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‘1,000 Journals’ explores a worldwide experiment

A pile of journals returned to Someguy shows the various art and writing the traveling books endured on their journeys cross the world. Someguy, a San Francisco graphic designer, randomly distributed 1,000 blank journals to see what people would write in them.

In 1998, Gordon McKenzie, in his business book Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace, wondered what happens to our creativity as we get older. Why will a room full of kindergarten students all raise their hands when asked if they are artists, but only one or two high school seniors acknowledge their creativity? This is the question posed at the beginning of the documentary “1,000 Journals” by Andrea Kreuzhage.

On June 17, 2000, a graphic designer in San Francisco named Someguy had an idea.
Inspired by bathroom graffiti, he launched an experiment creating 1,000 blank journals, a
Web site and a random distribution system to see what people would draw on the blank
pages, what they would express or share given the opportunity.

Would they pass them along? Would they take the journal on a journey? Would they ever return to him? There was no rhyme or reason, no plan. For nearly two years, Someguy distributed 1,000 journals, each numbered, some sent to those who signed up on the Web site and others randomly placed in parks, bathrooms and phone booths.

By 2003, there had been journal sightings in all 50 states and 35 countries, and 2,218 scanned pages had been uploaded to the Web site. In September 2003, Hollie Rose from Middleton, Conn., returned the first journal to Someguy. This film documents the return of that first journal and the search for the other 999.

Through meticulous research, Kreuzhage tracked down 90 of the 1,000 journals and went around the world to tell their stories and the tales of the diarists involved. She uncovers and shares intimate truths, collaborations gone awry and the power of creativity to hurt, to harm and to change lives.

Brief explorations of Someguy’s process of turning the journal experiment into a book published by Chronicle and the initial dialogue with curators at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art seem misplaced in the film. They are diversions unresolved: The viewer doesn’t learn whether the book was published or the exhibition scheduled.

The most powerful and poignant elements involve the serendipitous interaction with the journal entries of Simon Holding from Sydney, Australia, who discovers his entries have been altered and, in fact, his wife’s entry completely covered up.

There also is a powerful interaction between Nick Kelly from England, Heidi Turner from Pennsylvania and Wendy Cook from New York. Kelly imagined what was going on with the people on the e-mail list waiting for Journal No. 876. He made fantastical drawings and cartoons, some lewd and crude, others poignant and hopeful. Cook is touched by what Kelly creates for her while Turner confesses that the risk involved in participating in the project had wounded her deeply.

The film is beautifully made and lovingly begins with its own creative and artistic title sequence by Linda Zacks and Grant Dillion. The musical score by Stuart Balcomb is fitting, never distracting and complements the interviews and images of the journals.

But the film seems to have no end and, in fact, cannot because the project itself is an ongoing collaborative experiment. Sixteen journals have returned and are exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art through April 5.

Kreuzhage never answers the question posed in the beginning. Perhaps she cannot.

“What happens to us growing up? We begin to fear criticism, and tend to keep our creativity to ourselves,” Someguy writes on the Web site www.1000journals.com. “Many people keep journals, of writing or sketching, but not many share them with people. (When was the last time a friend invited you to read their diary?) You will not be judged here. And you will have company. This is for you. For everyone.”

The real story here is that people are judged, there is anger and frustration, impatience, laziness, the desire to horde something creative and original, things get lost, are not treasured. This film is not a call to action; it is, instead, a curiosity that leaves the viewer hoping to find one of those journals. Wanting to believe in the ideal, yet realizing that the experiment will not end as desired.

]]> http://lauragarroumhproduccion15.wordpress.com/2009/03/17/estreno-de-1000-journals-en-la-umh/ Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:49:40 +0000 produccionumh15 http://lauragarroumhproduccion15.wordpress.com/2009/03/17/estreno-de-1000-journals-en-la-umh/

“En el verano de 2000 un diseñador gráfico de San Francisco, California, quien se llama a sí mismo Someguy, lanzó al mundo 1000 diarios personales en blanco”. Así empieza el documental elaborado por Andrea Kreuzhage sobre este innovador proyecto en pro de la creatividad colectiva que se presentó ayer en España, en la Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche. Belén Torregrosa  fue la encargada de presentar el film y, posteriormente, de mantener una video-conferencia con la directora del documental quien, a pesar de los problemas técnicos, atendió amablemente a las dudas y preguntas de los asistentes.

