https://fluxus.org/FluxusMidwest/doorknobs/ Fluxus Research: Opening and Closing Doors and Drawers Fluxus: "Unfettered play in search of uncharted insights." I photographed every door or drawer knob, handle, or latch I touched from the time I awoke on Thursday, June 3rd, until I went to bed on Friday, June 4th, 1999. Click on any photo below to see the larger context. [Photos were taken in the early years of the digital camera. Photo quality is not up to today's standards.] [1thumb] [2thumb] [3thumb] [4thumb] [5thumb] (1) 9:40 Refrigerator (2) 9:45 Night stand (3) 10:27 Clothes (4) 10:28 Drawer in (5) 10:33 Door to door drawer drawer office garage Getting the first Taking some medicine. Getting some boxer Getting the hard Getting a screwdriver diet Coke of the day. shorts. drive for the Dell to help put the hard laptop. drive back. [6thumb] [7thumb] [8thumb] [9thumb] [10thumb] (6) 11:05 Shower door (7) 11:22 Dresser (8) 11:23 Cupboard (9) 11:27 Night stand (10) 11:32. Back door drawer door drawer inside Taking a shower. Getting some Getting a t-shirt and Getting some Going out the underwear and socks. some pants. athlete's foot backdoor with the medicine. cats. getting a diet Coke [11thumb] [12thumb] [13thumb] [14thumb] to take with me (11) 11:46. North (12) 11:32. North (13) 11:59. Back door (14) 12:05. Front (15) 12:11. gate latch gate latch door inside Refrigerator Cats leaving backyard Cats returning to Letting the cats back Opening the front Getting a diet Coke through one gate. back yard through in the house. door to get the mail to take with me. another gate. from the mailman. returning to [16thumb] [17thumb] [18thumb] [19thumb] left-open car door (16) 12:12. Door to (17) 12:12. Car door. (18) 12:14. Door to (19) 13:25. Door to (20) 13:25. Car door. garage. house. garage. Leaving to go to Getting in the car. Opps! Forgot Going to work [take Back to car. work. something. 2]. leaving with coffee [21thumb] [22thumb] [23thumb] [24thumb] and a cookie (21) 13:25. Car door. (22) 13:39. Car door. (23) 13:40. Coffee (24) 13:40. Inner (25) 13:45. Inner shop door. shop door. shop door. Closing car door. Opening car door. Opening outer shop Opening inner shop Leaving with coffee. door. door. [26thumb] [27thumb] [28thumb] [29thumb] [30thumb] (26) 13:45. Out the (27) 13:45. Car door. (28) 13:46. Car door (29) 13:51. Car door (30) 13:52. Car door. outer door. handle. release. Going outside. Back in the car. Pulling the car door Parking lot at work. Closing the car door. shut. [31thumb] [32thumb] [33thumb] [34thumb] [35thumb] (31) 13:53. Revoling (32) 13:56. Glass (33) 14:19. Desk (34) 14:20. (35) 15:01. Desk door. door to offices. drawer. Refrigerator. drawer. Entering my office Opening door to the Opening a drawer in Opening my Getting a phone list. building. 22nd floor. my office. refrigerator. [36thumb] [37thumb] [38thumb] [39thumb] [40thumb] (36) 16:12. Door to (37) 16:13. Bathroom (38) 16:13. Bathroom (39) 16:14. Bathroom (40) 16:15. Bathroom office suite. door #1. door #2. door #2. door #1. Going out in the Going in the outer Going in the inner Going out the inner Going out the outer hall. door to the men's door to the men's bathroom door. bathroom door. bathroom. bathroom. getting a knife to opening the desk draw out the glass door to returning from the time for another Diet cut the skin off a to get phone list, go to the bathroom, bathroom Coke grapefruit again again (41) 16:15. Glass (42) 16:16. (43) 17:18. Kitchen (44) 17:20. Desk (45) 18:06. Glass door to offices. Refrigerator. drawer. drawer. door to offices. (41) 16:15. Glass (42) 16:16. (43) 17:18. Kitchen (44) 17:20. Desk (45) 18:06. Glass door to offices. Refrigerator. drawer. drawer. door to offices. using a key to open entering the code and the door to the men's opening the inner going out the inner going out the outer opening the back door bathroom bathroom door bathroom door bathroom door to the offices (46) 18:07. In (47) 18:07. In (48) 18:08. Out (49) 18:08. Out (50) 18:08. Back door bathroom door #1. bathroom door #2. bathrrom door #2. bathroom door #1. to offices. (46) 18:07. In (47) 18:07. In (48) 18:08. Out (49) 18:08. Out (50) 18:08. Back door bathroom door #1. bathroom door #2. bathrrom door #2. bathroom door #1. to offices. leaving the office stopping at the opening the inner going out the inner [51thumb] for the evening ground floor bathroom bathroom door bathroom door (51) 19:50. Desk (55) 19:52. Glass (52) 19:54. In (53) 19:54. In (54) 19:55. Out drawer. door to offices. bathroom door #1. bathroom door #2. bathrrom door #2. (51) 19:50. Desk (55) 19:52. Glass (52) 19:54. In (53) 19:54. In (54) 19:55. Out drawer. door to offices. bathroom door #1. bathroom door #2. bathrrom door #2. leaving the building leaving the ground through the revolving getting ready to open pulling the car door opening the glove floor bathroom front door