User:T3g5JZ50GLq/Jejune Institute

The Institute
Directed by	Spencer McCall
Starring	Arye Bender Boston Blake Jeff Hull
Distributed by	Argot Pictures
Release date	October 11, 2013 (2013-10-11)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

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

The Jejune Institute was an alternate reality game, set in San Francisco, produced by Oakland-based artist Jeff Hull, which ran from Wednesday, 24 September 2008 to April 10, 2011, enrolling more than 10,000 players who, responding to emails, and flyers plastered around the city, joined the game through their "induction", from Tuesday through Saturday, 12 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., at the "headquarters" of the "Jejune Institute", located at Suite 1607, 580 California Street, in San Francisco's Financial District.

Games of Nonchalance

The Jejune Institute was the first act of the Games of Nonchalance, an alternate reality game, set in San Francisco, produced in 2008 by Oakland-based artist Jeff Hull. The Games of Nonchalance were referred to familiarly as The Jejune Institute as a synechdoche. Over the course of three years, from Wednesday, 24 September 2008 17:01:44 to April 10, 2011 it enrolled more than 10,000 players who, responding to emails, cryptic flyers plastered all over the city, and Laughing Squid's blog joined the game by receiving their "induction", from Tuesday through Saturday, 12 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., at the fake headquarters of the Institute, located on the 16th floor of 580 California Street in San Francisco's Financial District. The "scavenger hunts" continued after the "mass gatherings" ended.

The series, Dispatches from Elsewhere is based on The Institute, the 2013 documentary film .

The name of the TV series refers to the in-world pirate radio show, Dispatches from Elsewhere.

"__________" combines the wisdom of ancient sciences with the power of modern technology.

"__________" combines the superstitions of ancient fears with the power of psychology and modern technology.

Alternate Reality Game

ARG: Structure

Products

Alternate-Reality-Game-related products of unknown price and necessity were sold to participants.

• Players purchased a "peephole" postcard at a shop, near the Jejune_Institute, in Chinatown. When held up in a certain location farther down the path, the postcard reveals hidden elements of the public streetscape.

• "peephole" postcard
• Coit Tower, What-you-do-not-see

Media

• Chalk glyphs

• The tilted rabbit head-shaped symbol, that accompanies game locations, is a direct descendent of the muted post horns of the Tristero in Thomas Pynchon’s novel, The Crying of Lot 49.
• "san francisco" SFMTA|Muni electric|trolley|bus roadway symbol -logo
• Hobo signs

• Sidewalk stencils
• Wall stencils
• Wall sculpture
• Video
• e-mail
• BBS
• wordpress
• Facebook
• tumblr
• Cards
• Maps
• Posters with phone number tear strips
• Handbills

Processes: Public Site Installation Puzzle Chain ("Scavenger Hunt")

• Games Of Nonchalance - Act 1: The Jejune Institute Flickr

• "the interim between Act 1 and II, a handful of gamers were told to meet at a payphone for instructions"
• "After completing the assigned task — dance like crazy on a public sidewalk — they received a map that allowed them to get a headstart on Act II."

• Games Of Nonchalance - Act 2: Elsewhere Public Works Agency Flickr

• https://soundcloud.com/jeff-hull/radio-nonchalance
• San Francisco Department of Public Works
• Oakland Public Works Department
• "The “mini-episode” between Acts II and III took the form of a rally held in San Francisco’s Union Square"

• Games Of Nonchalance - Act 3: Remembering Eva Flickr

Meetings: Public Event Participation ("Flash Mobs")

• Elsewhere Public Works Agency induction ceremony April 15th, 2009 at 101 Music, 513 Green Street, North Beach, SF. (Five Participants)

• "A one-off protest event held by the Elsewhere Public Works Agency against the false-nonchalance-touting Jejune Institute. I, along with 4 others, were invited before hand to be given the initial information and to act as guides for the event."
• ("513 Green" "Elsewhere Public Works") - About 1 results (0.33 seconds)

• Games Of Nonchalance - Action Flickr

• April 30th, 2009 6:02pm, Union Square, San Francisco

• Games Of Nonchalance - Elsewhere Philatelic Society - May 3rd Flickr

• "The first monthly meeting of the Elsewhere Philatelic Society at Rincon Center on May 3rd 2010."

