Chaos Theory
This newsletter is for artists. For storytellers. For lateral thinkers. For multi-hyphenates. For chaos goblins. For the square pegs. For those who refuse to follow a trodden path. Those who feel everything so, so deeply. For those who are still working things out. Expect weekly-ish journeys down various rabbit holes and getting inspired by the unexpected.
I suck and I love to fail
chaos theory with Antonina Mamzenko Hey, “I suck and I love to fail” is a mantra improv actors use to free themselves of the pressure to be perfect, and create mental space to make bold choices and take creative risks. Creative experimentation inevitably leads to making bad work sometimes (a lot of the time, actually). And that’s ok. It’s only by trying - and failing - that you can (sometimes) get to the good stuff on the other side. It can be scary to fail, especially when we only see other...
On plork and playbour
chaos theory with Antonina Mamzenko Hey, Last week I found myself deep down the rabbit hole of academic literature on the topics of play and work. It started when I came across the term “plork" which was coined by Sister Corita Kent, who was an artist, a teacher and an activist, working at the Immaculate Heart College in California (I can’t believe she’s not better known; she seems like such an extraordinary lady and I'm not done looking into her work). The term is the combination of “play”...
What my garden is teaching me about life
chaos theory with Antonina Mamzenko Hey, This one is about gardening. And being an artist. And also life. Elizabeth Gilbert was right after all: it's all connected. *** Before I continue, a quick note that Exercises in Words + Pictures returns in September, and enrolment is now open. It's an interactive online workshop to stretch your creative muscles and it's for everyone, not only photographers. (I'm not doing an elaborate FOMO-inducing launch sequence so if you like the sound of this...
Porridge is evil
chaos theory with Antonina Mamzenko Hey, In 2004 in the Russian city of Novosibirsk a new movement was born. On the 1st of May, about 80 people came out and joined in at the tail end of the May Day parade. May Day - or International Workers Day - is still a national holiday in Russia, a relic of the Soviet era, although these days the vast majority of people treat it more as an a random bank holiday than a reason to march on the streets. This group, however, not only marched, but also stood...
A disease called imagination
chaos theory with Antonina Mamzenko Hey, In the final chapters of Evgeny Zamyatin’s dystopian novel We, the authorities have finally figured out what was causing the turmoil that has permeated the otherwise perfectly calibrated society of synchronised workers and glass houses. The problem, it turned out, was that some humans suffered from a disease called imagination. The ever watchful guardians identified the part of the brain responsible, and invited all citizens to submit to a simple X-ray...
The persistent feeling of incompetence
chaos theory with Antonina Mamzenko Hey, Seth Godin in (I think) The Practice, writes that true learning (as opposed to schooling) is a voluntary experience that requires tension and discomfort. He calls this discomfort “the persistent feeling of incompetence” as we get better at a skill. Ira Glass calls this discomfort The Gap - the point at which you recognise what “great” in your chosen field looks like, but you also realise that you’re a long way from getting there, and it feels like...
The art of shitposting
chaos theory with Antonina Mamzenko Hey, In internet culture, shitposting refers to creating any content whose humour derives from its surreal nature, lack of clear context, and an unexpected treatment of an existing form. Originating on underground internet forums like 4chan, shitposting evolved into its own form of content creation - and sometimes it even becomes art in itself. Before I continue, a quick reminder that Words+Pictures starts on 16th of April and I still have a couple of...
“Yes, and”-ing your way through life.
chaos theory with Antonina Mamzenko Hi friend, The first rule of improv comedy is that you never say no. “No” is a buzzkill. It robs you and your partner of an opportunity for forward motion. It’s a block, a dead-end of creative pursuit. A betrayal of trust. You can’t do anything with a “no”. “No” stops the creative process. There are no possibilities in a “no”, no new horizons to explore, no new stories to tell. It’s self-evident. Yet, how many times do we say “no” to ourselves in our own...
What if it doesn't have to make sense?
chaos theory with Antonina Mamzenko Hi Sometimes, as artists, we are too obsessed with making the meaning behind our work clear. But what it we didn’t? What if we left things unsaid? What if we decided to be unapologetically non-sensical? What if our work held conflicting meanings and we didn’t care to clarify our intentions? I love this quote by the American artist John Baldessari: "I’m just interested in fucking people up when they’re looking at my work." So, my question to you is:How can...
On violence of language, but also...
chaos theory with Antonina Mamzenko Hi friend, Do you ever think about how so much of the language we casually use is so violent? In photography, we have terms like: Shoot. Take. Capture. Trigger. Subject. Headshot. Master and slave flash (yes, for real). And in the world of business and work, we use words such as: Branding. Targets. Deadlines. Killing it. Tripwire. Conversion rate. It really is everywhere, and it's hard to escape it, even when you try. I’ve been recently reminded (by my...
This newsletter is for artists. For storytellers. For lateral thinkers. For multi-hyphenates. For chaos goblins. For the square pegs. For those who refuse to follow a trodden path. Those who feel everything so, so deeply. For those who are still working things out. Expect weekly-ish journeys down various rabbit holes and getting inspired by the unexpected.