the car door closed compartment (56) 19:55. Out (57) 19:56. Revolving (58) 20:00. Car door. (59) 20:01. Car door (60) 20:17. Car bathroom door #1. door. handle. glove-compartment. (56) 19:55. Out (57) 19:56. Revolving (58) 20:00. Car door. (59) 20:01. Car door (60) 20:17. Car bathroom door #1. door. handle. glove-compartment. pulling open the opening the front basement door where meeting over, pushing getting out of the pushing the car door door of a church to the meeting was being the basement door car shut attend a meeting held open (61) 20:17. Car door (62) 20:17. Car door. (63) 20:18. Churh (64) 20:18. Basement (65) 21:17. Basement release. door. door. door. (61) 20:17. Car door (62) 20:17. Car door. (63) 20:18. Churh (64) 20:18. Basement (65) 21:17. Basement release. door. door. door. going back out the opening the car door front door of the opening the car door pulling the car door closing the glove to pick up a pizza on church to get in closed compartment my way home (66) 20:18. Church (67) 21:20. Car door. (68) 21:20. Car door. (69) 21:21. Car glove (70) 21:33. Car door. front door. compartment. (66) 20:18. Church (67) 21:20. Car door. (68) 21:20. Car door. (69) 21:21. Car glove (70) 21:33. Car door. front door. compartment. entering the pizza leaving the pizza closing the car door store store with a pizza opening the car door closing the car door (71) 21:34. Car door. (72) 21:43. Pizza (73) 21:44. Pizza (74) 21:44. Car door. (75) 21:44. Car door. store door. store door. (71) 21:34. Car door. (72) 21:43. Pizza (73) 21:44. Pizza (74) 21:44. Car door. (75) 21:44. Car door. store door. store door. opening the garage opening the car door opening the back door door to the house and and getting out closing the car door to get the pizza bringing the pizza in getting a Diet Coke (76) 21:52. Car door. (77) 21:52. Car door. (78) 21:53. Car back (79) 21:53. Garage (80) 22:42. door. door to house. Refrigerator door. (76) 21:52. Car door. (77) 21:52. Car door. (78) 21:53. Car back (79) 21:53. Garage (80) 22:42. door. door to house. Refrigerator door. going to garage to get some bottled closing door to getting the last Diet water garage Coke of the day (81) 23:46. Door to (82) 23:46. Door to (83) 00:23. garage. garage. Refrigerator door. (81) 23:46. Door to (82) 23:46. Door to (83) 00:23. garage. garage. Refrigerator door. Observations >Presented in no particular order or priority. Opening doors and drawers is not a completely unconscious activity, but it is over-learned and semi-automatic--the logistics of which I believe are controlled by my "silent" cerebellum. Thank you, cerebellum. Some doors close themselves after you let go of them (e.g., refrigerator doors). Many doors and drawers you need to close yourself (e.g., car doors). Creating a diary around the door and drawer knobs I used gave me a different way to organize and view my day. Some important activities get left out (e.g., working on a project on a computer at work). Some mundane ones (e.g., going to the bathroom) get more attention or weight than if I were writing a normal diary. Although I "knew" that opening doors and drawers is a pretty automatic activity, I became very aware of this during the project. Forcing myself to pay attention to opening and closing doors and drawers made the activity seem a little odd, awkward, and "new." It was easy to believe that I was exploring a basic unexamined aspect of my life (or re-exploring it since childhood). I got the idea for this research project upon awakening on June 3rd, 1999. I immediately decided to do it that day. This project helped me realize that I don't really look at the knobs and handles I grasp. I am conscious of my overall goal (e.g., go outside, get a t-shirt, take a shower) but it is clear that I don't pay much conscious or focussed attention to the details. I believe that I normally look or think past the activity as I am engaging in it. Focussing my attention on small, automatic everyday behaviors required some "discipline." And it wasn't always easy to keep the photograph-any-door-or-drawer-knob-I-use-today script in mind. I actually missed photographing several door knobs at the time I used them. I made up for this by going back and photographing the knobs/handles as soon as I remembered (these photos have had their time-stamp removed). It wasn't always clear to me what I should consider a door knob. For example, I did not photograph the elevator button at work. This is one of the things I had an ongoing internal debate about. I decided not to consider an elevator button as being a door knob because it did not require my grasp or leverage. I'm still not sure if this is the best definition (or distinguishing attribute) to use. For example, if I defined door knob as anything that allowed 1. my body to enter another room or compartment or 2. some part of my body (e.g., hand) to