Constraints
Within Arm's Reach
The constraints that generate work are the ones with no opinion about it. Schoenberg, Shigeru Ban, the Apollo Guidance Computer, and an art school assignment about distance.
The Rope from the Inside
Once a constraint has been absorbed completely, mastery and imprisonment can feel identical from inside. On King Lear, a songwriter's hit, and the third channel I never shot.
Where the Feet Need to Be
The same constraint is a wall or a grammar depending on where the maker is standing. Oulipo, NTSC colour, and an LLM character who wouldn't stop drinking.
The Constant Battle Against Self-Constraints
A 2006 two-channel video of bound and unbound hands, and what it taught me about the constraint you can see versus the one you can't.