Tracing Trends

Tracing
is a re-creative act of
articulation.
Tracing
Tracing: a frequentative form
from Latin tractus “track,
course,” literally “a drawing
out,” from past participle stem
of trahere “to pull, draw”
Articulation
Articulation: from Latin articulatus,
past participle of articulare “to
separate into joints,” also “to utter
distinctly,” from articulus “a part, a
member, a joint”
Things
But how strange is the shape of the
things we should go back to. They no
longer have the clarity, transparency,
obviousness of matters-of-fact; they are
not made of clearly delineated, discrete
objects that would be bathing in some
translucent space like the beautiful
anatomical drawings of Leonardo.
Matters-of-fact now appear to our
eyes as depending on a delicate
aesthetic of painting, drawing,
lighting, gazing, convening,
something that has been elaborated
over four centuries and that might be
changing now before our very eyes.
Trend: “to run or bend in a
certain direction” (of rivers,
coasts, etc.), from Middle English
trenden “to roll about, turn,
revolve,” from Old English
trendan “turn round, revolve, roll”
Trend analysis is time travel...
...of a sort.
Where was the
river bending
before?

Where is the
river bending
now?

Where might the

river bend and
run again?
Tracing Trends