Speaker Palm
The following tests seek to find thresholds in our understandings of the natural versus the constructed, and what may be the key elements in deciding the extents of this threshold. Major Project Artefacts
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3A. Rock Wall
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How do we read a rock wall that f we know it is human-built? How do we read it if it is not? 57
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50m
100m
3B. Island Subversion
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Subversion of a building within an island earth mass 58
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3B. Island Subversion
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3C. Office Inversion
40-52 Queen St
Fl in
der s
n uee
Ln
St
Q
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Subversion of nature within a building mass 60
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The Assosciation Test
Recognisability and Understandings in Appearance & Identification
fig. A: ‘Parliament Bouncy Castle’
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fig. A: ‘Soul Train’ Set, 1971
A disco ball does not make a disco. Dressing, Dancing and Doing do so.
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The Translucent School
By removing suggested meanings from architecture, new meanings and interpretations are invited, a function or ‘life’ of a space becomes its symbol of identification. Using unconventional framework, material and formality to house established programs, such as learning spaces within a school, I am removing these architecturally suggestive agents, therefore implicating meaning to be made by identified function.
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The school serves as a mechanism to house these ideas of association, representation and interpretation using the performative agent of program as a signifier for outside reading.
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I seek to challenge conventions of meaning, association & function of familiar architectural and societal tropes through testing the idiosyncratic, unconventional and unrecognised.
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SensArc Wing
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The final test in this series of experiments carried out through my thesis was applied to a clinical typology in the form of a proposed medical rehabilitation wing extension to St Vincents Hospital, Melbourne. The SensArc wing employs sensory and referential agents in which dissociate spatial conditions from the prescribed convention of clinical typology, whilst incorporating a public civic offering and performing in delivering a unique facility to house highest quality rehabilitative therapy services. Major Project 68 Jack Stirling Artefacts
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It makes me uncomfortable to talk about meanings and things. It’s better not to know so much about what things mean. Because the meaning, it’s a very personal thing, and the meaning for me is different than the meaning for somebody else.
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~ David Lynch
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