Den helt fantastiske designer og designtænker Michael Bierut har de sidste fem år kørt et kursus på Yale School of Art med et simpelt og fascinerende koncept:
“Beginning Thursday, October 21, 2010, do a design operation that you are capable of repeating every day. Do it every day between today and up to and including Friday, January 28, 2011, the last day of the project, by which time you will have done the operation one hundred times. That afternoon, each student will have up to 15 minutes to present his or her one-hundred part project to the class.”
Jeg kender fra mig selv, at det er nemt at finde på de første 10 eller 15 ideer. Problemet er bare, at det er de samme ideer, som alle andre også får. Og derefter bliver det svært. Ide nr. 16, 17 og 18 er elendige. Men hvis man tvinger sig selv til at blive ved, bliver ideerne bedre. Og måske lidt mere originale.
Se for eksempel her Hilla Katki, en af Bieruts studerende, der over 100 dage har vist 100 måder, man kan bruge en klapstol:
Der er også noget fascinerende i gentagelsen og rutinen. Koblingen mellem det kreative og det strukturerede, mellem det skøre og løsslupne og så den lille tidslomme på hver eneste dag. Det kan der tydeligvis komme herlige ting ud af. Som her en anden af de studerende, Ely Kim. I sin video Boombox danser han en ny dans et nyt sted til et nyt stykke musik hver dag i 100 dage:
Er der en pointe i det hele? Bierut svarer selv:
“I’ve always had a fascination with the ways that creative people balance inspiration and discipline in their working lives. It’s easy to be energized when you’re in the grip of a big idea. But what do you do when you don’t have anything to work with? Just stay in bed? Writers have this figured out: it’s amazing how many of them have a rigid routine. John Cheever, for instance, used to wake up every morning in his New York City apartment, put on a jacket and tie, kiss his wife goodbye, and take the elevator down to his apartment building’s basement, when he would sit at a small desk and write until quitting time, at which point he’d go back up. (When it was hot in the basement, he’d strip down to his underwear to work.)”
Spring ind på Bieruts blog-indlæg. Der er mange flere eksempler.