THE LATEST ISSUE
WORKSHOP AT THE V&A
Throughout his career, Bowie had seen and experienced such an abundance of change in our society that in each era, his incredibly unconventional mind would take him to adapt a diverse range of approaches to comprehend the world.
From this, Bowie gave us different pieces of his mind and emerged as a unique brand with an iconic attitude. We tried to imagine a Bowie who transcends death, an artist who continues to collaborate and pioneer new directions in popular culture.
The workshop was used as a creative tool where in different methods were employed to inspire content and imagery for the series and generate content for the publication.
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FOR CREATORS, BY CREATORS
What do you do when you’re stuck for creative inspiration? Turn to a pack of ‘Oblique Strategies,’ the inventive deck of cards designed by Brian Eno and Peter Schimdt, published as a limited edition in 1975.
On each card is printed an instruction or a provocation, such as ‘humanise something free of error,’ or ‘use filters.’ After Schimdt’s death in 1980, Brian Eno has continued to release new editions. On Apple’s App Store, the cards have become ubiquitous with many different versions to choose from, pointing towards their popularity.
According to the 2001 edition, ‘these cards evolved from separate observations of the principles underlying what we were doing. Sometimes they were recognised in retrospect (intellect catching up with intuition), sometimes they were identified as they were happening, and sometimes they were formulated.’
In the construction of the timeline and a collaborated collage that accompany this publication, ‘Oblique Strategies’ was an exercise given to participants at the ‘Bowie in Us’ workshop to assist them in linking abstract concepts with images and informing content for our speculative journey.
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A backcasting timeline was constructed at the workshop for content creation. This timeline chronologically begins after David Bowie’s death in 2016, urging art lovers to expand their imagination, picturing Bowie’s resurrection and the role he would play in the future society.
