Project Zero

• Main Author: Skinner, Jamie
• Other Authors: Lindley, Sarah, 1973-
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: Avian flu
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10920/30503

85 p. “Why I do it: I believe in challenging the status-quo. I believe in the power of creativity. I believe in the importance of the individual, and the potential of the collective. These beliefs are the primary motivating forces for what I have dubbed 'Project Zero'. How I do it: On the day of my high-school graduation I asked one of my professors if he had any advice, and he told me the key to success is a solid understanding of the power of multiplication. Since that day I have witnessed this power reshape the world and its people in a variety of ways. Fear, hope and even capital have been the product of successful multiplication and replication tactics. This, and studies of phenomenology, memetics and virology have influenced my artistic approach. Virology is the study of viruses. The Spanish Flu was one of the largest pandemics the human race has ever endured causing upwards of 100 million deaths. In 2008 the World Health Organization confirmed 566 human cases of H5N1, a sub strain of the influenza A virus (avian flu) and further speculated that should this sub strain mutate again we will witness a pandemic on par with the 1918 Spanish Flu. Put simply, memetics explores how ideas, behaviors, and style spread between individuals within a culture. Consider "Occupy". Within a month, the Occupy Movement, among similar protests around the world, inspired 96 cities across 82 countries (and 600 cities in the US) to actively take part in their governments; making it ‘America's first true Internet-era movement’ (Journalist Douglas Rushkoff) For our purposes, phenomenology deals with the manifestation of meaning through our modes of perception- in this case, "buy our product". Over 620 billion dollars is spent on advertising each year. By the end of 2011, internet advertisers made approximately 7.88 billion dollars in revenue, a 22% increase from the previous year. With Project Zero, I wish to mimic these successful tactics to demonstrate just that: they are merely tactics. Regardless of intent, the ideas of ...