[bldyrctm]: Guy Pearce looks like an ape in that shit
[bldyrctm]: + everything else
[xxxftgxxx]: are you going to joes soon?
[bldyrctm]: hmm
[bldyrctm]: i just poured some coffee into a mug
[xxxftgxxx]: $85 for a dossier?!
[xxxftgxxx]: jc
[bldyrctm]: you are working until 11pm?!
[xxxftgxxx]: no!
[xxxftgxxx]: christ
[bldyrctm]: do you think that is too little?
[xxxftgxxx]: i will probably leave at 5
[xxxftgxxx]: hmm
[xxxftgxxx]: doesnt seem like a very populist price
[bldyrctm]: i figured that $100 seemed too arbitrary
[xxxftgxxx]: picture looks good
[bldyrctm]: do you think we should charge for that pic?
[xxxftgxxx]: haha
[xxxftgxxx]: maybe for the d/l of the pdf
[bldyrctm]: no one is going to buy one; what do you think we should charge?
[xxxftgxxx]: hmm
[xxxftgxxx]: i think that you should be req’d to make a comment on the site before you can d/l it
[xxxftgxxx]: the price is fine because it is a joke
[bldyrctm]: hmm..you made me disable comments
[bldyrctm]: i reckon we could force someone to email us first?
[xxxftgxxx]: nah
[xxxftgxxx]: i like that you can just break it off
[xxxftgxxx]: shit

a digital interpretation of the document which was sent to pamphlet architecture has been assembled. our readers may view the pages online here; the page sizes are large, for each is a .png between about 70-120kb. those who don’t understand what that means might be better off with a paper version, you may download the pdf and print copies for yourselves and for dissemination amongst all y’all’s crews. final pamphlet pdf [6.82 mb]

for those of you putting together your own ex_nihilo pamphlets, we have provided visual documentation of its use, that you may discern how the item is constructed.

those not wishing to view the slideshow or download the file and procure the proper materials for assembly may choose instead the option of home/office/shop delivery of one (1) fully assembled pamphlet at the cost of $35 U.S.; contact for more information.

let us hope the postman at gpc does not go on break before mailing out our submission.

[last edit: 17h01]
words: 248

The Unownership Society
On how proprietary ideas are fettered.

Collaboration is generally considered a convergence of intellectual energies, diversified experience sets, pooled resources, and aligned goals. Collaborations are often held under the auspices of some banner of operating methods or alphabetized participant lists. These collaborations are controlled; the inherent loss of information is conceded by all participants. The collaborative project that is the social world is bound by the same guidelines, charts, and grids; society is a collaboration of parallels, not convergence. Agreements on allowed contributions are silently made.

Yet, within this milieu, a dedicated workgroup of participants pushes forth efforts of production which contain openings for the roguish advances of unknown entities, enabling the group’s efforts to be periodically eclipsed, silenced, blotted, obfuscated, and misunderstood. Rather than taint or obscure progress, the feverish input of the audience serves as fertile mulch for the players. While the collaborations of the corporation are tested and verified, the deposed corporate model is slowed by comfortable hierarchy; the workgroup model is fueled by noise and intrusion.

To investigate one universe, one must create a second; the phantasmagoric diversions from the original serve as its critique. Ex_Nihilo functions as a narrative vehicle to carry out such investigations; the interference faced by the workgroup is reflected in the counter-insurgency of Manhattanville. The modes of intra- and inter-office communication are the traces and scars etched into the walls and floors of the island; IM and FTP are replaced by iron hooks embedded into stone walls and grooves cut into shattered brick.

is anything in my ‘abstract proposal’ useful for the narrative text?

it seems to be written from the pov of an inhabitant of the ex/n universe.

on the other hand, it can be saved for the abstract, if the abstract is going to discuss the project in the manner that one would critique a book or film, ie, that the characters are always in the present tense facing events that are true to them, as opposed to an abstract that says ‘here is what john did to the phony ex/n universe’

or you can discard it, which, i have no doubt, is your intention

i believed that your proposal was probably a good one to weave into the abstract due to its pointed critique of the architectural climate. i am not sure if publius or the toastmaster are intended to have any real history in the building arts. although, i am certain that both are dilettantes who would likely snicker upon hearing about the crucifixion of btschumi, it may belong more in the exterior narrative or manifesto.

i have no plans to do away with your text or any of your contributions thus far.