• Socio-Reengineering Seminar: Sunday, April 10, 2011 at 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM PDT

• Hyatt Regency San Francisco * Garden Room * Atrium Level,
• 5 Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, California, United States
• 300 registered persons
• Antoine Logan, the seminar’s featured speaker

To bring the game to closure, Jeff recruited a corporate workshop trainer to host a "Socio-Re Engineering Seminar"

10000 / 2 / 2 / 2 / = 120 (300 at Hyatt ?)

• The End of “The Jejune Institute”

ARG: Personas / Groups / Worlds ("Characters")

• https://laughingsquid.com/?s=Jejune+Institute

• wikt:Jejune
• wikt:Institute

• https://laughingsquid.com/?s=Elsewhere+Public+Works+Agency

• San Francisco Department of Public Works
• Oakland Public Works Department

Kelvin Williams

• ______ was "Kelvin Williams"
• ?:Kelvin Williams, Member Of The Jejune Institute Almost Starves"?

Evalyn Lucien

• http://www.nonchalance.com/profiles/eva.html
• ? was "Evalyn Lucien", storyline about a fictional disappearance near Coit Tower in 1988
• (2009) Williams, Kelvin (pseud.). The Evalyn Lucien Archive Remembering Eva blog, August 19, 2009.

• On Prelinger Library's participation in "Jejune Institute's"/Nonchalance ARG (Alternate Reality Game). (Aug 19 2009)

• UCSC Biobibliography - Rick Prelinger

• Games Of Nonchalance - Act 3: Remembering Eva Flickr

• https://rememberingeva.wordpress.com/2008/11/13/possession-of-alcohol-as-a-minor-defacement-of-public-property-resisting-arrest/
• http://rememberingeva.wordpress.com/2008/12/01/a-stack-of-books/
• http://rememberingeva.wordpress.com/2008/12/09/more-books-and-some-disappearing-history/

Yams Moongood

• ______ was "Yams Moongood"
• Yams Moongood, receptionist, "Jejune Institute", Suite 1607, 580 California Street

Terrance

• ______ was "Terrance"

Antoine Logan

• a corporate workshop trainer was "Antoine Logan"

• Antoine Logan, the featured speaker, at "Socio-Re Engineering Seminar"
• Antoine Logan, Jejune Institute Seminar

Torry Hotprune

• ______ was "Torry Hotprune"
• http://www.nonchalance.com/profiles/hotprune.html
• ?: https://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=46244

― Torry Hotprune, Monday, 19 September 2005 05:22

• ?: https://edfromct.wordpress.com/2009/07/21/are-you-ready-for-a-dip-in-the-immersive-dolphin-encounter-simulator/
• ?: https://skepchick.org/2010/06/holographic-chips/

• ?: https://web.archive.org/web/20100805073312/http://www.deangroup.cieaura.com/

Jejune Institute Products and Services

• The Jejune Method
• Polywater
• Memory to Media Center
• Vital Orbit
• Time Camera
• Aquatic Thought Foundation
• Moonlight Menagerie
• The Algorithm
• Center for Socio-Reengineering Seminar
• Bio4ce Globes

ARG: Writers / Designers / Performers / Makers / Directors ("Actors")

Jeff Hull

Jeff Hull: Life

• "While Hull was the lead writer of the Game Bible, it was this core of three (Hull Thacher Findley)  — aided by about 30 different freelance writers, artists and actors — who spent much of 2008 creating the project.
• "trust fund kid Jeff Hull...his dad, Blair Hull, sold an algorithmic trading firm to Goldman Sachs in 1999 for $531 million"

• Blair Hull
• Hull Trading Company

• ex-wife (Angela Tsay Jeff Hull)

Jeff Hull: Career

• "Jeff Hull" Guerrilla News Network

• 2004 BattleGround: 21 Days on the Empire's Edge (Documentary) (executive producer)
• 2006 American Blackout (Documentary) (executive produced by)

Jeff Hull: Oaklandish

• WHAT IS OAKLANDISH? 2004-02-09
• Oaklandish Nonchalance Drive-In : 'The Big Lebowski' screening : 2004-09-22 8pm, Lot 69 on Harrison Street @ 15th & 17th, then 10:30pm after-party at Oaklandish (411 2nd St @ Broadway & Franklin) "blacktop bowling," trivia and costume contests, Admission $5 lebowskidrivein@yahoo.com

• http://lists.oaklandish.org/pipermail/oaklandish-list/msg00011.html

• ("Jeff Hull" Oakland)
• ("Jeff Hull" Oaklandish)
• Jeff Hull AKA "Bobby Peru".

