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OBLIQUE STRATEGIES

Over one hundred worthwhile dilemmas


(Organic) machinery
Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt
Sixth, and extended rtificial edition, 2015
© Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt

A very small object – Its


Abandon desire
centre

Abandon normal Abandon normal


instructions instruments

Adding on All that happens is good


Always give yourself credit
for having more than Always the first steps
personality

Back up a few steps. What


Be less critical more often
else could you have done?

Bridges – build – burn Call your mother and ask


her what to do.

Change ambiguities to Change specifics to


specifics ambiguities
Children singing Children speaking

Children’s voices – speaking


Consider transitions
– singing

Consult other sources: Consult other sources:


promising unpromising

Credibility of Intentions Define an area as “safe” and


use it as an anchor
Describe the landscape in
Destroy nothing
which this belongs.

Destroy the most important


Disconnect from desire
thing

Discover your formulas and Display your talent


abandon them

Do something sudden,
Distorting time destructive and
unpredictable
Do the last thing first Don’t avoid what is easy

Faced with a choice, do both Feedback recordings into an


acoustic situation

First work alone, then work From nothing to more than


in unusual pairs. nothing

Give way to your worst


Go inside. Shut the door.
impulse
Go to an extreme, move
Go outside. Shut the door. back to a more comfortable
place

Go, make a demo about it Honour thy error as a


hidden intention

How would someone else do How would you explain this


it? to your parents?

Humanize something free of Humility of Intentions


error
Imagine a caterpillar
Idiot glee
moving

Imagine the music as a Imagine the music as a


moving chain or caterpillar series of disconnected events

Instead of changing the Intentions – credibility of –


thing, change the world nobility of – humility of
around it.

Into the impossible Is the style right?


Is the tuning appropriate? Is the tuning intonation
correct?

Is there something missing? It is simply a matter or


work

Its centre Krawall!

Left channel, right channel, List the qualities it has.


centre channel List those you’d like.
Listen in total darkness, or Look closely at the most
in a very large room, very embarrassing details and
quietly amplify.

Lowest common
denominator check – single Magnify the most difficult
beat – single note – single details
riff

Make a blank valuable by


putting it in an exquisite Make it more sensual
frame

Make what’s perfect more Mechanize something


human idiosyncratic
Move towards the
Nobility of Intentions
unimportant

Once the search has begun,


Only a part, not the whole
something will be found

Pae White’s non-blank Pay attention to


graphic metacard distractions

Picture of a man spotlighted Remove a restriction


Remove the middle, extend
Retrace your steps
the edges

Short circuit (example; a


man eating peas with the
idea that they will improve Shut the door and listen
his virility shovels them from outside
straight into his lap)

Slow preparation, fast State the problem in words


execution as clearly as possible

Take a walk and study the


Steal a solution.
architecture
Take away as much mystery Take away the important
as possible. What is left? parts

Tape your mouth Think – inside the work –


outside the work

Try faking it Use “unqualified” people.

Use an unacceptable color Use cliches


Use something nearby as a Use your own ideas
model

Voice your suspicions What are the sections


sections of?

What are you really What context would look


thinking about just now? right?

What do you do? Now,


What else is this like?
what do you do best?
What most recently
impressed you? How is it
What is the simplest similar? What can you
solution? learn from it? What could
you take from it?

What were the branch


What to increase? What to points in the evolution of
reduce? What to maintain? this entity

What were you really


What would make this
thinking about just now?
really successful?
Incorporate

When is it for? Who is it Where is the edge?


for?
Which parts can be Who would make this really
grouped? successful?

Would anyone want it? Your mistake was a hidden


intention

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