Fage Not Pound
Introduction
Fage not Pound (FNP) was a temporary bar where visitors were invited to actively reflect upon the blurred boundary between leisure and productivity. Fage Not Pound was itself hosted by Page not Found (PNF)[1], an art book shop in Den Haag (The Netherlands). Fage not Pound opened on the 25th of March 2022 from 18:00 to 21:00 (UTC +1) but its existence lasted much longer in AccAcc (FNP's local time unit). Fage not Pound was imagined to host the official launch of This Box Found You For A Reason (Special Issue #17) a publication by XPUB1.
Context
An Open letter to Ourselves
Prior to Special Issue 17, XPUB1 already had worked on Special Issue 16 (Special Issue 16 - Learning How to Walk While Catwalking) at the Piet Zwart Institute, Willem de Kooning Academy, located in Rotterdam (The Netherlands). On the 2nd March 2022, a few days after the group meeting for SI 17, XPUB1 wrote a letter[2] to themselves as a reminder of their common goal: working together as a group. In searching for a healthy and productive way of working collectively, they formed four task teams (Team #1, Team #2, Team #3, The Editors, The Teasurer).
Teams
- Team #1 was in charge of what is to be found inside the box. Conceptually as much as production-wise.
- Team #2 was in charge of creating the box itself, conceptually as well as physically. They challenged the physicality of the box within the context of gamification, exploiting its depth, 2D and 3D potential.
- Team #3 was in charge of the overall Public Relationship and Experience of Special Issue 17
- The Editors were in charge of going over all the written material in Special Issue 17 (proofreading). They were responsible for writing needed texts for any aspect of the publication (advertisement, content, else) or going over any written material produced by other team members in order to keep a coherent language throughout the publication.
- The Treasurer
- Team 1-3 had one representative and one visual identity representative respectively.
Rules? Culture?
Different Temporality, AccAcc
AccAcc (from Accumulate Accelerate) is a variable time unit synchronising the activities at Fage not Pound. The duration of an (1) AccAcc is directly influenced by the amount of visitor present in the space and gauged by a traffic counter at the entrance.
When the space is empty, the time unit is considered "dormant" and therefore called "AccAccDull". By default, an (1) AccAccDull equals one (1) second (the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI)).
An AccAccDull becomes an AccAcc at the moment of its activation. The said activation happens when a person enters the space and is invited to press a button. Each time a visitor enters, the AccAcc's value is multiplied by 1,1. Thus, as the space gets crowded, the span of an AccAcc decreases exponentially, allowing time to pass faster.
[code]
[video of projected AccAcc]
Fage not Pound's program, expressed in AccAccs, is directly influenced by the amount of visitors, events are most likely to take place at the peak of attendance.
Different Paying Method, Crossword
Fage Not Pound was a bar where the payment method is a bit different than what people are used to. At FNP, there was just ONE rule: 1 WORD = 1 DRINK. In order to get a drink from the counter, it was necessary to play a game: the Crossword. This is thought in order to delay the fulfilment of a need and slow the pace down, as well as invite for further reflection on the crosswords' topics.
"The clock goes faster when more people get in to, by the end of the event, access the reward. —a proverb really popular at the time
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At the beginning of the history of FNP, the Crossword Game emerged to reflect on delayed reward and slow-thinking, on productivity and gamification.
What people would say at the time was that this game made them feel part of something: they have been able to produce a collective work, a big crossword made by everyone in the room. It was a way to create interaction and criticise individuality and competition. Instead, this method invited us to embrace collectivity and inclusivity.
A typical game session at FNG would include a visitor coming to FNP to have a drink and a chat with some friends. They would enter the space and move closer to the bar counter. They would ask for a drink, maybe a beer, and pick a definition from one of the rings on the counter. Some of them would choose the topic they are more interested in, some of them the one they know better.
"What a nice atmosphere! At FNP I always feel like I deserve my drink and in addition, I can go home and explain to my nephews the new words I learnt!" —a visitor recalling their time at FNP
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They would ask: "can you give me a hint?"; "I don't know the word, give me a letter!"; or run around looking for a friend to help them.
Finally, they would always find the solution at the clues. They would pick a marker, lie on the counter and slowly move it on the shiny and smooth surface, noticing the collective effort was finding its way on that table.
The word is complete.
"How nice when you finally write the last word and see how your word fits perfectly with the rest!" —a visitor recalling their time at FNP
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["Disclaimer: This crossword and its definitions are a combination of dictionary and encyclopaedic definitions and our own discussions as a group. As such, they are meant as an invitation for further reflection."]