enter a normally closed-off space (e.g., a drawer, a refrigerator compartment), then elevator buttons would qualify (but so would automatic doors). I think if I had made myself guess how many door/drawer knobs I used during a typical day, I would have guessed something like "thirty to forty"...not the approximately 83 I touched on this fairly typical day. As is well-known, the act of observing and documenting a behavior or action can inevitably alter that action in various ways. Sometimes I photographed my hand grasping a door knob or handle. To do so, I would hold the camera with my right hand (I am righthanded) and grasp the knob/handle with my left. I believe I almost always use my right hand to open doors and drawers, however. I was surprised to see how many doors and drawers require 2 separate actions (in terms of physical leverage): opening and closing. I believe that typically my conscious mind "bundles" these two steps together and even combines them with the other actions required to achieve the immediate goal (e.g., taking the cats outside, getting in my car, etc.). Sometimes it is not clear whether using a door or drawer should be considered one or two separate actions. For example, walking through a door and then pulling it shut often seemed like one smooth, automatic action. I decided it was often unnecessary, inexpedient, and tedious to photograph and then display both actions...but I did do this at least several times (e.g., with car doors). I didn't really Initially I photographed the knobs/ realize it until I handles before I grasped them. Then began working with I started thinking it might look the photos, but the more interesting and door/drawer knobs at documentary-like if I photographed home are a lot more myself (my hand) opening/closing interesting looking the door. Then I started mixing it to me than the door up. handles of cars, offices, and churches. Doors and doorways sometimes serve as the "borders" or "bookends" of distinct, meaningful activities...and sometimes they do not. Paying attention to my hands opening and closing doors and drawers 1. increased my awareness of that activity, which 2. interrupted my "looking ahead to the next action in the sequence" mentality, which 3. increased my "being" in the "here and now"--at least for the door knob/drawer knob action. Redistributed awareness or expanded awareness? Although I increased the attention normally devoted to this basic, automatic activity, it is not clear to me whether I simply redistributed my awareness (i.e., trading-off giving extra attention to door knobs for giving less attention to something else) or whether I actually expanded my overall immediate conscious awareness (that would be cool; also see comments by George Free). Conducting the documentary aspects of the project (e.g., operating the camera, carrying on internal debates about the various issues that arose during the project), may have actually decreased the amount of conscious awareness I normally paid to other aspects of my environment...another possible cost/benefit trade-off. What can the viewer gain from all of this? There may be some benefits to the viewer in the vicarious experience of this project. It might temporarily heighten your awareness of door knobs and the roles they play in your life...make you more aware and appreciative of the "little things" that make up the "here and now." But it's probably not as good as enacting this project yourself. You might have entirely different experiences and reactions than the ones reported here. Cost/benefit analysis. Was this worth the trouble (for me and for you, the viewer). For me it's been a lot of work...it started out as a fun, entertaining, Fluxus-ish idea, but trying to make more out of it by adding the "observations" and analysis may have taken it too far. Unfettered fun? Uncharted insights? Doing the project and thinking about it while doing it definitely had its moments of "unfettered fun" for me. Did I gain any "uncharted insights"...well, I'm not so sure. I don't think I have observed or described anything here that is especially uncharted (either to psychologists of cognition or to other Fluxus folk). Enacting the project did alter my awareness and behavior ...and did so in worthwhile, if transitory, ways. Other Fluxus Research by FLUXUS Midwest Fluxus Marketing Research (March 26, 1998) Ask a Fluxus Question (March 19, 1998) People You Meet In Everyday Life (March 17, 1981) [fmlogo] FLUXUS Midwest was formed in the early 1980s at Kent State University. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other projects you might enjoy exploring. allenbukoff.com fluxus.org saintsparky.org pinpunk.com frostcatcher.com nutscape.com [smalllogo] [FluxusFlu] [fireworks] [pinpunk] [frostcatc] [nutscape] Click to explore. Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Allen Bukoff, PhD 2021