What is Project 404?
Project 404 is based around the concept of not having an idea, something based on earlier digital work, which can be viewed here: "No Idea" (DML 110).
This project explores the pressure of not having an idea in the creative environment - the feelings of frustration, anger, and simply giving up. It is also a social critique on Internet users. How many of us take the time to actually look below the visual surface of a website? How much do we, as users of the information superhighway, actually miss on our never ending quest for information? The work also questions reality in a virtual world - how can we be sure that what we are seeing is real? Who has the power, the publishers of the websites, or the users?
The aim is to create a fully functioning website, which works against the intention of the internet (to get information easily) by making the user's actions futile, leading to feelings of annoyance, and frustration. The understanding of the work comes from the exploration of it. Closing the browser window in anger is as much a reflection of the concept as spending an hour trying to make the site work "correctly".
The website uses YShout, an AJAX and PHP based shoutbox.