Belén Torregrosa, coolhunter, descubrió esta iniciativa vía Internet y atraída por la idea de Someguy y por el posterior documental de Andrea Kreuzhage, se puso en contacto con ella en seguida con el fin de participar en la difusión del proyecto en nuestro país. Y es que, Internet ha sido una herramienta fundamental para que el 1000 Journals’ Project haya traspasado fronteras. La idea original de Someguy fue la de elaborar 1000 diarios personales y repartirlos por diferentes lugares del mundo, para que aquellos que los encontraran expresaran su creatividad en sus páginas en blanco. Internet se hizo eco de ese experimento del que todos formábamos parte (Su lema es “This is an experiment and you are part of it“) y pronto, miles y miles de personas comenzaron a solicitar el recibo de uno de los diarios para poder colaborar así con Someguy. De esta forma, la web registraba unas 5.500 visitas al día y se estima que los diarios viajaron por más de 35 países.

 

My favorite kind of idea is one that starts, spreads, inspires, morphs and transforms into something new. Extra points if it requires engagement, community and a glue stick.

In 2000, Someguy (that’s the name he uses) created a project to send 1000 journals out into the world.  He was frustrated that we–as in “the collective we the citizens of the world”– had lost our inner-artist. He had a plan to help us rediscover our creative expression.

So, Someguy and friends made 1000 journals, launched them on their global journey, and invited recipients to explore and create. They were encouraged to leave the journals in random places for others to find.

And  he waited for their return. The project followed the notebooks through 50 states and 40 countries, and some are still traveling.

Photos from screamonline.com.

They tell a collective story, and it appears they did their work to inspire and awaken the inner-artist in at least some of their owners. (By the way, I have been traveling with glue sticks for years, and my travel journals never looked like these!)

Someguy’s project gave birth to others.

Andrea Kreuzhage created a documentary, and SFMOMA is currently exhibiting a show of about 800 pages from the project.  Chronicle Books (who always seems to know what I want, even before I know) published a book with pages from 250 of the journals.

Trailer for the film here:

Update: Andrea, from the film, commented (thank you!), so check out the film’s website too!

Someguy isn’t done with us. He has a new project called  1001 Journals. It’s an ongoing do-it-yourself-send-your-own-journal into the world site. There are 2500 (or maybe 3500, I can’t really tell) personal and traveling journals.

If you can’t find your passport or your gluestick, the website is a fine way to do some Monday morning time travel. At least that’s where you’ll find me.

Two months ago, I received a black journal. It was the project of a fifth grade class, and my task was to add my contributions and then pass it on in a week’s time. Although it was not a new idea to me, it was a lot of fun, despite the fact that this particular journal only made its rotation in the Seattle area.The film 1,000 Journals follows the project by Someguy, a San Francisco artist who one day decided to release 1,000 blank journals out into the world to see what happened to them. His journals, by contrast, ended up traversing the world.

Click here to read entire 1,000 Journals film review.

I like creativity, travel and chance encounters, which is why I like the 1000 Journals project. The project was launched in 2000 by San Francisco based artist ‘Someguy’. He distributed 1000 blank journals to various people and public places inviting those who found one to contribute to it and then pass it on.

As the journals made their way from one end of the world to the other, their pages filled up with drawings, paintings, scribbled thoughts, photographs, maps, stickers and stamps, as well as a few oddities (dead cockroaches, part of a discarded pace maker, and debris from Ground Zero in New York).

In 2003, just one completed journal found its way back to Someguy. Curious about the remaining 999 journals, film-maker Andrea Kreuzhage set out to document their whereabouts and discover the stories of the people who added a slice of creativity along the way.

If a chance encounter doesn’t bring one of the remaining journals your way, fear not. You can launch your very own journal at 1001 Journals. Be sure to send it our way if you do.

‘The project officially launched in August of 2000, with the release of the first 100 journals in San Francisco. I gave them to friends, and left them at bars, cafes, and on park benches. Shortly thereafter, people began emailing me, asking if they could participate. So I started sending journals to folks, allowing them to share with friends, or strangers. It’s been a roller coaster ever since.’ So writes Someguy, the pseudonym for the brains behind this project.

Being an avid journal keeper, I was interested to learn about 1000 Journals. It’s become a collaborative art effort, with strangers from all over the world adding their own thoughts and images before handing the journal onto the next contributor and the results are nothing short of fascinating. The journals have travelled throughout the US and on to 35 different countries before returning to Someguy. Check it out here.

1000 Journals is now complete but the trend has been set. For anyone wanting to set off their own travelling journal or to contribute to an existing one, go to 1001 Journals .

