Q: How would you define emergence? What is its opposite?
A: “The movement from low-level rules to higher-level sophistication is what we call emergence.” I think emergence is mainly about a process of a collection or a complex system, but not the individual members. For example, how individual items (e.g. ants) combine to make a super-organism that ‘has a mind of its own’, and how in our human lives such a thing as a city emerges as the product less of planning than of dynamic interaction.
As for its opposite, I believe emergence is quite a subjective topic, the property of emergence often not related to its individual items. So divergent or declined might be the opposite side of emergence.
Q: Do you find any of these principles more difficult to achieve than others in your own creative practice? How?
A: I think the most difficult principle to achieve is “There is always enough time for the right work.” in my practice. It reminds me of the process I spend on my work, if it is not good enough I may always protect my ego with the excuse of limited time. After finishing the project/practice, I would rather spend my time on other different things than reviewing or completing the previous work. The principle inspired me to spend my time appropriately on the right work, the fixed deadlines never account for all the unexpected things that always happen on every project.
I appreciate the way you have positioned “emergent” and “divergent/declined” as a feedback loop. I’m curious to know more about that. Is there a system at play inside of the feedback loop? Is the feedback loop (as a singular “object”) also part of a system?
“the fixed deadlines never account for all the unexpected things that always happen on every project.” The terms Artwork and Work of Art were presented last week – with Work of Art indicating the work that the art does, what it activates. I always believed there is another way to define “Work of Art” – that artistic practice is also a work of art in it of itself. Following where the work leads, at its own pace, can be magical. Where does one find the balance between that process and deadlines?