About this project

Abstract: This proposal itself is the project. When it’s over, it will cease to exist, and nothing will come of it. Kickstarter is a previously unexploited exhibition space, and I am its first unofficial artist-in-residence. Think of this as an inaugural exhibition.
A fantasy for those who need it: Your donation of exactly $1 will help keep this listing in the “recently backed” section of Kickstarter, this making it an illusory big fish in a very small virtual pond. That fish will live out a short life cycle, die a natural or unnatural death, and leave little behind other than a fetid mass of decrepit remains in the form of an unfortunate paper trail aimed at a transient fan base.
The hard facts: This project looks suspiciously like conceptual art. Claims could be made that it cynically mirrors the wider world of Kickstarter as a Wild West zone of well-intentioned but philosophically queasy big-trough cash grabs, enacted in the name of some phantasmal vision of individual creativity. Pledges of exactly one dollar (US $1.00) are encouraged and preferred. Every dollar pledged here is a dollar potentially diverted from something ostensibly better and/or more colorful, if you’re into that sort of thing. Theoretically, resources will thus be drained from other, more worthy projects. However, the actual effects of this project are so small as to be effectively nonexistent. Moreover, all funds raised will undergo a process of meaningless commodification and then be returned to the project’s backers, setting the counter back at zero. The artist enters with nothing, and will leave with nothing. The wheels thus grind on.
The fine print (1): But of course there’s a catch, something to make purists feel slimy. All backers will receive documentation of this project in the form of a signed, numbered, limited-edition certificate of artistic collaboration. The edition will be strictly limited to the number of backers, plus a set of three additional copies marked “artist’s proof” to be held by the artist. Size and format of this certificate will be determined by the costs of production and distribution, with simplicity and the upper limit of $0.85 per item—the remainder of each pledge after Amazon and Kickstarter fees are backed out—as key factors. Certificates for backers who opt not to receive a premium will be archived by the artist.
(1a) If the funding goal is not met, the artist will create and preserve a similar edition of signed certificates equal to the number of people who pledged. These will all be left unnumbered and labeled “artist’s proof / [# of backers],” and preserved in a specially created container along with documentation of the project. It will thus become a tangible, portable, one-of-a-kind precious item, with future value for interested collectors to skyrocket accordingly, per the established rules of virtually all contemporary art that uses the so-called dematerialized object as a crutch.
(1b) In the case of successful funding, money raised will be used to pay for the costs of preparing and mailing the certificates, and an accounting of expenditures will be sent to all participants. If proceeds outweigh expenses, all funders will receive an equal-share refund of the overage, in either cash or a rough equivalent to be determined by the artist (for example, 1-cent postage stamps). If the project radically overfunds to the extent that economies of scale would leave a large slush fund upon completion of the certificates, returns to backers will be handled in some other fashion at the discretion of the artist, perhaps (but not necessarily) via a regrettable improvement in the quality of the documentation. Identical mass-market trinkets of some sort are also an option. At the end of the project, it is the artist’s intention to take away nothing for himself.
The fine print (2): Funders who pledge more than $1 get nothing extra. As in the case of the lottery, single-ticket players are romantics with a tenuous quasi-rational justification, and repeat offenders are fools. There is no way to corner the market on thin air.
Methodology: Since actual traffic is irrelevant to this piece and disappearance down a black hole is one of its necessary possible futures, the usual rules of successful Kickstarter fundraising will not be followed. No videos or special images will be prepared and uploaded. A random number generator was used to select 10 project tags from the list of 19 suggestions provided by Kickstarter. The artist may or may not personally court word-of-mouth dissemination, depending on his mood. As water finds its own level, audiences find their own art. Markets notwithstanding, violation of this principle courts intellectual and aesthetic catastrophe.
The famous statement of intent: Aliena nobis, nostra plus aliis placent (Publilius Syrus).
Empty sloganeering: Art for Art’s sake has a past, but no future. Less is not only not more, but hopefully also nothing at all.
Conclusion: It’s all immaterial anyway.

Project location: right here.