Meanwhile, a selection of the best contributions has been collected and released as a book and filmmaker Andrea Kreuzhage has made a documentary about the journals, their travels, the lives of some of the contributors and what inspired them to take part. It’s currently touring the USA and fingers crossed it’ll reach the UK soon…

For a giggle, try to find the entry where a political critic talks about Presidents ‘Shrub’ and ‘Ray-Gun’!

I was lost in the Google food land with my friends and by the time we finished I couldn’t breath … I had too much. The gourmet Salmon hand roll kicked some asses. It’s so easy to lose track of time – I just realized during our conversation that almost half a year just zipped by. So much more left to do.

On a separate note, I went to see a second film (documentary – my favorite type), 1000 Journals, at the SF Film Fest last night at the Kabuki theater in J-town. It was a well documented film, however, I was more intrigued by the actual project itself. I can only imaging how much work involved in making and mailing out 1,000 journals and waiting for them to return. Since it was such a good movie, we decided to stay for the Q&A session and checked out some of the returned journals. They were quite amazing.

-D-

Gestern abend haben wir uns dem Berlinale Hype hingegeben und die Dokumentation “1000 Journals” angesehen. Und ich muss sagen, das Projekt dahinter ist wirklich faszinierend. Im Jahre 2000 hatte ein Designer aus San Francisco die gloreiche Idee 1000 leere Tagebücher in die ganze Welt zu verschicken. Jedes Tagebuch hatte eine fortlaufende Nummer und enthielt einen Link zu einer Website, über die sich alle Empfänger des Buches und Interessierte miteinander vernetzen können. Ziel war es, dass die Empfänger das Buch mit allem befüllen, was ihnen so einfällt, und es dann weiter schicken. Sobald ein Buch voll war, sollte es dann an den Absender nach San Francisco zurückgesendet werden. Doch nach 8 Jahren kam nur ein sehr geringer Teil wirklich wieder zurück. Die Tagebücher hatten sich über die Zeit zu dermaßen einzigartigen Kunstwerken entwickelt, dass sie kaum jemand hergeben wollte. Zum Glück waren viele Empfänger dazu bereit, ihre Einträge einzuscannen und auf die Website zu stellen, wo man heute Hunderte davon ansehen kann. Während der Dreharbeiten zum Film hat Regisseurin und Produzentin Andrea Kreuzhage in etwa 80 dieser Tagebücher in die Hände bekommen. Gestern hat sie uns dann ein paar davon nach der Aufführung gezeigt. Lest weiter für mehr Fotos und Infos.

Hier seht ihr Andrea Kreuzhage (links) wie sie ein paar der einzigartigen Tagebücher zeigt.

Um mehr über das Projekt und den Film zu erfahren, schaut euch einfach folgende Links an:

www.1000journals.com

www.1000journalsfilm.com

www.1001journals.com

The 1000 Journals Project is something we think is neat. We felt that if you didn’t already know about it, well, maybe it’s time you knew. 

Initially inspired by bathroom wall graffitti, Brian Singer a.k.a Someguy, a graphic designer from San Francisco,  started his 1000 Journals project in August 2000. The project is an experiment in creativity and sharing between friends and strangers throughout the world. www.1000journals.com

Individuals lucky enough to get their hands on one of the journals, which seem to have found themselves in nooks and crannies, from here to there and everywhere in between, add something from their experience – a story, drawing, or photograph to the journal, with the contribution limited only by the creativity of its creator. Upon completion, the journal moves on, like a roaming traveller, staying in place only long enough to collect his thoughts and sample the local brew.  

The root of such a project may be traced back to the 1920s when “surrealist writers and artists devised a game in which each participant wrote or drew on a sheet of paper, folded the paper to hide his contribution, then passed it along to the next person, who did the same. The result was a collective work that art critic Nicolas Calas characterized as the ‘unconscious reality in the personality of the group.’ The process became known as the Exquisite Corpse (Cadavre Exquis), a name taken from the first sentence that was written using the process: ‘The exquisite corpse will drink the young wine.’”*

The project has gained some more attention of late because of The 1000 Journals Project Book which highlights 250 of the best entries so far. Six years in the making, it was published in February 2007 by Chronicle Books. 

There is also a documentary in the works, where filmmaker Andrea Kreuzhage tells the story of the journals. www.1000journalsfilm.com

To date, only one of the 1000 journals have found their way back to Singer (Someguy). Journal number 526 was returned, filled, in September 2003. Will the other 999 journals find their way home?    

*This post includes an excerpt from the article, “Around the World in 1000 Journals”, published in Poets & Writers magazine ( www.pw.org), written by Dalia Sofer, a freelance writer who lives in New York City.