During the spring of 2010 we conducted in Max Plank Institute  a series of explorations of everyday actions with the purpose of understanding better how our subjectivity finds its fundaments on repetition of patterns that consequently confirms and validates our identity.

The Path of the domestic truths contains a research on how routine is being constructed through performing a reiteration of actions, which we could call daily life rituals. The main task we gave ourselves was to increase the awareness of everyday life processes and framing every single micro action that usually goes unnoticed. The result of this particular research was the realization of how through a process of high level of awareness brings distance towards the most simple domestic actions transforming them into something strange and bizarre. This process of strangement or dissafection undermines the patterns of daily life and questions the role that habits play in shaping our subjectivity.

 

On the back of the room I stand
Through the glasses I see things over there
I use my hands while walking
I see what I want to see under the chair
I stand where I want to stand
I breath consciously
I see my hands surrounding me
I use my legs to pass through
My legs lead me from there to here
I carry my body perpetually
I use my eyes to have a visual encounter
I use my hands to give a handshake
I use my chest to feel someone´s chest during a hug

 

Eating food when you are hungry
Drinking water when you are thirsty
Fucking someone when you are horny
Running somewhere when you are late
Taking something when you need it

Buying food in a supermarket
Sending an e-mail with a computer
Calling someone with a phone
Writing something with a pen

Buying a ticket before getting on a train
Stopping in front of the red light before crossing the road
Getting a passport before traveling somewhere
Being quiet when someone else is talking

Apologizing when you did something wrong

Expecting something that you were promised

Disregarding something that has little significance
Combining two things together to form a whole
Connecting to someone over the internet
Creating things when you feel inspired
Hesitating when you’re not sure about something
Educating people who do not yet know a lot
Resolving the situations, that are difficult
Instructing someone to do something in a specific way
Locating your position using an iPhone
Considering a different possibility when you have a choice
Questioning someone when you have questions

Rotating the steering wheel while driving a car
Tempting yourself to try something new
Speculating about some uncertain fact
Sensing a certain feeling in one’s body
Complicating circumstances so they become more complicated
Narrating the story to give a better idea about it
Justifying the actions that would not otherwise be accepted
Interpreting the words, which might mean several things
Determining conditions to make them more specific

Contextualizing the situation, so that one has a better idea about it.

Going down the highway
Eating your breakfast in the morning
Being an only child and having no siblings to play
Getting from here to there while avoiding obstacles
Going to the bakery to buy some bread
Taking vitamins to be healthy
Sharing with friends on facebook
Going to the hairdress to get a haircut
Listening to music with headphones
Using a cashmachine to withdraw money

Drinking a bier at a party
Getting a mortgage on a house
Making a breakfast out of nothing
Looking at someone´s eyes
Pressing fresh orange juice every morning
Waking up in the middle of the night being thirsty
Waking up in the middle of the night after a nightmare
Cleaning the dishes after having luch
Gazing the horizon during a sunset
Being hungry of something to happen
Being into buddhism without knowing

More Abstract BASIC TRUTHS:
I see things
I have ideas
I stand here
I go from here to there
I use hands
I say words
I breath air
I use my head (use your head)
The earth is round
This is the point
I see what I want to see
Something is happening
The idea is simple
I have a vision
The world is all that is the case
A picture is model of reality
The Being is