Q: What if we could all just create freely, with no purpose other than fulfilment?
A: You can.
You’re about to get a full understanding of what Concept of the Year is, but first, etymology:
Trend: noun a general direction in which something is developing or changing.
Q: What if we could all just create freely, with no purpose other than fulfilment?
A: You can.
You’re about to get a full understanding of what Concept of the Year is, but first, etymology:
Trend: noun a general direction in which something is developing or changing.
Concept: noun an abstract idea; a general notion.
By definition, trends and concepts meet at the intersection of juxtaposition and quite possibly, hypocrisy.
Both are nouns—one the antithesis of the other.
The past year has shown us that the general direction in which things are going is quite literally, foggy. Question mark. Question mark. Once clear pathways and trajectories of the types of lives we should be living are now illuminated by the unknown, painted by regurgitated information, and highlighted to us in our feeds where we digest it the most.
It’s safe to say that we’ve surpassed information overload. The inherent need to create and produce is simmering into some kind of distance.
Concept of the Year then, is a much-needed vacation from all of that. Close your eyes, hear the ocean. Feel the cool breeze.
Times are changing.
Not by the year or month, but often by the hour, minute or day. Virality leads us from one life alternating moment to the next. As a collective species, we’re changing; throwing middle fingers to the patriarchy and conditioning for simpler versions of living; harkening back to primitive ways of existence (with the added measure of technology).
Imagine for a second though, if you were just a trend. Floating through time and space at the hand of the prescriber that put you together. Landing at some kind of present where you dictate those around you until the next big thing comes along. It sounds… meh. Because the moment you ascribe a set of rules to something, is the exact moment that thing becomes devoid of freedom and joy. So where does trend forecasting fit in all of that?
It kind of doesn’t. Trends miss the in-betweens. They don’t account for intersectionalities and they tell us that we are homogeneous. Trends are not always accessible. They create hierarchies (as if we need anymore) and reiterate the notion that we need to somehow “fit it”. In an effort to really shift the needle on progression, we need to change not just the way we do things, but the ways we see ourselves. Trends are not the mirror. They are the murky reflections in pools of sameness. Predicting the future based on a color, theme or these days, a meme, and prescribing social norms takes away unpredictability. And where there’s unpredictability there’s magic.
Concept of the Year then, is a blueprint for a new kind of uncertainty. A speculative map for everyone to draw through their own lens and interpretation.
Creating meaning for a single year of our lives is like peeling back the layers of an onion. Going beyond the surface level of assessing what’s to come requires tapping into the things we can’t see. Conceptual thinking is about the process. It’s about choice, feeling and energy. Concepts remind us of our own autonomy and the magic that follows is reflective of free-thinking—and every single being has the innate ability to do so.
Concept of the Year then, is a type of self-governance. Relying on your own set of instincts to create an outcome without external influence or constraints. And so, what if the only reward for creative expression was feeding the craving? At the most basic primal level, this is who we are. Satiating hunger from one day to the next.
Finding satisfaction in mere moments over instant gratification. Here, you can do for the sake of doing and be for the sake of being.
Concept of the Year truly then, is a future determined by you. Unanswered questions of what you can hold in time and space, when you carve it out for yourself.
