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09.imposition and negotation of the straight line
2025
part of the workbench
sculptural, philosophical making
Bailiwick, Studio Silva Systems, DAE, NL
the straight line is not innocent.
it draws borders, builds roads,
cuts through forests.
it makes systems legible:
grids, rules, regimes.
it flattens. it disciplines. it demands.
the imposition of the straight lien has long been
a tool and imprint of power
a way to tame what wanders,
to control what grows wild,
it catches what wiggles,
that, what is free.
to straighten is to align
with progress, efficiency, productivity.
to impose order on chaos.
but who decides the line?
what is lost, once it’s drawn?
and
at what cost?
perhaps,
there is another kind of straightness,
another kind of line.
a line not of conquest, but of care.
of impermanence.
a straight beam held aloft in reverence,
measured not only in precision
but in attunement
in presence.
the rhythm of a craftsperson
gently guiding the sharp edge
through and long the grain
knowing when and where
to take its breath
only to return to its breath.
not a violent force,
but a peacefully guided presence.
straightness as a gentle imposition,
a negotiation,
trough conversation
between hand, steel
and wood.
it holds space,
does not take it.
it leaves open,
does not enclose.
this is the way of negotiating straightness.
listening, responding,
conversing.
it begins not with measurement,
but with respect.
it does not ignore the curve
it honors it,
and finds a line within it.
order is negotiated within chaos.
impermanently.
an ongoing push and pull
between the line that divides
and the line that holds.
between the straightness that dominates
and the straightness that reveals.
in search of a line
that is soft, slow, and sacred.
that does not override,
but accompanies
and allows.