potential-energy.us

Jon Chamberlayne, a thirty year-old product designer in London, is struggling to reconcile his role in the creation of useless objects with his wish for a more environmentally sound existence. Coupled with the boredom he senses in a life characterised by anonymity and underachievement, he feels pushed to the limits of his mind experiencing moments of vertiginous anxiety, his untameable fuzz.

Through a series of events, he fears he is finding proof that life is a pointless repetition, each individual acting and speaking in forms already experienced by millions. Sensing ever increasing dislocation from those around him he faces a stark choice: act now to prove his self worth, or face a future of spiralling depression.

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Potential Energy examines a number of themes: environmental and ethical living, the literary attack on cliché, the semiotics of happiness and the power of objects to affect mood. These ideas unite to suggest meaning and contentment in life are hidden in the subconscious choices we make and in the potential that each action carries. It explores the conflict between good intention and the desire to find personal fulfilment, assessing whether true contentment can be found by living a seemingly virtuous life.

It also investigates the notion that, together, proverbs, idioms and clichés represent the most distilled summary of generations of human experience and are not just a lazy linguistic tool or behavioural shortcut. It suggests that by peeling back our preconceptions and truly understanding their collective meaning we can triangulate a pure, human point of view on how best to live.