The premise:

A collaborative experiment in writing, curation, and new media Net Loss seeks to create an open ended fiction in hypertext using a wiki as its platform. Wikis are familiar in format and often our ‘go to’ for quick info gathering. One of the goals for this project is to use the authority of the encyclopedia format to evolve something which walks a line between plausibility and fantasy. An encyclopedia which creates a “net loss” of information through evoking uncertainty in the reader. The question here is not ultimately: Can we produce something which lacks cohesion? (I believe we can!) But rather: Can we do so artfully? How long can it be maintained? What interesting fragments can we produce in lieu of a meaningful whole? What is the threshold between fictional meaning and meaninglessness?

Nitty Gritty:

• The first round will consist of responses to a set of images (found here.) Your submissions need not be direct responses to the image prompts (i.e. you do not need to mention the places/things depicted, although you may.) The images have been selected so as to be open to interpretation thus mitigating direct prescriptive voice on my part. Spend some time with them, pick what you like.

• Your responses may be in whatever written form you please. Legal brief, haiku, epic, interview, you name it. This enhances the realism of the fictional world by giving it a variety of voices. It is also a fun challenge to the reader.

• Be open ended and create hooks for others with future expansion in mind. There will be no overarching narrative to this work although individual entries may contain narrative elements.

• After the first round I will upload the initial entries to a wiki, and interlink them as seems appropriate. If we continue to a second round the prompt images will be removed from play and the contributors (you) will respond to one anothers’ work by creating new work or expanding existing pieces.

• Feel free to involve or invite others to this project.

• Undoubtedly hiccups will arise. Feel free to contact me via email or the ‘ask me anything’ link.

Q. “…and beyond the Veil?”

A. “Nothing in particular.”

(Dis)Stillborn: Ascension in absentia

Swim for your savior!

We always find ourselves snow-blind at the summit.

Dyspepsia: A partial record of all of my shortcomings.

In spite of our constant vigilance, accidents persist.

How do you develop a genuine persona? What is genuine? How do you ensure personal adherence? How do you collate access to layers of your persona presuming a layered persona? When do you break character? Can a persona be developed which necessitates no character break? A partition which necessitates no decompression. GENUINE. Seamless swap. How do you collate access to resources between personas, across the partition? How do you reconstruct the past in an effort to enhance the authenticity of the persona? Control of outside access to the first self. Ego restructuring, remodeling the interior. Are other people counterfeiting our personas and passing them off? Storing them illegally? Neglecting them in dirty cages? Is this an issue the media should be alerted to? The treasury? The Secret Service? What bureau handles rogue personas, the regulation thereof? Can a persona be conditioned to accept something trivial as sustenance for the persona to mitigate the need for conspicuous persona swap so as to maintain DEEP COVER? I’m talking about thimbles or an occasional pastrami sandwich. Are people constantly manufacturing new layers, sub layers, pockets of persona to mitigate the access of others in an instance. What becomes of these subroutines? Are they like abandoned cellars? How fast does a persona decay unattended? Attended? How can we detect, appraise personas, counterfeits? Are some counterfeits better than the real deal?       

The interior of Wait Inside has a glittery popcorn ceiling (not visible in the below photos.) To make that ceiling I cannibalized an unresolved panel, with this as the inadvertent result (it’s on the reverse). The semi obscene silvery hole in the middle is where I had to mount the light fixture, everything else was left over from the painting. In making further magical artifacts I need to be sure not to ignore devices with sexual utility.

Wait Inside, 2011, portable diorama with plastic furniture, acrylic paint, paper,
felt, mirror, linoleum, wood, key-hole cover, eyeglass lens, lit from within by an incandescent bulb, 8.5” x 12” x 6”. A portable portal activated by means of a light switch. With the key-hole open the user looks inside through the lens and receives a view which differs depending on the similarity of their corrective lens prescription to my own. The interior may be blurry or sharp, narrow or wide. This is to indicate the difficulty inherent in navigating the internal spaces of others. Immediately opposite the aperture there is a mirror as a clue that the viewer is also looking into themselves (through someone else’s lens). The scene depicts a peculiar waiting room within a suburban basement which is being partially converted into a bathroom.