Small heuristics to welcome what is, shift the focus, and consider new forms. Because a contour doesn’t define a limit — it reveals a way of seeing.
The Shadow Contour: Where Depth Begins
When we look at something, we never see just the object: we see the contour that light draws around it.
In artistic practice, the contour of shadows describes how light and shadow distribute around a form: sharper or softer edges, shifting intensity, shadows that lighten as they move away from the object.
From these variations emerges three-dimensionality: the perception of depth, movement, and possibility.
Thinking works in a similar way
When we think, something similar happens.
Just as the eye relies on light and shadow to make a form legible, the mind relies on heuristics: small cognitive devices that help us decide where to look, what to focus on, and what part of reality might still emerge.
They don’t simplify the world: they make it traversable.
Three weekend heuristics
This is why we imagined three weekend heuristics — not to simplify, not to close things down, but to try opening spaces:
Welcoming what is.
Recognizing the light and the shadow already present.
Shifting the focus.
A slight change of angle can alter the depth of a form.
Considering possible shapes.
Seeing a contour not as a boundary, but as a beginning.
The rest is space to imagine
Because a contour doesn’t just mark where something ends — it invites what might begin.