Spread SF0 by The Villain
October 18th, 2007 12:18 PMThe Villain: 27 votes
The Herø: 33 votes
Thank you all for your votes this week!
Further votes for these completions will not be counted toward the winner of this Duel -- you may now vote freely!
View the Herø's completion of this task!
The terms of this Duel were:
- interpret "Spread SFØ" as "Advertise SFØ," in order to remain consonant with the generative dispute.
- complete this task obeying the Trajectory of Desire of the University of Aesthematics, of which we are both members.
The Villain's Advertise SFØ :
I have proposed that Advertisement is the activity of proliferating the knowledge of a Subject. In "What Is Advertising," I have demonstrated that the most effective method of advertising is to make individual advertisements that are personalized to every member of the audience. I maintain this philosophy through the "Spread SFØ" task:
I have created a multi-tiered advertisement campaign with 3 levels of audience personalization. The tiers are as follows:
Level 1: The Billboard (enticing the stranger)
Level 2: Task Cards (seducing the acquaintance)
Level 3: Post Cards (the formal invitation)
Post Cards
To breathe a second life into the first 15 portraits completed for What Is Advertising? I took the original, corporeal portraits, slapped a stamp on them, and sent them off into the void that is the USPS. The 15 recipients were culled from my Personal Postcard Project address list, carefully selected for their potential to be Creative and Productive future players. Each postcard was inscribed with a personalized invitation to join SFØ.
These 15 portraits are potentially being displayed in houses across the nation (and abroad), serving to actively recruit SFØ members from the following cities:
Lank: Queens, NY
Anna One: Oakland, CA
El Capitan Barbapoca: Portland, OR
The Vixen: Davis, CA
Ink Tea: Pine Ridge, SD
Metatron: Oakland, CA
Spar: Santa Cruz, CA
Miteux: Berkeley, CA
Charlie Fish: Oakland, CA
Mouse: Queens, NY
Cameron: Berkeley, CA
Cyber Kitty #1: Philadephia, PA
Cyber Kitty #2: Rapperswil, Switzerland
Bex: Tsubaki, Japan
Rainbow Bright: Olympia, WA
Task Cards
It's not enough just to tell people how incredible SFØ is. You have to show them how awesome it is. You have to get them tasking. For this purpose, I designed and printed "business cards" for 7 existing SFØ tasks.
"Your first task is..."
I carried these Task Cards in a small wallet on my hip and handed them to my daily acquaintances. These cards were only given to persons that I felt had a chance of becoming SFØ players. Layabouts did not receive cards.
Example recipients of these cards included:
the owner of the local cafe
the lonely boy at the bar
the punk rocker at the strip mall
my professor
blair thomas & company
the woman who stared at me in the elevator
the indie rockers at the indie rock show
an entire classroom of performance artists during a discussion of Society of the Spectacle
and anyone else with that particular gleam in their eye
The tasks on the cards were selected for being the most accessible and most enjoyable for people who are not currently playing SFØ. There was one task to represent each of the five groups, as well as two groupless tasks.
I began with 334 cards. In the 45 days of Advertise SFØ (9/1/07 - 10/15/07) I distributed 311 cards.
The Billboard
Lastly, sensing that people are attracted to large moving objects, I endeavored to build a mobile billboard.
The first thing I did with this mobile billboard was to take it to Chicago Critical Mass. This happened to be the 10th anniversary of the ride, attended by an unprecedented number of riders (led by the Punk Marching Band Mucca Pazza, drawn by a flotilla of bike trailers).
Bikers helped themselves to task cards stashed in a box sticking out of the back of the trailer. I stopped only occasionally -- most of the bikers managed to grab a card while in motion! 59 task cards were distributed within two hours.
In the following weeks, I took this trailer all around the city. Most notably, I parked it in front of the School of the Art Institute in downtown Chicagø while I was in class. In the end, this was how a majority of my Task Cards were distributed.
