was listening to a re-aired jim jarmusch’s interview on french radio and remembered that he was talking about this oddity that is brian eno’s “oblique strategies” deck of cards. that sounded pretty fun on the radio but the truth is that it’s far beyond that, that is pure genius!

“the deck itself had its origins in the discovery by brian eno that both he and his friend peter schmidt tended to keep a set of basic working principles which guided them through the kinds of moments of pressure – either working through a heavy painting session or watching the clock tick while you’re running up a big buck studio bill. both schmidt and eno realized that the pressures of time tended to steer them away from the ways of thinking they found most productive when the pressure was off. the strategies were, then, a way to remind themselves of those habits of thinking – to jog the mind.”

let’s imagine a deck of cards that is giving you advise on a daily basis. in the interview, writer jean jacques schulh was telling jarmusch’s fortune. the instruction was “do something boring” great piece of advice! i ordered a set, next posts will be defined by the cards… by pp’