honestly, i don’t think the chronology matters, at least was far as the aims are concerned.

i felt that the 3 aims were ordered in a way that would allow them to reference the three constructives in the order that they have been presented in the past: backlot, ivy, smoke.

the repetition of the shanties vs. towers seems anomalous

i cannot think of what you are referring to offhand but i will look and make the necessary adjustments. i will also add the utterance of the word bricolage by publius as you have directed.

we currently have 10 pages of auto-flowed loaded text fitting into the columnization you have prescribed. not bad.

reading these texts again, maybe i can be more articulate in my questions about what exactly we are submitting to ‘pamphlet’. should we include only the body of work of ex_nihilo, effectively repackaging it, or should we discuss ex_nihilo as well; for example, instead of just placing ‘missive 02′ without commentary, should the submission instead be about how ex_nihilo developed, with commentary such as, “‘missive 02′ is a plot device to demonstrate that those who quote octavio paz are hacks”. the latter would be (more) work, clearly. has this question been answered?

“you put two million dollars into a single family home, and we are supposed to be impressed that it makes it to the cover of dwell?”
† continue reading another pamphlet architecture abstract proposal

this is meant to approach a subject matter for the abstract, not necessarily a character or tone.
† continue reading 30 minute abstract for pamphlet architecture

for those of you putting together your own ex_nihilo dossiers, we have provided visual documentation of its use, that you may discern how the item is constructed. those not wishing to download the file and procure the proper materials for assembly may choose instead the option of home/office/shop delivery of one (1) fully assembled dossier at the cost of $85 U.S.; contact for more information.

as far as i can tell, we have not yet been awarded the grand prix for our efforts. perhaps you neglected to note the office phone number on the entry form?

a digital interpretation of the document which was sent to the arch league has been assembled. our readers may print copies for themselves and for dissemination amongst their crews. instructions and diagrams for arranging the pages soon will appear on this page.

final dossier pdf [5.24 mb]

devouring mi-dels

some documents unseen in the final edition:

for fux sake!

devouring mi-dels, leaving the fan on in the west head, reading jl’s emails

listening to mogwai rock action and eating mi-dels scanning de-raunched correspondence.

listening to pglass 1000 airplanes on the roof and draughting courthouse plans transcribing nouveau journalistic scifi narrative.

> > do you want to meet at 6pm tonight?
>
> tomorrow night!

if you want to lose this shit, just say so!

i cant remember men in blue blazers. i cant remember men in hoods with silvery pistols trained on their temples, or laced up grey sneakers pressed firmly against spalling asphalt next to yellow chalk outlines of evaporated blood pools. i remember skies grey though, with smoke, with debris swinging before the sun from hovering spherical and linear devices, smudging out the sun. i remember the buildings were somewhat the same. i cant remember how they were different, other than the charred material, and the smoke. i heard how people used them, how they toppled them and stacked them under lakeshore drive. i cant remember people saying they saw the sun. those toppled towers were tunnels and they stretched beneath the freeways out to barren shores that looked like gas refineries. i remember yellow chalk drawn on walls in vague patterns that both camouflaged and pinpointed secret entries. when i dreamt of the tales passed to me they were more clear than those words i read on my screen. those mocking visages painted with the colours of our flag with pistols to their temples were smudged away. i cant remember seeing richter paintings until after the fall of the I-70 front. they were all stockpiled in manhattanville after the death of the last art-runners. smeared fragments peered through in my memories of those skylines. the cranes ramming into the penthouses and stalwarts cartwheeling through the sky from the remaining towers; they were covered with dust that flew like contrails so you couldnt forget their unholy paths through the green dusk. i cant remember dusk. i cant remember the sun turning the sky green. perhaps i cant remember correctly, but i believe i am trying not to remember at all.

there was another demonstration today. it was a peaceful rally, until some loyalists showed up to confront us. some prikk sat on the plants we had grown in the street. needless to say, it quickly became torn and the loyalists were quickly dispatched. you will probably find their logs up on the muntings [sic], they describe the winged ‘b‘ cranes, capable of mays [sic]. images are difficult to get to display. physical guyze mays [sic].

peep out your desk.

missive02.txt:

A F CL horn ^਍ഀ
commune P.~ObtLyQOy iN iD73~਍ഀ
AL,&~ lei਍ഀ
t f …hiq ~nc s~4 Coy~va~.C,y sao1 A~, 1 ;1 nM਍ഀ
t P”.਍ഀ

if you are able to access this missive it must mean that you are safe. i hope this comes through with some coherence after its translation. but if you are reading this, my technique for encrypting the materials was a success. anyway, i hope this note finds you well. i dont know if you will even remember me. i sent you a photograph of myself. if you can open that file you will probably recognize me. we went to school together. go me a report [sic]. ive sent some presentations for your computer to decode. these are in the comm. e6 that still is able to be transmitted by your PDA. i was sure you had access to those capabilities at the paper. you have no doubt heard of the crises at hand in manhattanville currently. the situation escalates daily. major changes are taking place to people and the city. these physical changes affect the way we live here. you may be able to get some sense of the drama with which manhattanville has transformed. perhaps you will be able to make an accurate report on these events. it might make our plight more visible and we can be helped. i know you are in a position of public presence so i am sure that your email is monitored. uploading documents to a remote scomesport server seem like the best mode of communication. an audience via comm. e6 may be helpful in lieu of conversation. my phone is tapped and satellite links are unreliable from the intermittent blockades placed on datacomm sectors. runners in the art world who saw to it that my hard missives were safe are dead. should i stay out in the open much longer any mail or communications will no doubt cease. there is an ocr machine that can transmit my older diaries -11 [sic] for you. i will encode these ’00 [sic] again. torture. let my voice be heard.

the ‘final’ images of a00743 have been cleaned of the text and uploaded to this project folder. find them linked under ‘re-final’.

also, all of the files from the a00743 project have been duplicated; please do all of your new work with the files in ex_nihilo (remember, this was your choice for a project name), so the groupe-e2 archive will remain preserved. furthermore, when posting a new article, choose the ex_nihilo category.

also, the dialogues are now password-protected until the work on them has been finalized. use your ftp login and your smd pw.

in the early weeks of the manhattan secession came the first missive from the republic:

missive01.jpg, raw

missive01-ocr.jpg, recognized

missive01.txt, interpreted:

note finds you well I- don’t਍ഀ
਍ഀ
school together ‘ ਍ഀ
go me a reporter਍ഀ
i *^ some presen tation for y our comp਍ഀ
comm e6 that still਍ഀ
ou ਍ഀ
sen se਍ഀ
perhaps਍ഀ
runn ers Art- s aw -to਍ഀ
should਍ഀ
, - 11਍ഀ
r00 again ture m,’3਍ഀ

in keeping with the narrative i would suggest you post them electronically. i will do what i need to do with them in order to live up to my end of the bargain.

john writes:

i found the (typewritten) text on the first image to be quite appropriate. i do like what each image’s text was saying and i think it should accompany it in some fashion other than a clumsy overlay. i will look into it. i was merely verifying that we could get those images alone.

well, if we are assembling a dossier, journal, or notebook to send to these new yorkers, we will not face the previous limitations of placing each image’s corresponding text within the 800×600 confines of that image. this brings to mind a question concerning the exchange of this material. it is not necessary for us to work electronically, so you can craft the page without the techmedia,
but how should i give you the fodder – place the original files on the server, burn a cd, or print them out?

ok. i think that those images should appear without the text. perhaps they appear with the title only (conceive, create, and so on). my issue was that the text looked too final for what it was saying. i found the (typewritten) text on the first image to be quite appropriate. i do like what each image’s text was saying and i think it should accompany it in some fashion other than a clumsy overlay. i will look into it. i was merely verifying that we could get those images alone.

i figure that the original files which i saved have the text on separate layers, so you can remove it if you like. is it the text or the arrangement of the text with which you have a problem?

do you also still have the 3 final groupe e2 images sans text overlays? if we are going to resubmit this i propose that those images either stand alone or have the text appended to them in some other fashion. i was never really happy with them.

if (you imagine a reality)… then (a reality will exist ex nihilo)

you speaking about our dialogues in such a manner makes our project seem too conscious, any editing that takes place on those ersatz conversations will only succeed in weakening the argument we are presenting to the alny, that being that every porno mpg … takes place on this (book cliff lodge’s) bedspread.

i see why the aim dialogues had been removed. what do you think about password protecting that shit? also, we need a name for this projekt, unless you want to stick with a00743 or groupe-e2? i think that could become confusing.

this layout is unhelpful, but at least the forum has begun. i will try to make it more manageable when i get to the office. you can leave posts now, in the ‘projekts’ section. be sure to pick the category ‘a00743′.