40 vote(s)
- anna one
- Tøm
- Malaysian Eddy
- Blue
- Ink Tea
- Jackie H
- Meta tron
- Lank
- Marshall Electric
- Charlie Fish
- susy derkins
- Spidere
- The Vixen
- Burn Unit
- Ian Kizu-Blair
- Ariock Knight
- qwerty uiop
- SNORLAX
- Terpsichore
- stacey stormes
- Fox Glove
- SEN
- Beetle bomb
- CardioLuv
- Loki
- KaPaK
- Manthrax
- Bex.
- YellowBear
- Alana Abbott
- Populace Junky
- Caroline The Curly
- Jellybean of Thark
- Fonne Tayne
- Augustus deCorbeau
- GYØ Ben
- Sparrows Fall
- Not Here No More
- Kommando
- Ty Ødin
Favorite of:
Terms
savory33 comment(s)
I don't live in Pine Ridge. I don't know anyone who does. Did I give you a false address at some point?
It's kind of my m.o. to give faulty information. I live in Minnesota. Or, maybe I'm lying about that, too. Oh dear.
Ink: Oh Noes! Dude, you shoulda known your m.o. would come back to bite you.
I reiterate what I said over at bex's task: arrghh!
so many subtle variations! so much flavor
for those of you scoring at home, the secret ingredient is drive
I don't know how I'm going to vote. I fear this duel is going to only satisfy the participants inasmuch as they are willing to accept that they put out their all, because right now I don't see a clear winner.
**EDIT: I get it!
Those players' portraits are being used to recruit from those locales, not being sent to the players named on the list. The Villain just provided a list to show us whose portrait "scores", and where. I eagerly await the results! As for Pine Ridge, I say, Welcome, fellow South Dakotans, when you arrive!
Hosting your files on Chicag0 your really running with that aren't you?!!?
I really like that you advertised by giving people specific tasks to pique their imagination....
YOU WERE 18 WHOLE MINUTES LATE ! ! !
It's ok.... mad props for the c.mass ride. I am mightily impressed not only by your trailer-building skilfulness but equally so by your strength in calligraphic simplicity ...
rather gyo sho if i sayso meself...
I am so going to get the denizens of Queens in this game! (I like Queens - it's where I stayed during my only trip to NYC.)
Vote for direct marketing evil.
I don't mean to show off, but since Bex posts her "progeny," I must point out that the Chicagø enrollment since September 15th has included:
Terpsichore
Elango
Katelyn
devin
KaPaK
Manifestor of imagination
SEN
Voltaire
who have already completed tasks that total 741 points, including 6 fleur-de-lis! (thanks guys, you're doing great!)
[Rock over Løndon, Rock over Chicagø...]
The personalized invitations are probably the most effective way to spread SF0 one can imagine.
A few of us came upon the game independently, but at the last henge poll, most were drawn in by a personal relationship to another player. (And, it's certainly true that my massive sf0 spam blasts have turned out only one largely dormant player, while two out of two of my detailed, personal invitations have brought in active taskers.)
What's more, the cards with individual tasks written on them are a great idea. The biggest problem with telling people about sf0 is the number of sentences required to adequately explain it. But, for someone who *gets it,* a single task example is all you need. I really like those cards!
Finally, how can anyone not love the rolling task-offering billboard?
You guys really expect us to vote for just one of you? This isn't going to be easy.
I suspect the Villain's completion has a slight edge if we're judging on effectiveness in spreading sf0. But, the Hero comes out a bit ahead in a straight up awesomness contest. Add in my natural tendency to handicap meatspace friends, and an overly analytic attempt to circumvent that tendency, and I'm left utterly undecided. Either way, you both deserve super-votes.
I came here just to double-check my vote for Bex ("even" in SF, stenciling takes guts). Dueling personal touches! Dueling mass marketing (targeted, no less)! Critical Mass in Chicago! (IMHO more fun than SF because no hills = more people with giant stereo systems blasting "Grove is in the Heart"; also, cops and cars there are meaner) Anyway, they're both fantastic and I'm not down with voting for both (during duelin' time); VOTE PENDING.
Respect the choice to vote for stencils. Stenciling takes guts. (So does pulling a 12 square-foot sail in the Windy City, which capsized 4 times while I was towing it... but hey, danger is my middle name!)
