A Con and the Mark

Site as Thesis

In the expanded field of concern for STORMFRONT, site is not merely a simple and static geographical coordinate. Instead, its definition must be expanded to define and frame the situation at hand. Using description, capture, discussion, searching, revealing, observation, and the like, s ite is opened to further scales, times, paces, locations, situations, and understandings.

Context 

1. text surrounding word or passage: the words, phrases, or passages that come before and after a particular word or passage in a speech or piece of writing and help to explain its full meaning

2. surrounding conditions: the circumstances or events that form the environment within which something exists or takes place Con 1. Short for "confidence trick" a fraudulent scheme by gaining ones confidence.  2. Against a proposition, pro's and con's 3. Prefix to apply notion of similarity Text 1. main body of work mainly in words that have been written down, typed, or printed

While situating thesis within the context of relevant systems, characteristics revealed themselves in multiple sites. Utilizing the play on words that has thread itself throughout the process, context rather than site has expressed bits of site otherwise unseen. 


In the practice of a confidence trick, commonly known as a "con" the character of the con man exploits characteristics of the "mark" for an outcome that would not have evolved from either individually. The ability to navigate weak points and divert them into productive outcomes is in the hands of the artist. While each artist may have a style to the craft, part of the skill is the camouflage of the practice as to not get caught. The film Catch Me If You Can showcases the life of Frank Abagnale Jr. and his endeavors as a con artist playing the art of impersonation. Although the character and place may change in each situation Frank is still himself, abiding by his own set of rigor to carry out these fraudulent acts. 


In Site as Thesis the goal is much the same. Finding a layer of rigor that may be camouflaged in an outer layer that may begin to relate to each context. While the first two sites proposed might be considered context and their characteristics are the marks onto which to carry my con artist style. I may then find myself flying from place to place (Abagnale flew over 1,000,000 miles) impersonating a thesis that produces an outcome that neither artist nor mark could create alone.