• "Hull, who initially did his Oaklandish business under the pseudonym Bobby Peru, is an artist, organizer, and prankster now selling the same (Oaklandish) logo on T-shirts and paraphernalia at the Saturday Grand Lake farmers' market."
• (Angela Tsay Jeff Hull)

• auslandish

Jeff Hull: Divine Nonchalance

• Who are Nonchalance? 2004-02-20
• ("Divine Nonchalance" "San Francisco"|"Oakland")
• http://www.gamesofnonchalance.com/
• http://nonchalance.com/
• divinenonchalance tumblr
• site:nonchalance.com (filter=0)
• nonchalance.com, 2016-03-23
• “Divine Nonchalance” is a concept stated in Chapter 11, titled “The Name of The Game” from “Bringer’s of The Dawn, Teachings from the Pleiadians,” by Barbara Marciniak

• https://divinenonchalance.wordpress.com/2012/08/17/vignettes-of-divine-nonchalance/

• https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-Divine-Nonchalance/1428353/7401255/view
• ("Wallace Stevens" "Divine Nonchalance")
• Divine Nonchalance: definition

• https://web.archive.org/web/20080724180939/http://www.nonchalance.com/blog/
• https://web.archive.org/web/20060515161602/http://www.nonchalance.com/theory/define.html
• https://soundcloud.com/jeff-hull/radio-nonchalance

Jeff Hull: Games of Nonchalance

• "Jeff Hull" Jejune|Octavio|Nonchalance

• "Return of Nonchalance?? ... before there was Oaklandish there was a little thing called "Nonchalance." ... The crusade is back ten-fold" Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:01:44 -0700 (PDT)

Jeff Hull: Talks

• Leonardo Art/Science Evening Rendezvous (LA/SER) of September 13, 2010 8:15-8:45: Jeff Hull (Nonchalance) on "Situational Design; Interactions at the Conflux of Narrative, Consciousness and Genuine Space" McLaren building, Room #251, University of San Francisco, 2130 Fulton Street SF, CA 94117
• http://www.indiegamepod.com/indiegamepodcast.xml

• Developing the JeJune Institute 09/05/2009 10:00 AM

• http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/arg-nonchalance-interview.mp3
• an Alternate Reality Game and Fictional Cult from Nonchalance

• Jeff Hull - Variability & Play in the Civic Realm - TEDxSoMa - Published on Oct 6, 2010 Jeff Hull explains how the Jejune Institute creates interactivity in the physical world through a unique alternate-reality game.

• "[Our work] is in part a reaction to the narrow confines of sanctioned activities in public space, which have been largely defined by commerce. We can legally: commute, shop, and drink a latte. Walk or run in a park between sun up and sun down. Otherwise you’re somehow suspect. People feel isolated by that. I think we’re all trying to loosen those reins . . . My name for it is Socio-Reengineering. That’s Jejune Institute terminology, and in our story it has dubious connotations, but we’re actually quite sincere about this aim. To infuse variability and play into the workaday world by re-engineering the way that people navigate and experience the space and the population around them."
  —Jeff Hull

• Jeff Watson. Jeff Hull on The Games of Nonchalance: a guerrilla street war against banality and routine Jan 3, 2011

Spencer McCall

• Spencer McCall, videographer SFSU Alumnus

• Spencer Stuart McCall, born August 5, 1986 in San Francisco, California

• bio, ARG work, milestones:

Spencer McCall: Talks

• Spencer McCall, (with Sara Thacher) on his motives for making his first documentary:

• https://thachr.com/2012/spencer-mccall-and-the-institute/index.html

• Film School Radio:

• FS-11-10-19 McCall and Hull - In Bright Axiom (MP3 audio)

In Bright Axiom / Film School Radio interview with Director Spencer McCall and film subject Jeff Hull
11/21/2019 12:15 PM
The thought-provoking and intriguing new documentary IN BRIGHT AXIOM introduces us into the world of the House of Latitude. 