Critical Mass in Chicagø hasn't been such a walk in the park... A kid got nightsticked in front of me in August, and several massers got cuffed for not dispersing when the cops blocked us off at Roosevelt and Halsted. In September the police managed to cut us into at least two separate parades, unable to get back together. And, of course, there is no end to the fistfights with motorists. Even The Villain finds it hard to believe that this is supposed to be a peaceful protest... But you're right, the stereo systems here are state-of-the-art, and that's what keeps us going!
While we're on the subject of 'progeny'
Ben has all of GY0, which is quite a few.
I couldn't choose, but believed you both deserve points.
GYØ rocks my world. I hope I never pick a fight with that crew.
I reckon this completion will recruit more good SF0 players than Bex's.
So you get my vote.
In the spirit of the duel, I feel like I must pick only one of the two to vote for.
But they are both so fantastic. I suggest everyone as impressed as I am go here to give another vote for both.
duel vote:
as a matter of techniques for producing meaning, I believe the two proofs thoroughly cover the range of techniques expressed in our trajectory of desire. Very strong arguments can be put forward that they brilliantly use techniques described in our group's page: painting, neighborhood appropriation, fashion, drawing, multimedia, illegality, personality, and ambivalence.
So on that aesthematic ground, the villain's proof scores higher as an optimization of the art machine(s) for higher efficiency:
the permanence of Hero's stenciling notwithstanding, the direct widespread distribution of task cards to human beings is more measurable than the possibility that random persons will see the beautiful stenciling and take action.
All other things being equal--and possibly they are equal!!--I have to vote according to the duelists' own criteria:
The advertising appears equal in technique and appearance.
The Villain advances the trajectory one bit more efficiently, and strengthens the leg of product in our trinity of appearance, product & technique.
Well I just voted for Ian by accident. If "I" end up voting, it's him.
Sincerely,
Sean
After much thinking I cast my vote on this duel for The Villain´s completion, on account of the bravery involved in directly translating sf0 to the realm of everyday people during regular daytime hours. Not "sexy-hardcore", but hardcore nonetheless. Plus, the decision of using as things that already exist as the spreading channels: punk bands, massive marches, art institutes, i.e. using reality as a trampoline to start seeing it and playing with it. I also think that his approach is a great meme, in the sense that task cards are something with a very high chance of being replicated in other places by other players. And finally, because the Task Card Hip Wallet TM provided the means to get a closeup of the Villian´s tush on the internet.
It was a very calculated tush shot. I'm glad you took the time to point it out.
I noticed there were no picture of anyone with a biome card, oh well anyway, I can't make my mind up either. You both rocked at this task. I completed my spread sf0 when i was just starting and all i did was tell someone on msn. I'll wait till 24th october and see if i can come to a decision.
I noticed there were no picture of anyone with a biome card, oh well anyway, I can't make my mind up either. You both rocked at this task. I completed my spread sf0 when i was just starting and all i did was tell someone on msn. I'll wait till 24th october and see if i can come to a decision.
Please note that the lady in the red helmet and yellow jacket is holding a Biome card. It was one of the more popular tasks.
it wasn't an easy decision to vote for this. i enjoyed both completions. Ultimately I had to choose this one, because you spread the gospel of SF0 to so many strangers. 311 task cards distributed! well done!!
you have a knack for getting new players to vote for you. your adverts must be effective ...
They finally came through!
I had to bug a few of them to take a look at the completions... and was proud to hear that at least one of them considered voting for Bex before casting me their vote.
Maybe the other 307 of them will get around to voting for me...
We're down to the last 14 hours!
My vote was kind of worthless for both of you. I enjoyed both sides so much I couldn't make up my mind. My apologies....but fuck yes!!! Critical Mass Zero advertising is Rad!!!
October 25th, 2007, 12PM Pacific Time:
You may have won this time, Bex...
Since the time has expired, I got to give you some respect. Its a good thing that she beat you, other wise you would be right onto deuling me....
Aw. I fully expect that my current SFØ involvement is directly traceable back to this task... I might be your great-grandchild!
Wow.
(I didn't know it was a duel when I voted the first time, now I do. Sorry not to help one or the other win.)