Zine Page - The Chaos Project

[A page developed for the zine project based on the art of Steven Sagmeister.  If truth be told he's not my favorite artist but I appreciate the skill that goes into his work.

The tutor on the course, as noted below, has been trying hard to get us to do something arty and statementy outside parliment but there is really nothing I feel strongly enough about to protest against.

I'm also firmly of the opinion that even if I did manage to write some huge slogan somewhere it wouldn't change anyones opinion on international whaling or nuculear testing.

Now that I come to think about it I don't think I would want someone who's opinion is so very easily influenced on my team.  It would only take some graffiti by the opposing side and I would have lost them.]

 

INTRODUCTION:

Ladies, Gentlemen and assorted others.  What you see before you are the inauspicious beginnings of the Chaos Project.  It has been suggested that, in order to get our messages across, we paint a message on the steps of parliament or upon the side of visiting ocean craft.

These have been dismissed for two reasons, the first is that the planning involved in such a movement would take far too long while the second is the simple fact that it would not help any movement or political statement. 

No the problem is that the general public, who would be the ones to receive the message, would view it as a kind of irksome graffiti that doesn't even have the benefit of being artistic.

The Chaos Project differs from other artistic or sociopolitical en devours however since it exists only for the sake of existing and will continue on in a memetic form long after the project has finished.

OUTLINE:

At its heart the plan is simple.  We take some tennis balls and roll them down the street.  However the aim of this plan is Chaos and by multiplying the amount of tennis balls exponentially we are able to strike a blow against the forces of ordinariness that seem to have this city in a vice like grip.

1.                  Acquire dump truck:  This may have to be rented or bought outright.  Either way this is an essential part of the Chaos Project.  The use of private cars has been suggested but was voted down due to the sheer bulk of the payload.

2.                  Acquire Tennis Balls: 40,000 of them, I estimate this to costing about $18,000.00 although I am certain that for such a vast number of balls some sort of bulk rates will apply.

3.                  Number the tennis balls 1 – 6.  This works out to around 8000 balls for each number but it is important to make certain that no ball is marked number 3, for reasons that will be explained below.

1.                  Balls marked 1 should carry the message: Let us begin!

2.                  Balls marked 2 should carry the message: Think about yourself

3.                  Balls marked 4 should carry the message:Anyway the wind,

4.                  Balls marked 5 should carry the message:Love will conquer

5.                  Balls marked 6 should carry the message: Exaunt Omnes

4.                  Load marked balls into the truck and release into the city streets.  It doesn't matter what hour of the day this is performed as the effect of 40,000 tennis balls is bound to have an arresting affect on the population of the city.  But for our purposes the height of rush hour in the middle of Wellington City should prove entertaining for all concerned.

OUTCOMES:

The messages on the balls are meaningless when taken either individually or as a whole but we are counting on the magpie like nature of humanity to kick in when the messages are discovered.  After they've gotten out of the way of them all, there will be people picking through each one in a desperate attempt to collect all of them.  The news agencies that cover this will only make the problem larger since their reports will reveal that there is a message to be decoded in the collection of balls.

But, as noted above, there is no number 3 ball and never will be.

The biggest problem that I see with this plan is the question of stealth.  Any individual buying this many tennis balls is going to be remembered as is anyone who is hired to write the messages on the balls.  Getting the balls printed with the messages already on them might go some way to  keeping anonymous about the whole thing.  But all those involved with this project are going to need to accept the fact that, sooner or later, we will be identified.

 

The actual page that I ended up using.  Keen eyed viewers will note that I didn't actually use any of the text that I'd prepared earlier.