*A place where absolute discretion is demanded in exchange for entry into a mysterious social experiment in the form of an elaborate immersive experience. Drawing a community of curiosity seekers, this secret society becomes a way of life for some, putting increasing pressure on the organizers to maintain this sophisticated and fantastical parallel world. 

*From the minds who inspired AMC's upcoming series Dispatches From Elsewhere, IN BRIGHT AXIOM weaves an intriguing cautionary tale about the unforeseen consequences of embracing the unknown. Followers of Meow Wolf, Sleep No More, Ingress and other immersive & augmented reality entertainment should take note. 

*IN BRIGHT AXIOM also features never-before-seen discourse from the mesmerizing hip-hop polymath, RAMMELLZEE and original music by Justin Robbins, with additional songs from Isan, Tickles, and ü-Ziq. 

*Director Spencer McCall has spent the last ten years orchestrating socio-reengineering and public hoax-prank performance art pieces. An avid fan of the Yes Men, McCall began by participating in Improv Everywhere inspired events, “plant” based roles in The Go Game, and location-based performances with Atmos-theater. 

*In 2009, he became a co-creator of the Jejune Institute; a citywide alternate reality game in San Francisco that lasted three years and “inducted” over 10,000 unknowing participants. McCall took his experience working with Jejune and turned it into an award-winning documentary The Institute. The Institute is currently being remade into a series on a major television network. 

*McCall also contributed to follow-up experience The Latitude Society; a faux secret society with an underground experiential labyrinth beneath San Francisco. 

*Director Spencer McCall and House of Latitude founder and In Bright Axiom subject, Jeff Hull, join us for a fascinating conversation on the ebb and flow, as well as, the inherent contradiction that facilitated the unraveling of this remarkable enterprise. 

*For news, screenings and updates go to: Inbrightaxiom.com 
*For more on In Bright Axiom go to: nonchalance.com/AXIOM 
*For more on the work of Spencer McCall go to: spencersreel.com 
SOCIAL MEDIA 
divinenonchalance.tumblr.com 
twitter.com/pervasiveplay 
instagram.com/divinenonchalance 
#inbrightaxiom @DOCNYCfest #docnyc
Media files

Sara Thacher

• ("Sara Thacher" "California College of the Arts")

• Sara Thacher (MA 2008), California College of the Arts, Social Practices

• ("Sara Thacher" "There is No Two Without Three")
• ("Sara Thacher" "Imagineer")
• ("Sara Thacher" "Walt Disney")
• https://twitter.com/thacher/status/1194401653421559808
• Thacher, Sara (2007-07-10). Revelry and Risk: Approaches to Social Practice, Or Something Like That. Lulu.com. ISBN 9781430321286. Retrieved 2020-03-10 – via Google Books.
• http://gradthesis2008.cca.edu/finearts/thacher_sara/1.html
• https://web.archive.org/web/20050502115316/http://borro.ws:80/About.html
• 2007 Murphy & Cadogan Fellowships in the Fine Arts
• "Sara Thacher makes work dealing with exchange and how these interactions shape our use and understanding of the grey areas between public and private space. Sara holds a MFA in Social Practice from California College of the Arts. Most recently she collaborated on The Jejune Institute, a two year long project combining narrative and urban exploration. Sara has received commissions and grants from various institutions including: the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, Southern Exposure, the San Francisco Foundation, the Center for Art and Public Life, and the Rhode Island Foundation."

from: http://openengagement.info/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/OE2010_catalog_web.pdf

• Thacher, by March 11, 2011 had moved on to the Go Games
• ?: "Along the way, she became a proficient glassblower"
• dorkbot 17 November 2010

• Sara Thacher, Uriah Findley: Games of Nonchalance

• City as Platform, Play and Narrative in the Physical World: A Peek Behind the Curtain at the Jejune Institute

Sara Thacher's Presentation Slides

Presentation video - ustream.tv

Photos: dorkbotSF #55 2010-11-17 @ Snibbe Interactive - flickr

• Sarah Thatcher; Uriah Findley. The Fool's Guide to Immersive Narrative Adventure: Lessons from the Making of "The Jejune Institute" - IndieCade 2013

