The Jejune Institute

Last updated

The Jejune Institute (also known as The Games of Nonchalance) was an alternate reality game, public art installation and immersive experience that ran in San Francisco, California from 2008 to 10 April 2011. [1] It was conceived by Jeff Hull and launched by the arts group Nonchalance in 2008.

Contents

Background and Game Experience

The Jejune Institute, also known as The Games of Nonchalance, was conceived by Jeff Hull and launched by the arts group Nonchalance in 2008. [1]

In 2013, a documentary about the project was released by Spencer McCall, titled “The Institute.” It suggested that The Jejune Institute “combined a Fluxus stunt, a freelance crowd-psychology experiment, a ludic self-help workshop, interactive promenade theatre, and some traditional hipster bullshit.” [2]

People discovered the experience through fliers for dolphin therapy and the "Aquatic Thought Foundation" placed around San Francisco, or via word of mouth. [3] [4]

There were four chapters total. 4,000 people had visited the first chapter by 2010, [5] and more than 7,000 people visited the game's first chapter by the game's conclusion. [6] [7] Hull reported that attendance dropped by about 50% [5] -75% [6] after each chapter, with about 120 people who made it through the first three chapters.

The first chapter took place at an office building at 580 California Street. Visitors went to the 16th floor of the building and watched a video in an automated "induction room", before embarking on a two- or three-hour walk around San Francisco's Financial District and Chinatown. Players looked for hidden information embedded in sidewalks, murals on the sides of buildings, and attached to statues. Clues were hidden inside mailboxes and on "missing person" flyers with in-game phone numbers. [7]

The second chapter began in San Francisco's Mission District and took 6 hours to complete. At the top of Upper Dolores Park, visitors could tune into a 1-watt radio transmitter playing a 45-minute piece of audio. [5]

There was a "mini episode" between the second and third chapter, a public rally held in San Francisco's Union Square. The event was attended by 200 people. [5]

The third chapter was set in the Coit Tower park area of San Francisco, where visitors could view videos showing events from the past.

Between chapter three and four, eight players received postcards, emails, and phone calls from in-game characters. They were instructed to bring their clues together to solve them as a group, and met in a mausoleum. [5]

Fictional story

A metal sign made for the fictitious "Elsewhere Public Works" as part of alternate reality game "The Jejune Institute" Soon obsolete metal sign.jpg
A metal sign made for the fictitious "Elsewhere Public Works" as part of alternate reality game "The Jejune Institute"

In the story, the Jejune Institute is an organization founded by a man named Octavio Coleman Esq. in the 1960s [3] as the "Center for Socio-Reengineering". [5]

The fictional Elsewhere Public Works Agency (EPWA) is an underground rebel group trying to dismantle the Jejune Institute. The EPWA pre-dated the Jejune Institute, with art and fake public service announcements appearing around Oakland. [9] The "mini episode" rally held between chapters two and three was framed as an in-world EPWA event. [5]

The story also features a fictional woman named Eva Lucien who went missing in 1988 near Coit Tower. [5]

Live Finale Event

Players received emails from the EPWA instructing them to attend a seminar on 10 April 2011 [5] to overthrow the Jejune Institute. 150 people gathered in the Garden Room at the Grand Hyatt in San Francisco, California for the “Socio-Reengineering Seminar 2011: An Afternoon of Rhythmic Synchronicity". [6] The seminar lasted more than four hours. [10]

Players later stated that they were expecting an exciting event that concluded the narrative, [11] and stated that they were surprised and disappointed by the anticlimactic ending. [12] [10]

The Institute

In 2013, director Spencer McCall, who had edited videos for the game, [13] released The Institute, reconstructing the story of the Jejune Institute through interviews with the participants and the creators. The film screened at Oakland's Underground Film Festival in September 2013. [12]

The film contained both documentary elements and reenactment, [12] [14] leading people to call into question the veracity of the film. [15] [16]

Dispatches from Elsewhere

The 2020 TV series Dispatches from Elsewhere was based on The Institute documentary film. [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oakland, California</span> City in Alameda County, California, United States

Oakland is the most populous city in and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, and the third-largest city overall in the Bay Area. With a population of 440,646 in 2020, it serves as the Bay Area's trade center: the Port of Oakland is the busiest port in Northern California, and the fifth- or sixth-busiest in the United States. A charter city, Oakland was incorporated on May 4, 1852, in the wake of the state's increasing population due to the California gold rush.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1989 Loma Prieta earthquake</span> Major earthquake in northern California

