#unevenfloor

[thehoundthatbit]

Untitled poem ('I write down the things I like about you') by Sophia Golovanevskaya

An old poem published in the independant Perth poetry magazine; Uneven Floor, 2014.

[transdisciplinarycuriosity]

The flat floor is an invention of the architects. It fits engines - not human beings. People not only have eyes to enjoy the beauty they see and ears to hear melodies and noses to smell nice scents. People also have a sense of touch in their hands and feet. If modern man is forced to walk on flat asphalt and concrete floors as they were planned thoughtlessly in designers' offices, estranged from man's age-old relationship and contact to earth, a crucial part of man withers and dies. This has catastrophic consequences for the soul, the equilibrium, the well being and the health of man. Man forgets how to experience things and becomes emotionally ill. An uneven and animated floor is the recovery of man’s mental equilibrium,of the dignity of man which has been violated in our levelling, unnatural and hostile urban grid system. The uneven floor becomes a symphony, a melody for the feet and brings back natural vibrations to man. Architecture should elevate and not subdue man. It is good to walk on uneven floors and regain our human balance.

Hundertwasser, April, 1991 My sister, José, told me about Hundertwassers preference for uneven floors. A manifesto for humanity.

I see parallels in the digital, where the sense of touch, or tactile feedback disappears. On the web, or other screen based interfaces, there is no materiality in general. But where you could think touch screens -and direct manipulation of digital elements bring it back - you are still interacting with a flat shiny surface. 'glass' or 'plastic' is all you feel. no bumps, roughness, etc. Also read: Bret Victor's Brief Rant on the Future of Interaction Design I also think that without tactility, you lose an avenue of information, you become less aware of your surroundings. There is no information being transferred. Also think about spatial memory.. remembering approximately where on a page you read something. or where in a book. In Kindles and other digital reading, most of the sense of the spatial is forgotten.