"The Jejune Institute. When it opened its doors in 2008, friends shared the experience with each other: "I can't tell you anything about it. Just go." For three years, over 10,000 players traveled to the 16th floor of an imposing building in downtown San Francisco to visit the offices of a pseudo-scientific cult straight from the 1970s. But that was just the beginning of a grand adventure through the streets and back alleys of the city. Players encountered pirate radio transmissions, secret maps, dancing cryptids, and installations embedded in the very fabric of the urban landscape. Before it closed its doors in 2011, The Jejune Institute had received numerous press accolades from publications including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Bomb Magazine, and The San Francisco Chronicle. As one reviewer said, "The Jejune Institute blew my mind so hard that the top of my skull still flaps in the wind."
For IndieCade, Sara Thacher and Uriah Findley pull back the curtain for a behind-the-scenes examination of what made the experience tick. They'll cover all aspects of the game, from technical execution to designing interactions for the physical world, and discuss how specific decisions impacted the game and their continued practice in the years since. This is the inside story of the creation and the creators."

• September 14, 2015: Thacher's work includes The Jejune Institute for Nonchalance, A Map of the Floating City for a Thomas Dolby album launch, and FutureCoast, a collective storytelling experiment designed with Ken Eklund. Thacher is currently a Creative Lead at Walt Disney Imagineering R&D.
• 2014/04/24 StoryForward Podcast 047 Sara Thacher: Storytelling and Play in Public Spaces
• https://lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2012/01/11/artgamelab-super-going-href-https-twitter-com-th/

• SFMOMA Exhibition: ArtGameLab January 15 - August 12, 2012

• splicevine Transmedia Storytelling interview 2012-10-15 Sara Thacher

Uriah Findley

Uriah Findley is an Expression College for Digital Arts graduate, Bachelor of Applied Sciences in Sound Arts. While selling t-shirts for Oaklandish, Findley became a PA for The Jejune Institute production of the Nonchalance company, and began helping the audio engineer, eventually taking over as the lead audio engineer and tech, spending the next 4 years at Nonchalance for the Games of Nonchalance project, and Love Letters to The Future (2009 Sara Thacher), The Come Out and Play Festival, and Radio Nonchalance San Jose: Dispatches from South Hall (2010) at ZERO1 San Jose (Commissioned by ZER01 for the 2010 01SJ Biennial, and presented with the support of the James Irvine Foundation.).

• "Findley’s specialty is audio and video editing but he also designed most of the actual real-world items found in the game."

Rick Prelinger

• UCSC Biobibliography - Rick Prelinger
• 4/20/19, 23*32
• Curriculum Vitae
• April 20, 2019 (last update 2018-01-03)
• Rick Prelinger
• Other Creative Activities 2004 - Present
• Social Practice: Library: Ongoing: Prelinger Library (co-founder and collaborator with Megan Shaw Prelinger).

• (2009) Williams, Kelvin (pseud.). "The Evalyn Lucien Archive." Remembering Eva blog, August 19, 2009. On Prelinger Library's participation in "Jejune Institute's"/Nonchalance ARG (Alternate Reality Game). (Aug 19 2009) http://rememberingeva.wordpress.com/2009/08/19/the-evalyn-lucien-archive/

Arye Bender

• Arye Bender was "Octavio Coleman, esq.", the mysterious head of the Jejune Institute.

• Octavio Coleman's lecture

• "Arye Bender" Jejune|Octavio|Nonchalance

Geordie Aitkin

• Geordie Aitkin was "Antoine Logan".
• ("Geordie Aitkin" Jejune|Octavio|Nonchalance)

Harry S. Robins

• Harry S. Robins was "Commander 14".
• ("Commander 14" Jejune|Octavio|Nonchalance)
• ("Harry S. Robins" Jejune|Octavio|Nonchalance)

Boston Blake

• Boston Blake was "Dr. Eldridge Spearmint"
• "Boston Blake" Jejune|Octavio|Nonchalance

Chelsea London Lloyd

• Chelsea London Lloyd was "Beth Foley"
• "Chelsea London Lloyd" Jejune|Octavio|Nonchalance

Gordon Mclachlan

• Gordon Mclachlan was "Drybones"

ARG: Play / Display / Performance / Players ("Audience")

• http://jejuneinstitute.com/
• ?: http://jeremysandrik.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-insitute.html
• ?: https://alterman47.org/the-jejune-institute-vs-alter-man-47/

• https://alterman47.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/3398533620_72ab569f97.jpg

• Jejune Institute Time Camera flyer, able to film ‘outside of the current temporal phase'

