Zeit Allein

calendar contemplation copper year alone binding thesis print Layout Autonomy

Zeit Allein (Time Alone) –

365 days for autonomy and aloneness

The tear-off calendar as a contemplative medium.

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The calendar features the topics of aloneness and autonomy in its own tempo – without the competing distractions of newstickers, feeds and push notifications – while staying entertaining in the long run. The calender has a use in itself, making the content an addition to the organizer. Thus, the recipient has an incentive to spend 365 days with the topic.
Aloneness, contemplation and leisure take time. The calender, as a »slow« medium, is very suitable as a stimulating guide for the topic.
Information is daily delivered in small doses to grant time for subjective evaluation, classification and reflection. Following the theme of autonomy, the recipient is taken seriously and gets the required timeframe to make their own opinion. Complex coherences can be split over several days to convey in-depth knowledge without mental overload.

Aloneness has a value in itself, that's disregarded by most. The look and feel of the calendar shows that value. Copper adds to the impression without being ostentatious.
At first glance, the connection of some pages to the topic is very loose. That's because it's important to show the many (obscure) contact points of aloneness and autonomy with everyday life. The first step to more autonomy is to discern subliminal influences.

The calender is divided in four categories:

– Suggestions on green paper, encouraging the recipient to make little experiments and try activities that broaden the experience of autonomy and aloneness.

– Reflexive questions on copper paper: provocative, abstract, suggestive, unusual. These questions are supposed to induce thinking.

– Nature photography on coated paper for variety and as an inspiration to experience nature. The aesthetic representation of nature is supposed to encourage contemplative observation. Experiencing nature can soothe and stimulate thinking.

– Other content such as own and cited text, graphics and illustrations.

The beginning of the calendar serves as an introduction to the topic and to explain important terms and facts. Over the year, complex and contentious contents are mixed in to provoke thinking and reflection. The end of the year brings increasingly empty spaces to visually indicate room for free thought.

The recipient is autonomous in regards of time: when they like the content of the current day, they can simply pull down the lower part with the date, leaving the middle part attached to the calendar. The goal is to inspire the recipient to spend more time alone and to help defend their autonomy. The recipient therefore has the control over the content. The middle part of the page can be kept. Or crumpled in dissent.