The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake occurred on California's Central Coast on October 17 at 5:04 p.m. local time. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz County, approximately 10 mi (16 km) northeast of Santa Cruz on a section of the San Andreas Fault System and was named for the nearby Loma Prieta Peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains. With an Mw magnitude of 6.9 and a maximum Modified Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), the shock was responsible for 63 deaths and 3,757 injuries. The Loma Prieta segment of the San Andreas Fault System had been relatively inactive since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake until two moderate foreshocks occurred in June 1988 and again in August 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oakland Coliseum</span> Sports stadium in Oakland, California

Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum is a multi-purpose stadium in Oakland, California, United States. It is part of the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Complex, with the adjacent Oakland Arena, near Interstate 880. In 2017, the playing surface was dedicated as Rickey Henderson Field in honor of Major League Baseball Hall of Famer and former Athletics left fielder Rickey Henderson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oracle Park</span> Baseball park in San Francisco, CA, US

Oracle Park is a baseball stadium in the SoMa district of San Francisco, California. Since 2000, it has served as the ballpark of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants. Previously named Pacific Bell Park, SBC Park, and AT&T Park, the stadium's current name was purchased by the Oracle Corporation in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coit Tower</span> United States historic place

Coit Tower is a 210-foot (64 m) tower in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, California, overlooking the city and San Francisco Bay. The tower, in the city's Pioneer Park, was built between 1932 and 1933 using Lillie Hitchcock Coit's bequest to beautify the city of San Francisco. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 29, 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lillie Hitchcock Coit</span> American philanthropist (1843–1929)

Elizabeth Hitchcock Coit was a patron of San Francisco's volunteer firefighters and the benefactor for the construction of the Coit Tower in San Francisco, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Segel</span> American actor (born 1980)

Jason Jordan Segel is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Marshall Eriksen in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother from 2005 to 2014. He began his career with director and producer Judd Apatow on the television series Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000) and Undeclared (2001–2002) before gaining prominence for his leading roles in various successful comedy films in which he has starred, written, and produced.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Levi's Stadium</span> Football stadium in California, U.S.

Levi's Stadium is an American football stadium located in Santa Clara, California, just west of the much larger city of San Jose, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has served as the home venue for the National Football League (NFL)'s San Francisco 49ers since 2014. The stadium is located approximately 40 miles (64 km) south of San Francisco. It is named after Levi Strauss & Co., which purchased naming rights in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ralph Stackpole</span> American artist (1885–1973)

Ralph Ward Stackpole was an American sculptor, painter, muralist, etcher and art educator, San Francisco's leading artist during the 1920s and 1930s. Stackpole was involved in the art and causes of social realism, especially during the Great Depression, when he was part of the Public Works of Art Project, Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration, and the Treasury Department's Section of Painting and Sculpture. Stackpole was responsible for recommending that architect Timothy L. Pflueger bring Mexican muralist Diego Rivera to San Francisco to work on the San Francisco Stock Exchange and its attached office tower in 1930–31. His son Peter Stackpole became a well-known photojournalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Oscar Grant</span> 2009 manslaughter in Oakland, California

Oscar Grant III was a 22-year-old African-American man who was killed in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009 by BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle in Oakland, California. Responding to reports of a fight on a crowded Bay Area Rapid Transit train returning from San Francisco, BART Police officers detained Grant and several other passengers on the platform at the Fruitvale BART Station. BART officer Anthony Pirone kneed Grant in the head and forced Grant to lie face down on the platform. Mehserle drew his pistol and shot Grant. Grant was rushed to Highland Hospital in Oakland and pronounced dead later that day. The events were captured on bystanders’ mobile phones. Owners disseminated their footage to media outlets and to various websites where it went viral. Both protests and riots took place in the following days.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hyatt Regency San Francisco Downtown SOMA</span> Building in San Francisco, California

The Hyatt Regency San Francisco Downtown SOMA is a 36-story highrise hotel at 50 Third Street in San Francisco, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dallas Braden's perfect game</span> Historic sports event

On May 9, 2010, Dallas Braden of the Oakland Athletics threw a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum. It was the 19th perfect game in Major League Baseball history. Braden threw 109 pitches, struck out 6 of the 27 batters he faced, and had a game score of 93.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Piscotty</span> American baseball player (born 1991)

Stephen Edward Piscotty is an American professional baseball outfielder in the Oakland Athletics organization. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals.