• Moondog, Breatharianism, Werner Erhard
• https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/field-of-seeds/

• The legend, at least in the form commonly told, appears to be apocryphal

• http://web.archive.org/web/20140601091929/http://railroadrabbi.blogspot.com/
• http://www.exploratorium.edu/visit/wave_organ.html
• Wave Organ
• http://books.google.com/books?id=U_sCAAAAQAAJ&lpg=PA309&q=pheloma

ARG: Chroniclers

• http://cardhouse.com/
• http://cardhouse.com/
• http://cardhouse.com/where/where.htm
• http://cardhouse.com/where/jejune.htm
• http://cardhouse.com/where/firehose.htm our Jejune adventure, Part 1
• http://cardhouse.com/where/mahogany.htm our Jejune adventure, Part 2
• http://cardhouse.com/where/transaction.htm
• http://cardhouse.com/where/transcript.htm
• http://cardhouse.com/where/action.htm
• http://cardhouse.com/where/patent.htm
• http://cardhouse.com/where/journal.htm
• http://cardhouse.com/where/reconstruction.htm
• http://cardhouse.com/where/tribute.htm
• http://cardhouse.com/where/talk.htm
• http://cardhouse.com/where/assemble.htm
• http://cardhouse.com/where/notes.htm
• http://cardhouse.com/where/ops.htm
• cardhouse.com referrals

• Cardhouse 1997 December 7th
• ("Jeff Hansen"|"Cardhouse"|"X Magazine" "1077" "Royal Oak" "MI"|"48068")
• Cardhouse #14
• Graphic Design - Typography - Contract Plumbing
• Jeff Hansen Cardhouse Box 1077 Royal Oak MI
• https://web.archive.org/web/19980117061154/http://cardhouse.com/
• http://cardhouse.com/where/where.htmhttp://stampsfromelsewhere.com/
• Contacting A Real Live Person, for Jeffy 1998-01-17
• Three Arrested in Drunken Santa Spree 95dec25

• ("Stuart Mangrum" San Francisco "Cacophony Society")
• ("Stuart Mangrum" "Minister of Propaganda" "Burning Man")
• Copyright (C) 1994,95,96,97, contact Jeff

• 2010 September 15th. Tenderloin National Forest. San Francisco.

• Flickr
• Games Of Nonchalance - Act 1: The Jejune Institute Flickr
• Games Of Nonchalance - Act 2: Elsewhere Public Works Agency Flickr
• Games Of Nonchalance - Act 3: Remembering Eva Flickr
• Games Of Nonchalance - Elsewhere Philatelic Society - May 3rd Flickr

• "The first monthly meeting of the Elsewhere Philatelic Society at Rincon Center on May 3rd 2010."

• Games Of Nonchalance - Action Flickr

• "A one-off protest event held by the Elsewhere Public Works Agency against the false nonchalance touting Jejune Institute. I, along with 4 others, were invited before hand to be given the initial information and to act as guides for the event."

• Games Of Nonchalance - Southern Exposure Exhibit Flickr
• Games Of Nonchalance - Other Flickr
• The Jejune Method (yah ha ha ha ha) Flickr
• Judy Flickr
• Ernie Hsiung: Sitting on a side street listening to a pirate radio broadcast related to an ARG = "Alternate Reality Game." In this case, related to the Jejune Institute. We're thoroughly WTF'ed at this point.
• All Photos Tagged: elsewherepublicworksagency Flickr
• All Photos Tagged: jejuneinstitute Flickr
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/snakes_in_the_grass/4644329390/
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/tamaleprincess/albums/72157623668162004
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/everfalling/3398538826/
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/everfalling/3397716803/
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/everfalling/3431027332/
• https://www.mrericsir.com/blog/local/more-relics-from-the-jejune-institute-on-the-web/
• https://www.mrericsir.com/blog/tag/the-jejune-institute/
• https://www.mrericsir.com/blog/tag/nonchalance/

ARG: Academics

"More-­experienced game designers than us have struggled to describe the form and player experience of their ARGs. (This idea was also explored by filmmaker Spencer McCall in his documentary. The Institute (2013), which followed the San Francisco–­based ARG. The Jejune Institute.)" —Kevin Kee and Timothy J. Compeau (Editors). Seeing The Past With Computers: Experiments With Augmented Reality And Computer Vision For History. Ann Arbor: University Of Michigan Press

