breep-reading01

5. The Critical Engineer recognises that each work of engineering engineers its user, proportional to that user's dependency upon it.

This article of the The Critical Engineering Manifesto talks, in my eyes, about the symbiotic relationship between a work of engineering (or indeed art) and its creator. As creators, they feel that a work of engineering is just as much a part of the engineer as the engineer is a part of their work. On top of this, the engineer learns more with every work they produce, growing their own capabilities. This is the heart of the symbiotic relationship: the work feeds the creator as much as it is fed and grows into fruition. It is the goal of the engineer to become the best they can be, and the only way of doing such is by engineering works.

To me this is interesting because as artist's I feel we should always be striving for better as we create works and learn as we go along. I personally find myself bogged down in my outcomes so heavily a-lot of the time that sometimes I forgot what I have learnt on the road, and for me this article was a succinct reminder that the road is just as much a part of the journey as the destination is.

Example: look at any artist's oeuvre through time,  their own growth in skill and ideas is evidence of this article.