“The human idea is to transform life into something more excellent then itself. We may compare existence to raw material. What it is, matters less than what is made of it, as the value of a work of art lies in the flowering of the workman’s skill. We bring into the world with us different gifts: one has received gold, another granite, a third marble, most of us wood or clay. Out task is to fashion these substances. Everyone knows that the most precious material may be spoiled, and he knows, too, that out of the least costly an immortal work may be shaped. Art is the realization of a permanent idea in an ephemeral form.” (17-18)

Propose a question that one does not rise to a specific point without struggle? Simplicity, lies in spirit where it essence becomes intangible, it cannot be inherited. It is gained through “laborious conquest”. (18)

The Goods:
The result from the survey’s were broad in ages ranging from 12-78. There is an obvious concentration of 20 somethings, but that was an inevitability.

150 completed survey 1 and 83 completed survey 2. I can conclude and say that the number reached my expected count. 100 was a goal, but I doubled that to challenged myself. 150 is a great number and I am completely content.

I will later post some of my findings as I need to pay off the 25, before downloading the results. stay tuned.

This survey is meant to give me a greater understanding of an individual (you) by tracking your daily/weekly consumption of time. All the questions below pertain to Work, Play and Leisure Time.

Feel free to pass this survey around to friends, family and so on. As it will help my gain a wider perspective on my topic.

Process:

Also, material wise I recently purchase a projector and various other small items that you will have to wait and see…

Quotations From Chairman Mao Tsetung

Foreign Language Press

Peking 1972

Quotations of Significance to Play, Leisure Time and Class

-In class society, everyone lives as a member of a particular class, and every kind of thinking, without exception, is stamped with the brand of a class.

“On Practice” (July 1937), Selected Works, Vol. I, p. 296.

- Changes in society are due chiefly to the development of the internal contradictions in society, that is, the contradiction between the productive forces and the relations of production, the contradiction between classes and the contradiction between the old and the new; it is the development of these contradictions that pushes society forward and gives the impetu6 for the suppression of the old society by the new.

“On Contradiction” (August 1937), Selected Works, Vol. I, P. 314.

- The ruthless economic exploitation and political oppression of the peasants by the landlord class forced them into numerous uprisings against its rule…. It was the class struggles of the peasants, the peasant uprisings and peasant wars that constituted the real motive force of historical development in Chinese feudal society.

“The Chinese Revolution and the Chinese Communist Party” (December 1939), Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 308.*

- It is up to us to organize the people. As for the reactionaries in China, it is up to us to organize the people to overthrow them. Everything reactionary is the same; if you do not hit it, it will not fall. This is also like sweeping the floor; as a rule, where the broom does not reach, the dust will not vanish of itself.

“The Situation and Our Policy After the Victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan” (August 13, 1945), Selected Works, Vol. IV, p. 19.

- The masses have boundless creative power. They can organize themselves and concentrate on places and branches of work where they can give full play to their energy; they can concentrate on production in breadth and depth and create more and more undertakings for their own well-being.

Introductory note to “Surplus Labour Has Found a Way Out” (1955), The Socialist Upsurge in China’s Countryside, Chinese ed., Vol. II.

- The masses have a potentially inexhaustible enthusiasm for socialism. Those who can only follow the old routine in a revolutionary period are utterly incapable of seeing this enthusiasm. They are blind and all is dark ahead of them. At times they go so far as to confound right and wrong and turn things upside down. Haven’t we come across enough persons of this type? Those who simply follow the old routine invariably underestimate the people’s enthusiasm. Let something new appear and they always disapprove and rush to oppose it. Afterwards, they have to admit defeat and do a little self-criticism. But the next time something new appears, they go through the same process all over again. This is their pattern of behavior in regard to anything and everything new. Such people are always passive, always fail to move forward at the critical moment, and always have to be given a shove in the back before they move a step.

Introductory note to “This Township Went Co-operative in Two Years” (1955), The Socialist Upsurge in China’s Countryside, Chinese ed., Vol. II.

- For over twenty years our Party has carried on mass work every day, and for the past dozen years it has talked about the mass line every day. We have always maintained that the revolution must rely on the masses of the people, on everybody’s taking a hand, and have opposed relying merely on a few persons issuing orders. The mass line, however, is still not being thoroughly carried out in the work of some comrades; they still rely solely on a handful of people working in solitude. One reason is that, whatever they do, they are always reluctant to explain it to the people they lead and that they do not understand why or how to give play to the initiative and creative energy of those they lead. Subjectively, they too want everyone to take a hand in the work, but they do not let other people know what is to be done or how to do it. That being the case, how can everyone be expected to get moving and how can anything be done well? To solve this problem the basic thing is, of course, to carry out ideological education on the mass line, but at the same time we must teach these comrades many concrete methods of work.

- Twenty-four years of experience tell us that the right task, policy and style of work invariably conform with the demands of the masses at a given time and place and invariably strengthen our ties with the masses, and the wrong task, policy and style of work invariably disagree with the demands of the masses at a given time and place and invariably alienate us from the masses. The reason why such evils as dogmatism, empiricism, commandism, tailism, sectarianism, bureaucracy and an arrogant attitude in work are definitely harmful and intolerable, and why anyone suffering from these maladies must overcome them, is that they alienate us from the masses.

“On Coalition Government” (April 24, 1945), Selected Works, Vol. III, p. 315.

- If we tried to go on the offensive when the masses are not yet awakened, that would be adventurism. If we insisted on leading the masses to do anything against their will, we would certainly fail. If we did not advance when the masses demand advance, that would be Right opportunism.

“A Talk to the Editorial Staff of the Shansi-Suiyuan Daily” (April 2, I948), Selected Works, Vol. IV, p. 243.

-More to come. This is just a sample.

Painting Yellow walls back to White is much more difficult than I thought. It became extremely monotonous, I after 2 days I found myself painting over the same part of a wall for hours. After a while I came to enjoy the monotony, which I found quite interesting. Overall, the task was grueling (to say the least), but at the same time rewarding.

I need more information, more inspiration, therefore I have decided to survey various people around the world (based on my contacts) concerning what they do during their leisure time and if they have any at all. I hope to gain further understanding, in a global perspective. I plan to start this survey in a weeks time and to finish in 4 weeks max. I will use this source as a constant medium of inspiration.

I have also began to construct my space to develop and produce the contents of the final through said workshops. So far I have yet to create a clear brief, but plan to in a weeks time.

The second half has yet to begin, but I feel the pressure already.

Items to apply:

Newsprint | Cardboard | Wood | Recycled Paper | Wall | Bed | Floor | Ceiling | Carpet | Backyard | Woods | Grass | Dirt | Ladder | Kitchen | Living Room | Dining Room | Bathroom | Friends House | Basement | Attic | Table | Grid Paper | Line Paper | Coloured Paper | Recycled Books | Books I like | Books I hate | Huge Paper | Scrap Paper | Note Pads | Processed Paper | Japanese Paper | Handmade Paper | Old Photographs | Old magazines | Current Magazines | Old News Papers | New News Papers | Fabric | Bedding | Sheets | Tee Shirts | Socks | Post-its | Recycled Furniture | Boards | Photocopier | Colour Photocopier | etc….

Items that create:

Pencil | Coloured Papers | Coloured Pencils | Pens | Inks | String | Thread | Yarn | Markers | Highlighters | Scissors | Exact-to Knives | Butter Knifes | ….

Overall the elements I wish to include in my final are: Photography, Hard aggressive vectors, and colour!