The Trend Project

So, back in 2004, not long before I moved from San Francisco to Phoenix, I came up with an idea for a sort of "immersion" art project. I use that term loosely as it apparently pertains to a digital "virtual-reality" based sphere of the art world. I don't know if it was really intended to be an "art" project per se, as it was more of something I wanted to do out of a sociological, scientific curiosity. The idea was merely to see if I could actively and purposely "influence" or "start" a trend.

A little backstory: For most of my 20s, I was, for lack of better terms, interested primarily in old-school punk, jazz, and rockabilly music; I snobbishly believed that there was nothing culturally relevant for the last 25 years. Of course this was ironic, as I wrote poetry and short stories, played in bands, and contributed to the contemporary cultural zeitgeist well within that time-frame. However, it was during 2004, that I became exposed to a lot of NEW happenings in Indie culture: music, fashion, etc. One of the things that caught my attention, were specific oddities of the hipster fashion/lifestyle. This was before the beards, flannel shirts, foodie, fixed-gear bike, cliches that established themselves in recent years. I can't remember what it was in particular that triggered my inspiration, but I was curious to see if I could get people to start wearing those giant class-ring relics from the 70s and 80s. It seemed like the perfect thing to try and make happen. Of course I would have to document my "research" somehow with before and after video of an array of hipster hands throughout the country.

The Plan: I bought a Sony camcorder that fit in the palm of my hand for discreet recording, that I intended to use in hipster-centric bars from SF, to Portland, to LA, to Brooklyn. I would then casually show off my personal class ring "bling" wherever I went, perhaps making it a conversation piece. Also, I purchased the domain "trendproject.org" to document my findings or lack there of. I wanted to have periodic video clip updates of myself in a labcoat and clipboard discussing my "scientific" discoveries or non-findings. Well, that was as far as it went.

The End: Eventually I moved away and, again, for lack of a better term, BECAME a person among the hipster-class that I was perhaps smugly trying to detail. It suddenly seemed such an un-cool proposition. I can't recall if it's the Heisenberg Principle or Bohr's Law, that states how the Observer affects the outcome of research, merely by acting as Observer. However, through the years, I have seen a few of those giant rings on the hands of a hipster or two...without my influence.