«Existence is exalting, as once curiosity is awakened; this exercise of curiosity transforms life into a poetic adventure.»
(Louis Pauwels & Jacques Bergier)
First published here on Mariano’s Scifoo14 blog
On defining fandom, Henry Jenkins wrote that it is born of
a balance between fascination and frustration: if media content didn’t fascinate us, there would be no desire to engage with it; but if it didn’t frustrate us on some level, there would be no drive to rewrite or remake it. (1)
Lost in Lost, I deeply experienced both the sensations when watching at the celebrated TV series created by J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof. My will to participate in the narrative led me to the creation of a transmedial spin-off adding a “magical twist” to the story.
My website dharmainitiative.it provided the fictional context for 5 web episodes, mixing orthodox elements – i.e. coherent with the original series – and original ones (listen to the introductory audio).
dharmainitiative.it is still available.
According to the website, I had been appointed Chairman of “Mathematical Forecasting Initiative”, an organization featured in the series doing researches about the Mathematics of the Paranormal, Sacred Geometries, the role of Numbers in Magic and bizarre connections between Numerical Structures and Reality. My (actual) interest in the topic had led former Chairman’s widow to put in my hands all of the files belonged to her husband.
Files included some (pretty damaged) 8 mm films presenting interactive experiments involving the viewers. Although audio tracks were missing, complete scripts of the experiments were available. The video (actually created by me) were presented as the restoration of the original footages with additional subtitles.
In order to create the videos I have mixed some scenes from the TV series and original material edited by me. Inspired to the amazing Max Maven’s Mindgames (1984) – the first example of interactive magic in video – the five episodes were born at the intersection between magic and my favourite TV series. An act of love, sprung from the balance between fascination and frustration.
★ Order and Chaos – Interactive Test #5
A metaphorical reading of Alice in Wonderland.
★ Mathematics and Meteorology – Interactive Test #8
Forecasting plane crashes due to volcano ash.
1. Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, New York University Press, 2006, p. 247.
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