the nonsensitive project

The nonsense project 1.0 explores the spectrums of cognitive imagination, and encourages participants to literally and figuratively draw a map of their internal world. Few people spend much time thinking about HOW they think - and like any skill, barring biological variance, it can be honed with practice and guidance.

 Cognitive imagination has entered public and scientific consciousness in recent years due to the recognized prevalence of aphasia - the inability of some people to form images in the mind - people with the condition are unaware until it is pointed out to them - as human beings we assume our experience is the default. But this ability exists on a spectrum of both ability and impulse, and visualization is not the only sense the mind uses to remember the past or imagine the future. 

Cognitive imprecision is further mediated by communication, whether that is to another human being or ourselves in the future. The language of the project is deliberately obscured. Forgoing semantic imagery or text, events in the game are stripped away into symbols, connected only tenuously, distorting linear and contextual connection, creating arbitrary pathways in spatial memory. The artifacts are cryptic, inviting memory to devour the context of the experience, leaving physical evidence of the players tactile experience of inscribing it. The symbols are tenuous linkage but the materiality of paper is an intentionally stronger one - it creates a firmer tactile and spatial memory than clicking, typing or even digital drawing can provide. Drawing and mark making aid cognition in the formation and retrieval of memory. Your hands touched this, it made these marks, this paper was warm under your wrists once, the ink on this paper may have once been on you too. You cannot deny that you were here even if you do not remember why. 

The digital 1.0 build of the nonsensitive project is only the first step of the project as a documentary. It creates a playspace, inviting participants to generate documentation artifacts - inspired by Jeeyon Shim and Shing Yin Khor’s keepsake games. It provides the opportunity for participants to become cocreators by submitting their artifacts to be included in future builds of the project. In this way, the documentary builds on top of itself. Participants are encouraged to set reminders for themselves to return to complete the project in three to six months, to revisit their documentation of  the original experience and see what further cognitive processes have eroded or secured the memory. 

Changelog:
1.1
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 - fixed issues with navigation where game crashed after one activity
- changed back button to exit button
- added back button so activities can be "rewound"
- Added a border to stanzas to differentiate them from the navigation tree

Known issues:
- Several activities are missing audio
- Audio in the "fear" activity is offset by a few lines
- Several answers are overlaps or repeats (make up your own answer whenever you need)