<i>The Institute</i> (2013 film) 2012 documentary film

The Institute is a 2012 documentary film directed by Spencer McCall reconstructing the story of The Jejune Institute, an alternate reality game set in San Francisco, through interviews with the participants and the creators. The game was produced in 2008 by Oakland-based artist Jeff Hull. Over the course of three years, it enrolled more than 10,000 players who, responding to eccentric flyers plastered all over the city, started the game by receiving their "induction" at the fake headquarters of the Institute, located in an office building in San Francisco's Financial District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Oakland, California</span>

The history of Oakland, a city in the county of Alameda, California, can be traced back to the founding of a settlement by Horace Carpentier, Edson Adams, and Andrew Moon in the 19th century. The area now known as Oakland had seen human occupation for thousands of years, but significant growth in the settlements that are now incorporated into the city did not occur until the Industrial Revolution. Oakland was first incorporated as a town in 1852.

This is a list of the NFL Pro Bowl records. As of the 2022 Pro Bowl. Most of these records can not be broken since the NFL changed the Pro Bowl to the Pro Bowl Games in 2023.

<i>Dispatches from Elsewhere</i> American television series

Dispatches from Elsewhere is an American drama television series created by and starring Jason Segel that premiered on March 1, 2020, on AMC. It is based on the documentary film The Institute about the alternate reality game The Jejune Institute.

Sara Thacher is an American game and experience designer. She is one of the founders of the San Francisco-based immersive experience The Jejune Institute and works as a creative director and senior R&D Imagineer at Walt Disney Imagineering, including creative leadership on the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser two-day immersive Disney experience.

Jeff Hull is an artist and producer from Oakland, California. He is known for creating the Oakland-based fashion line and street art campaign Oaklandish, the immersive experiences The Jejune Institute and The Latitude Society. Hull's work was the topic of the documentaries The Institute and In Bright Axiom, and was the inspiration for the television show Dispatches from Elsewhere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nonchalance</span> American design consultancy group

Nonchalance began as an art collective in Oakland, California around 2002, and later in 2008 was transformed into a design consultancy group. Their work focuses on interactive, immersive art installations, which they call "situational design".

References

  1. 1 2 Soloski, Alexis (2020-02-27). "In 'Dispatches From Elsewhere,' Art Imitates Art Imitating Life". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2024-01-07.
  2. ↑ Patterson, Troy (2020-02-28). "On AMC's "Dispatches from Elsewhere," Jason Segel Plays with Convoluted Ways of Telling Straight Stories". The New Yorker. ISSN   0028-792X . Retrieved 2024-01-15.
  3. 1 2 Newitz, Annalee (9 December 2008). "What is the Jejune Institute and Why Are They Recording Your Thoughts?". Gizmodo. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  4. ↑ Paulas, Rick (September 2015). "'We Value Experience': Can a Secret Society Become a Business?". Longreads. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Paulas, Rick (11 March 2011). "Last Chance: The Mysteries of San Francisco's Creepy Jejune Institute". The Awl. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  6. 1 2 3 Harmanci, Reyhan (21 April 2011). "Interested in the Jejune Institute? It's Too Late". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  7. 1 2 Woo, Stu (24 March 2011). "Urban Scavenger Hunt Finds Followers". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  8. ↑ Watson, Jeff (March 10, 2010). "Trap doors and hatches all around: Jeff Hull on infusing variability and play into the workaday world". remotedevice. Archived from the original on 2018-01-01. Retrieved 2020-03-05.
  9. ↑ Shirley, Perry (4 August 2011). "Games of Nonchalance". FunCheapSF. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  10. 1 2 Paulas, Rick (19 April 2011). "The Perplexing Final Chapter Of San Francisco's Jejune Institute". The Awl. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  11. ↑ Hinman, Tyler (29 March 2011). "Games of Nonchalance: An Artistic ARG Experience". Wired. Archived from the original on 21 April 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  12. 1 2 3 "'The Institute' Invades Oakland's Underground". KQED. 24 September 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  13. ↑ Rothe, E. Nina (1 October 2013). "Down the Rabbit Hole with Spencer McCall's The Institute". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 29 May 2014. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  14. ↑ Keogh, Tom (17 October 2013). "'The Institute': caught between fact and fiction". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  15. ↑ Nijholt, Anton (14 October 2016). Playable Cities: The City as a Digital Playground. Springer Singapore. p. 128. ISBN   9789811019623 . Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  16. ↑ Rapold, Nicholas (10 October 2013). "A Bizarre Scavenger Hunt in San Francisco". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 22 April 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  17. ↑ Phipps, Keith (February 10, 2020). "Dispatches from Elsewhere Review: Jason Segel Returns to TV With a Bold, Unpredictable Series". TV Guide . Archived from the original on February 17, 2020. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.