Last Saturday, while drinking my coffee and scanning the web, I was caught off guard as I stumbled across an open call for a magazine called 48 hour magazine [www]. The request was to send in your submission by 4pm on Saturday on the theme of “hustle”. Apparently, 14 days earlier a group of editors got together with an idea to start and finish an entire magazine within 48hrs of opening the call for submissions. And here we are three weeks from the initial idea with a Magazine in full print on its way. Amazing!

The contest attracted 1504 submissions in 24 hours. Yes, I was one of them, and no, they didn’t pick me. I have since recovered from my rejection and am here to say it was worth it. I have included my submission at the bottom of this post if you are curious. What I was most impressed with was the organization and the live streaming of the production of the contest. You can get your copy of the magazine here [www] and stay in touch on our twitter feed [follow here] to learn when the next 48 hour submission will begin.

[+] Image via 48hrmag.com

[+] Image via 48hrmag.com
My Submission for 48hrmag issue zero:

[+] click photo for slideshow - Photos via Tyler Barnard For use or reproduction please email info[at]zeitgeistudios.com

Based on images from my article on Urban Drifting [www]

Urban Drifting is a short essay about the act of the dérive.

Urban Drifting is the poetics of drifting through the urban landscape; the tactics employed by which to subvert the strategies assigned by the organization of one’s urban environment. These strategies are guided by the flow of signs, signals and gridded walkways. This is our daily hustle.

I present to you the ubiquitous consumption of my eyes. These photographs have become my memories, the events of my journey and eventually, they too will become displaced and left to wander in their own sense of ambiguity. The hustle is my desire to find the meaning in their pairing, to find the order in which to present their past.

They are not to be trusted. They are not the sum of the whole, and therefore, this is what haunts their meaning. Placed on the page, each photograph is aligned, hoping to find a mate. A mate that reflects their feelings of separation. Separation from the actual, the authentic, the understanding of what it is to just…be.

To be…what? What is their story? It is just that: a story. There are no facts, no true meanings to be discovered within their imagery. I have long trusted you, my eyes, to find the very meaning in this fragmented pairing. You quickly began grasping at their similar features; lines, fragments of text, shadows and hues, making every attempt to understand their order. However, I implore you to stop at once! This attempt is merely a hustle! Do you wish to hustle the very journey I wished to subvert? A drifting journey, devoid of the urban guides, the strategies imposed?

In the dérive itself, I find myself walking towards these images, unsure of the meaning in their gravitation. I am invoked by their wit, and their reflection of my desires. However, I find myself frustrated in the need to explain. Explain how I got here and why I may go there. This is the meaning of my essay. The arc of my story is meaningless, meant only to question itself in the end. I would like to take you on my journey, express my thoughts and explain my wits in the meaning of each of the images. However, I am only left with this presentation, the betrayal of my eyes, the fragmented imagery on these pages. My hope is not for you to understand this journey, but to mis-understand it. To question its ambiguity. To know it is just part of the hustle.

...  In addition to Zeitgeist Studios, Tyler maintains his own freelance company, Analog Design Studios, which has provided architecture and design services since 2006. As a recent graduate of the Master of Architectural Design at The Bartlett in London in 2009, Tyler is heavily influenced by his recent graduate work dealing with our current addiction to media, technology, and its resulting disconnect in our current world. read more Read more from this author