Project 106
As a portland oregon website designer I am very interested in how web graphics effect the representation of the real in the ether. So when asked to create a project for the 52 projects project, I decided to take my interest in web design and product branding for portland small businesses and twist it into a project which users can identify with
So. Okay. Several months ago I was asked to contribute a project to the 52 projects project.

After way too much time pondering several things including; asking people to ingest dangerous drugs and monitor effects at peak plasma levels during certain activities, or maybe to find those kinds of people who go around working very hard to over pronounce the names of south American people and places with an overplayed accent, and ask them to pronounce the names of eastern European cities, and when they say them with a dry unaffected voice, point out their hypocrisy, or maybe I even thought about asking people to go to the streets and take meaningless surveys with the real intent being a reflection of response as opposed to the actual answers.

But all these possible projects appeared to have a certain level of libel attached, and though my attorney is often happy to answer questions off the clock, on the day I'm sued I'm sure I'll have to shake the gold bouillon out my piggy bank. So I decided to land here on my first unhealthy long time obsession, to see if people want also to consider and maybe even adopt this obsession, and send me the results of their observations.

And just in case you're wondering, this obsession isn't with the over use of commas, that's more of a hobby.

Because of course this obsession of mine has been to identify the presence of simulacra** continuing to bloat in many facets of our lives. And so that's why I made my project about that. Which means my project is this:

Find the Simulacra**:
During your Daily Walking Around Time, identify those entities which are simulations, but which are taken for granted as being that which they were set up to simulate. Find the empty space in structures which exist on a foundation of their own shadows. Document not only the simulation's existence and relation to the real, but also try to follow the path of their effect on your environment, and possibly how the fact their representation is taken for granted by others as the actual entity they've replaced effects the chain of your own daily events.

The actual representations are open, media, interaction, environment -- anything with which you come into contact is game.

-> Note please that being this is a project generated by me, Paul Ash; the King of Digression and Emperor of Else, feel free to ramble when you send your response. If it's entertaining I'll add it into the endnotes.

Here's how to submit your findings:

-> Participants can go here to the big retard where there's plenty on my own obsession with the simulacra and its effects, as well as a post on this project with a link to the entry form.

Please to also note, the results will be published on the Big Retard only when the project is finished, so if you don't see your response right away, that's why.

A quick note on format: you can send your project in any form you like and incorporating any media you like (please contact me about sending photos or video, just write it into the entry form and I'll get back to you on how to send it). You may also turn the simulacrum's replacement of that which it was created to simulate into a logic formula. If you prefer not to, I will be constructing a formula for the final data set and will do that for each one so if you don't want to do that part, don't worry about it. You are welcome to send also any other relevant or even just interesting info.

Once the project is over I'll be posting the relevant results and the final completely random data set on my Big Retard Blog of Very Very Extremely Very Relevant Things. There is also a survey there which I've attached to the bottom of the submit form -- feel free to take the survey or not to, though after the surveys are all collected, three [3] people will win marginally fabulous prizes.

**Simulacra: I've come to find out that even those very very smart people I know think the term simulacra is actually just a fancy way to refer to simulations. It is not. Simulacra are simulations which have come to replace that which they were originally created to simulate. Leaving the original object weightless, erased, cut at the trunk, rendered irrelevant against its own shadow, gutted by the standardization, and incorporation, of its own definition.

Paul Ash
Portland, OR
The Big Retard
Sniffy Linings





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