Launch of "This Box Found You For A Reason"
On the 25th of March 2022, Fage Not Pound hosted the launch of the Special Issue 17, a publication titled: "This Box Found You For A Reason". By subverting the medium of the lootbox, the publication was intended to let its audience familiarise with the theme of Productive Play
Timeline
| Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | 18:00 (UTC+1) --:-- (AccAcc) |
--- |
| The talk by Platform BK (Sepp Eckenhaussen & Koen Bartijn) | 19:00 - 20:00 (UTC+1) --:-- (AccAcc) |
--- maybe a link of the talk & recordings |
| Big Reveal | 20:00 (UTC+1) --:-- (AccAcc) |
--- |
| Closing | 21:00 (UTC+1) --:-- (AccAcc) |
Example |
The Talk by Platform BK and XPUB1
Coming soon...
Fage not Pound is organised as a loop with separate, yet neighbouring, entrance and exit doors. To navigate the space, visitors are offered to follow a flowchart (on floor signage). [add pictures of signage]
"Do you have time?"
Fage not Pound is organised as a loop with separate, yet neighbouring, entrance and exit doors. To navigate the space, visitors are offered to follow a flowchart (on floor signage). [add pictures of signage]
After passing the entrance door, the first question occurs: "Do you have time?".
"Yes"
Redirected to second question.
"No"
In the case they say no, they are invited to follow the "short track" and are redirected to a private booth.
As a visitor with limited time, it is possible to have a glimpse of "This Box Found You For A Reason" in a private booth located right after the entrance of Fage not Pound. The space is available for individual experience at any time before the scheduled launch of the publication, after consultation, it is possible to purchase the item.
If time suddenly allows the visitor, it is always possible to join the long track after having experienced the short track.
Any publication sold before the official launch time will be sealed in an opaque bag.
"Do you want to pause?"
"Yes"
The visitor is redirected to the bathroom.
"No"
When visitors answer 'No', they are redirected to the main room and become players.
A visitor followed the long track reached the main room to become a player. When entering the room, the player pressed the button and got an empty name tag. The button is to affect the FNP timezone, AccAcc, by multiplying the speed value of one second. The name tag was for the player to write down one's chosen avatar name which lasted for the entire event. The player could freely walk around the room, browse displayed books related to the topic "Productive Play", read descriptions on the wall, hang out with other players, solve the crossword puzzles to get a drink, and participate in the talk by the Platform BK (Sepp Eckenhaussen and Koen Bartijn). After the talk, the big reveal followed. After the reveal, the inboxing of the first purchase of the publication streamed online.
"Do you want to exit?"
"Yes"
"No"
—(Avartar Name) recalling the Big Reveal of This Box Found You For A Reason
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Aftermath
If we sell all the LB on the 25th then write about that. If not, write where people can order/get it.
"This Box Found You For A Reason"
History
Co-published by the Master Experimental Publishing (XPUB) at the Piet Zwart Institute, Willem de Kooning Academy and Page Not Found.
Under the guidance of artist Lídia Pereira and the XPUB staff, the master students of Experimental Publishing explored how (video) games features are making us more, not less, productive. Life and work are ‘gamified’ through social media, dating apps, and fitness apps designed to increase motivation and productivity. Gamification blurs the lines between play, leisure and labour, to release our collective dopamine for profit. Games in themselves often perform a reproductive role, presenting capitalism as a system of natural laws, exemplified by in-game predatory monetisation schemes. On the other hand, games provide necessary down time and relaxation, helping people function in a largely dysfunctional economy and society. Yet leisure remains a contested space which is still unequally distributed, between genders, ethnicities and abilities. The form of the publication reworks the figure of the loot box, a typically virtual and predatory monetization scheme.
This Box Found You For A Reason is made by Burapachaisri, Mitsa Chaida, Kimberley Cosmilla, Erica Gargaglione, Carmen Gray, Jian Haake, Chaeyoung Kim, Francesco Luzzana, Ål Nik (Alexandra Nikolova), Emma Prato, Gersande Schellinx and Miriam Schöb.
The box
Coming soon...
Pricing of the lootbox
To purchase the publication—This Box Found You For A Reason—interested visitors were encouraged to reflect on the economics of publishing and the difficulty to quantify artistic labour. To trigger this discussion, the costs related to production, distribution and tax were visible.
"At the attempt of quantifying our labour, we started to ask ourselves what is it that counts as work. Conceptualisation and production? Thinking under the shower? Opening a Telegram work chat while waiting at the café? Is learning another form of labour?"
Gallery
Coming soon
See Also
Colofon
Page Not Found and XPUB, Supisara Burapachaisri, Mitsa Chaida, Kimberley Cosmilla, Erica Gargaglione, Carmen Gray, Jian Haake, Chaeyoung Kim, Francesco Luzzana, Ål Nik (Alexandra Nikolova), Lídia Pereira (ed.), Emma Prato, Gersande Schellinx and Miriam Schöb.