Jason Eppink's Catalogue of Creative Triumphs

What I Like About You

Jason Eppink — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 23:59:25 +0000

Problem: As a rather exacting person, I’ve developed a system of thinking behaviors that focuses on what could be better, rather than what is already excellent. I find a lot of my time is spent excluding rather than including. That is, looking at a wide range of what exists and coming up with criteria for filtering out what is not good enough.

The irony is that while this process regularly leads to great outcomes (from projects to relationships), I’ve spent so much time thinking about what’s not great that my daily thought patterns focus on the negative rather than the positive. I particularly dislike how these mental filters impact the way I think about people.

Solution: Every day this year, I’m going to write a few sentences about someone I know to focus (without qualification) on precisely what I think is great about that person. The goal is twofold:

To create a large vocabulary for describing how people are really super.
To rewire my brain to systematically engage in open, positive, appreciative thoughts about others.

I will privately send my words to the subject, and I will publicly post them online, with the name removed. (Neither of these outputs serve my goal, but they create short term incentives that will help me continue to engage in the project. And anyway, why wouldn’t you tell someone you think they’re great?)

By the end of the year, I will have described 366 people with probably a thousand sentences, spending hundreds of hours meditating on the positive qualities of the incredible people I am fortunate enough to know so well.

The project is updated daily at http://whatilikeaboutyouproject.tumblr.com.

The Ghosts of the Underbelly

Jason Eppink — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:00:00 +0000

I was honored to be invited to write an essay for We Own The Night, a book about the New York City Underbelly Project, the secret art gallery that inspired and exhibits The Shadow Machine.

Unfortunately, the essay was significantly edited without my input, dismantling its core argument about documentation and the fundamental importance of experience.

So I present the full essay here.

28th Birthday Walk

Jason Eppink — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 20:00:34 +0000

To celebrate my 28th birthday, Matt Green lead a day-long perambulation through New York City for dozens of friends. Sean McIntyre drew a psychogeographic representation to memorialize the day’s events. We visited locations of major terrorist attacks, happened upon the filming of an epic scene from an upcoming movie, encountered several protests, were yelled at by two different rent-a-cops, visited obscure memorials and monumental public art, and toasted the day on an abandoned dock. Best birthday party ever?

What the Truck!

Jason Eppink — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 18:00:19 +0000

What the Truck! is a collaborative animation that was created over the course of six hours by dozens of first-time or amateur animators at the Lost Horizon Night Market. Inside a pop-up animation studio in the back of a box truck, contributors created their own characters and props from construction paper, then picked up animating where the last person left off.

Signal to Noise #3

Jason Eppink — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 20:00:31 +0000

Signal to Noise once again took over the entire Museum of the Moving Image with interactive spectacles and visual delights, including electro-jams, post-rave vibes, circuit-bent video, shadow game tournaments, battling guitar video game contests, and much more as the galleries stayed open late and the party went later.

DIY rock superstars Anamanaguchi commanded the stage with high-energy low-res anthems, kicked-off by Extreme Animals‘ preposterous video/music explosions, MiniBoone’s raucous tunes with eyecandy from Holly Danger, and Landlady’s catchy experimental rock. LoVid blasted video noise from handmade hardware, and Modal Kombat dueled on acoustic guitars-turned-game controllers.

Partygoers chilled out to Smooth Breeze‘s easy-listening jazz and creamy screensavers, beat out the competition during an all-night tournament of Shadowplay, the live-action puzzle game you play with your shadow, and freaked out in Anamanguchi’s Zombie Rave Room. Luck You Collective, easylife, and Strongbros held down the lobby with ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE, featuring Burger Sundae, Girlbro, Beatsaface, and Latitude Zero on the decks.

Kickbackstarter

Jason Eppink — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:00:24 +0000

All my friends are raising funds on Kickstarter and I don’t have enough money to support all of their awesome projects, so I started a campaign to raise funds to support their Kickstarter campaigns!

Having awesome, ambitious friends with super great projects is expensive! I’m not sure where all this money on Kickstarter keeps coming from, but my hope was to capture a part of it so I could pass it on to my friends’ art projects, indie rock albums, and niche consumer products so I didn’t look like a total cheapskate to everyone.

The campaign successfully raised $234 of the $5000 goal.

Say Something Nice

Jason Eppink — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:00:53 +0000

We constructed a lectern to hold a megaphone, placed a plaque beneath it that reads “Say Something Nice”, and left it around New York City.

Further reading: full write-up from Improv Everywhere

The MP3 Experiment Eight

Jason Eppink — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 19:00:32 +0000

More than 3500 people downloaded an MP3 file, loaded it onto their players without listening to it, gathered in one of two groups at either Pier 25 or the World Financial Center yacht harbor, and simultaneously pressed play.

Participants had come, unbeknownst to them, to make “first contact” with the other tribe during their “Celebration of Lights Festival”. As the sun set, participants:

chased invisible birds
took silly photographs
made shadow puppets
limboed under flashlight beams
fought a lightsaber battle
played flashlight tag
raved with glowsticks
set off their camera flashes
donned masks for a masquerade ball

Further reading: full write-up from Improv Everywhere

Signal to Noise #2

Jason Eppink — Sat, 07 May 2011 20:00:15 +0000

Signal to Noise returned in May for another wall-rattling, late-night art party, activating every area of the Museum of the Moving Image once again with fresh local tunes and visualists, web video showdowns, personally tailored playlists, performed cinema, booty shaking beats, and much more.

The World Series of ‘Tubing issued iPads and laser pointers for an evening-long augmented reality game show, featuring Peter Berkman (Anamanaguchi), Paddy Johnson (Art Fag City), Ryder Ripps (dump.fm), and Ellie Rountree (Rocketboom), hosted by Julian McCullough. Bruce McClure overwhelmed the senses with live multi-projector spectacles, and Matt Wellins and Sarah Halpern time warped Ektachrome. The So So Glos dazzled with updated indie pop punk and Shark? blasted unquestionably catchy lo-fi melodies, while Holly Danger braved the visuals. Bubblyfish wielded her Gameboys and The Shortsleeves brought the synth, with No Carrier on the eyecandy. Marius Watz simulated magnetic forces, and Dan Iglesia oscillated in an extra dimension. Back by popular demand, DJ $mall ¢hange and special guest Repoman held down the dance floor, and if you still weren’t amused, AutomaticDJ knew your face and played your favorite songs.

Enjoy it while it lasts.

Jason Eppink — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 23:00:44 +0000

In March 2011, Madrid hosted the latest in a series of civil disobediences aimed at changing expectations of public behavior in shared environments in an action known as the Madrid Street Advertising Takeover. More than 100 thinkers, sociologist, teachers, lawyers, and artists contributed their thoughts – as few or as many words as they liked – that were printed on large posters to replace advertising in CEMUSA bus shelters across the city.

“Enjoy it while it lasts” is a call to action, a recognition of the ephemeral nature of everything, an urgent charge to take pleasure in this moment right now because it will not be this way forever, my life motto.