Aggrandizement Links

Here's an example I immediately thought of when considering the subject of aggrandizement: a series of sketches from SNL parodying the Actor's Studio; I think James Lipton's aggrandizement of the mundane is what makes this sketch so successful...

There are plenty of examples from history, but the first example I considered is the Roman Empire: Emperor's were deified in the most extreme example of aggrandizement...

Concept Freewrite

I’ve chosen a button as my so-called, simple object—4 holes, and a surrounding circle… a circle often represent unity, a system a way of being… a button connects two pieces of a garment—usually; a connective tissue between two structures—a connection. The 4 holes in turn connect to whatever is being connecting to the other structure: a connection of a connection… of a connection? I suppose I could use repetition no exponential growth of a connection somehow in this multimedia format, but how? Of course, I wouldn’t just want to repeat myself three or four different ways: I’d like to—I know, I’ll just include a connection of a connection of a connection… as one of my themes, ideas, motifs… But I still haven’t come to the issue of aggrandizement, well not exactly. In a way, I’ve aggrandized the object of a button by implying that it is part of something bigger than itself, part of a process—still, to aggrandize the button, I believe I need to make the button in itself powereful and grand—not to act as a cog in a magnificient system but magnificent in itself… How do I do that, though? I thought earlier that one very simple way of aggrandizement would be deifying whatever I choose to use as an object… to make something divine is the ultimate aggrandizement… Okay, going back to the idea of exponential growth or creation of a connection, yes I like creation because it implies a much more godlike role… too bad there can’t be three holes: I could use that number as a sign characteristic of something holy given its significance in traditional western culture specifically Christianity no its good that I don’t have three holes because I would be putting myself in a box by going down that path… alright, four holes that provide a connection to a surface that provides an additional connection to an adjoinging surface, but where do I go from there? A button is about creating a closed system—it’s not really built upon from there is it? I suppose that really depends on what the button is built upon/ connects… a button fly on a pair of jeans is part of a whole system of connections—perhaps the last part of the system… the stiches connect the jeans from bottom to top, and the button(s) bring everything together… the button or buttons doesn’t have to be the be all end all to be aggrandized—all I have to do is make it into something grander, or at least much more extensive complex than considred normally just by pointing out it’s a connection to connection begins a process of aggrandizement… I don’t have to make it into some creative force or something that grows exponentially—all I really need to do is begin from this premise and relate other topics to it create analogies that somehow make the button much more than it has been in the past in other words, the button doesn’t have to be concretely grand it can be grand by virtue of something it can come to represent… I can imagine a number of images imagery related to the button—circles overlapping and repeating—but I’m having trouble imaging sounds that could be associated with a button… prying, pulling, popping—are sounds that can be, I suppose… as long as the viewer/listener has an image to associate with the sounds so the connection can be formed… the word button, the image of a button/buttons, the sounds associated with a button, other words created from associated with button: buttoned-down, love button, button-fly, push-button… connections to itself, to the adjoinging surface, to sounds that come from buttons, to words/language created from associated with buttons… I think the beauty of connections the concept of connections is that it is broad of a idea thought action that it may work well with transmedia multimedia convergence…