• CTCS 482 Transmedia Entertainment USC School of Cinematic Arts Critical Studies Division

• https://remotedevice.net/interviews/jeff-hull-on-the-games-of-nonchalance-a-guerrilla-street-war-against-banality-and-routine/
• https://remotedevice.net/interviews/trap-doors-jeff-hull/

• Kevin Kee and Timothy J. Compeau (Editors). Seeing The Past With Computers: Experiments With Augmented Reality And Computer Vision For History. Ann Arbor: University Of Michigan Press
• https://remotedevice.net/tag/jeff-hull/
• https://remotedevice.net/blog/the-institute-screening/
• https://remotedevice.net/interviews/jeff-hull-on-the-games-of-nonchalance-a-guerrilla-street-war-against-banality-and-routine/
• https://remotedevice.net/blog/transmedia-new-platforms-the-games-of-nonchalance/
• https://remotedevice.net/interviews/trap-doors-jeff-hull/

• Susana Ruiz, Benjamin Stokes, and Jeff Watson. Mobile and Locative Games in the “Civic Tripod:” Activism, Art and Learning

"As participants in the Jejune Institute, discovered—a curious experiment in San Francisco in which participants were not clear on when an extensive, real-world game began or ended—certain reflections of the real-fictive, in today’s world, suggest the stuff of the existential complexity that we discover in great works of conceptual art, open-ended art film, and other aesthetic forms that eschew clarity, closure, and “world definition” in favor of complexity, openness, and fabula."
-Scott A. Lukas. Questioning “Immersion” in Contemporary Themed and Immersive Spaces

Duggan, Eddie (2017) Squaring the (Magic) Circle: A Brief Definition and History of Pervasive Games. In: Nijholt A. (eds) Playable Cities. Gaming Media and Social Effects. Springer, Singapore

The Games of Nonchalance | Civic Tripod

Jejune nonchalance "San Francisco" - Google Scholar

Ero guro nansensu :ja:Hokumei Umehara

Documentary

Available via online streaming from Tubi.

• Protest Kit against The Institute - Elsewhere Public Works Agency

Docu: Critical Reception

• Christine Lagorio]. Jejune Institute and Elsewhere BOMB 111, Spring 2010
• Eddy, Cheryl (November 7, 2012). "THIS MUCH IS TRUE Pirates, politicians, ogres, and cults: DocFest highlights". VOL. 47, NO. 6. San Francisco: San Francisco Bay Guardian – via archive.org. definitely fun for dedicated players, for whom the narrative continued and got more complicated; there were spontaneous dance parties, a subterranean rescue mission, and a culminating seminar on "socio-reengineering." The genius of Spencer McCall's The Institute is its tone. Some interviewees are clearly in character, while others — including creator Jeff Hull, who cites Oakland's Children's Fairyland as an inspiration — proffer both straight talk and ambiguity{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
• Review: The Institute "A lazily constructed documentary that doesn’t hide first-time director Spencer McCall’s admitted lack of understanding for his subject."
• Review?

• "Jejune Institute — Blog Library". Odyssey Works. Retrieved 2020-03-05.

• Review: wired.com

• {cite web|url=https://www.wired.com/2012/09/jejune-institute-film/%7Ctitle=New Film Documents the Enigma of The Jejune Institute |first=Michael|last=Andersen|date=2012-09-11 |accessdate=2020-03-05|via=wired.com}}

• "The Institute". The Dissolve. Retrieved 2020-03-05.
• Review: The New York Times

• Nicolas Rapold (2013-10-11). "'The Institute,' a Look at an Alternate-Reality Game - The New York Times". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 2020-03-06.

• Gluckstern, Nicole. "Unveiling a Secret City". East Bay Express. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
• Constance, Emily. "Oakland Underground Film Festival strikes a balance with international, political and punk rock". Contra Costa Times. Archived from the original on 2013-09-28. Retrieved 2020-03-06 – via web.archive.org.

https://criterioncast.com/festivals/films-to-keep-an-eye-out-for-during-this-years-slamdance-film-festival
The Institute
Documentary Feature
Thousands of participants in a San Francisco-based alternate reality game end up getting more than they bargained for. Told from the players’ perspectives, the film looks over the precipice at an emergent new art form where the real world and fictional narratives merge to create unforeseen and often unsettling consequences. Examining counter-culture, new religious movements and street art, this film takes the viewer on a journey into a secret underground world teeming just beneath the surface of everyday life.
Programmer Notes: The journey begins in the nondescript waiting room of a high-rise office building in San Francisco’s Financial District. Only in the Bay Area could this be the beginning of an epic scavenger hunt so fantastic, simply watching the story unfold on film will leave you spinning, in a good way. As we follow participants in a real life adventure narrative/urban game, we share in their confusion as to where the story ends and real life begins. Director Spencer McCall seamlessly merges the form and subject to inject a spirit of fun and whimsy into the audience, mirroring the players experience of the indescribable happening that is The Institute. Let’s put it this way, once the Sasquatch shows up, you’ll know that sh*t just got real. Questions are answered with more questions: What is the Jejune Institute? Where is Elsewhere? Who is Eva? But it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey and it’s best to dive into the rabbit hole head first. Drink the kool-aid and enjoy the ride… – Summre Garber, Programmer

https://archive.org/stream/issue43.40/issue43.40_djvu.txt
JULY 1-7,2009
THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN SFBG.COM
vol.43,no.40 free
Art or ARG?
ALTERNATE REALITY GAMES 
It starts, as most quests do, with a question. “What the hell?” A flyer advertising the Aquatic Thought Foundation, a division of the Jejune Institute devoted to Human-Dolphin interaction. And even though you’re probably the type to resist even the perverse pleasure of sitting through a bullshit Scientologist e-meter reading, something about the prospect of communing with dolphins is absurdly compelling. You call the number. A recondite family awaits. 
So begins stage one of an ongoing self-paced scavenger hunt/walking tour/alternate reality game devised by a pseudonymous cabal of Bay Area artists and pranksters. As anyone with even a passing familiarity with the clumsy graphics and overblown hyperbole of cultist media will recognize, the shadowy overlords behind the Jejune Institute have done their homework well. Their office digs on California Street are pure cult cliche — from the op art adorning the walls to the shelves of new age esoterica and obsolete radio equipment to the videotaped welcome message from Institute founder Octavio Coleman, Esq. Upon completion of the “induction,” the inductee embarks on a clue-finding expedition through Chinatown, armed with a treasure map and an official Jejune Institute pencil. The mysterious trail wends lo and hi, from the St. Mary’s parking garage to the back balcony of a shabby-retro edifice on Grant Street, places not exactly on even the most well-honed urban explorer’s radar. 
Level two, hosted by rival branch the Elsewhere Public Works Agency, takes place in the Mission District, hitting a series of beloved independent institutions — Faye’s, Force of Habit, Adobe, Paxton Gate — as well as the site of a former Native American cemetery, a spate of interdimensional hopscotch, and a visit to what might be the district’s smallest micro-neighborhood. If the Jejune Institute is a picture- perfect fa 9 ade of cult imagery, the EPWA is an even more fully realized vision on both the physical plane and that bastion of obfuscation, the interwebs. Clues as well as false leads can be gathered online from phony Wikipedia pages, faked Chronicle archives, and bogus blogs as well as out in the real world via micro-transmission radio broadcast, CDs, custom-printed books, teeny-tiny letters and a charmingly illustrated map. Piecing together the puzzle is the least part of the game’s ultimate value — the stealthy introduction to an underlying artist’s philosophy, to resist “false nonchalance” yet cultivate a sense of wonder and discovery in even the most familiar places is compelling and apt — and the revelation of secret locations hidden in plain view a welcome prize.
(Nicole Gluckstern) 

See also

• Pervasive game
• Third place
• SFZero (game played in San Francisco)
• The Game (1997 film)
• The Truman Show (1998)
• Dark City (1998 film)
• The Matrix (1999)
• Fight Club (1999)
• Anton Nijholt, Editor; The City as a Digital Playground
• The Institute (2013 film)
• The Esquire, spin-off, part sequel, part prequel of The Institute (2013 film)

• Grand View Blvd. (2017 film) by McCall

• "The Latitude Society"

• In Bright Axiom (2019 film) by McCall

External links

• Official website
• The Institute at IMDb
• The Institute at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Institute at Metacritic
• The Institute (2013) - Script