Plymouth: The Imagination Age

The dimensions of The Imagination Age, our 1000-inch neighborhood in Plymouth, the first colony in Loveland, is shown above at 25x40 inches.

Inchvestor Profile: Ken Hudson -- "100 Squirrels in Loveland"

The Black Squirrel, part of a collection of urban art that Ken Hudson may be including in his Loveland inches.(Image and art credit: Ken Hudson)

Inchvestor Profile
Name: Ken Hudson
Number of Inches: 100

Ken Hudson is a Canadian visual and theatrical artist, performer, digital media consultant, and Managing Director of the Virtual World Design Centre at Loyalist College in Belleville, Ontario, near Toronto.

He is perhaps better known for his ground-breaking work using the virtual world of Second Life to train Canadian Border Guards, which led to significantly improved grades on students’ critical skills tests, taking scores from a 56% success in 2007, to 95% at the end of 2008 after the simulation was instituted.

Ken will be documenting his involvement in Loveland on his new blog "100 Squirrels in Loveland."

What inspired you to buy inches in Loveland?

Obviously, there's the character of Jerry [Paffendorf] and his bon vivance. People want to be involved in ideas he's pushing forward.

It connected really strongly with my creative past. I used to create theater in alternative venues. In Canada my claim to fame is I adapted Shakespeare's Henry V to an Ice Hockey arena -- with heavy metal music and fighting with sticks. Before that I did a show in an store window on Queen Street in Toronto in 1999. [Here's a video clip.]

This idea that Jerry was going to retrieve some of these ideas -- using alternative venues, using venue as a space for expression. In other words the venue itself becomes part of the entire narrative. Those concepts are really appealing to me. Then the idea that he would be blurring the boundary between virtual worlds, augmented reality, site-specific art.

How do you perceive Loveland and what has it inspired you to do with your inches?

I see it specifically as a creative space. There's no promotional or corporate angle.

Last fall I started doing a bit of stencil graffitti art. Where I live, we have black squirrels that hop across the road all the time. So I cut a stencil of a hopping black squirrel as a way to capture that image. Then I put it in some strategic locations in our town. (See above) [Ken says he may incorporate the Black Squirrel into the expression of his inches.]

What's your current vision for how you're going to use your inches?

I see it completely as self-expression, finding images or populating the space -- physical, virtual or both with primary artistic intent. Part of my work doing performance in alternative venues, everything around it becomes part of the performance.

It's less a group show and more a collaborative art piece. I want to keep my points fluid so that I can adapt to what's around me and respond to it. I don't want to create a monolith here.

Whatever I do there, I expect to grow from the collective experience.

Kenny Hubble, Hudson's Second Life persona.

Do you imagine using your inches across platforms?

I see it as something I want to have maximum flexibility with. The squirrel may be virtual or augmented reality. The similarity between the public performance work I've done all the way to Second Life is that it all builds on the environment. It's not art that's happening in a glass box that doesn't have any relationship to anything around -- just the opposite. Everything around it changes it. If you're doing a show on the street and a bus comes by, it's part of the show.

Is it a physical project for virtual art or a virtual project with a physical location? Those are all salient questions for contemporary art as we move forward into the century. I think it is experimental in the best way. I don't think there is an over-arching artistic intention. I think there is a really neat idea. One idea that isn't even explicitly mentioned is that you could even buy real estate in Detroit for $500. I mean, that's a huge social issue that is entrenched in this concept.

What does that say for people in economically depressed areas. Or to people that don't have access to fine art or virtual worlds? What does it say to those people? To start to envision what land could be used for, what contemporary art is.

Whether it answers all these questions or not, it certainly raises all of them. To me, that's incredibly exciting.


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You can follow Ken's involvement in Loveland at his project blog 100 Squirrels in Loveland.

Loveland on NPR's All Things Considered

[cross-posted from The Imagination Age -- written by Rita J. King]

Plymouth is the first full colony of inches in the Loveland project in Detroit. The yellow block of 1000 inches is my neighborhood, The Imagination Age. Loveland is being featured today on NPR's "All Things Considered." (Click here to listen to the archive)

What is Loveland?

It's an experiment in the micro-ownership of real estate, economic revitalization and cultural development.

It's an art project.

It's a statement about creating something new and unexpected.

Yes, it's about a guy selling a million square inches for a dollar each. With so many people out of work and seeking new ways to make money, create connections, excitement, fun and new ideas about the way communities work--that's a visionary way to get something going in an economy that promises to steamroll people who fail to freshen their skills, update perspectives and figure out new ways to pay bills.

Me, Jerry and our friend Tish Shute.

Sarah Hulett, the insightful journalist who interviewed me and Loveland founder Jerry Paffendorf, started off by saying that she wanted to understand the thinking behind the project.

I'm frequently asked why Jerry, who splits his time between the coasts, chose Detroit for this project. Why not? Why shouldn't a young, provocative artist move to Detroit and get something going? Is there some unwritten rule of etiquette that says we must avoid American cities in crisis? Detroit was once a city of the future, and that blueprint from the past is greatly appreciated by Jerry, who slept over at the Imagination Age Salon last night before catching a top-of-the-morning flight back to Detroit. We were up all night discussing plans for the future of Loveland and Detroit, ways we can explore Square, for example, to raise much-needed funds for local initiatives.

Sarah Hulett thoughtfully went back to interview the two little girls who live in the house next to Loveland, Celeste Moore (left, 11) and Ricki Collins, 9. In fact, their house is the only house left on the block. Ricki said she hopes the inchvestors will come and visit her. I am planning a visit soon.

Sarah Hulett asked me how Loveland might benefit the local population in Detroit. I don't know yet, but in order to find out I've opened up a block of 100 inches within the 1000 inch Imagination Age neighborhood in the Plymouth colony, a network that includes many notable residents already, including IBM Senior Research Fellow Grady Booch, WIRED writer Alexis Madrigal, filmmaker Josh Asen and educator Liz Dorland, to name a few. If you have an idea, even a tiny one, and imagination enough to envision how big you might make an inch, ping me on Twitter or leave a comment on this blog post.

I'm working hard to turn my inches into opportunities to connect people in Detroit with a larger community of innovators around the world, and I need your help, your ideas, your support and most of all, your imagination. Inches are tiny, but I hope you'll think big. Technology is a prism held up to the bright beam of the imagination.

[NPR: Inchvesting in Detroit: A Virtual Realty]

Want an Inch?

The Imagination Age in the Plymouth colony in Loveland, shown above in yellow, and the rest of the colony, in all its inchy splendor-in-the-grass, is shown around it.

Want an inch?



Yes, Loveland's first colony, Plymouth, is full--but you can still get in on the experiment. I have 1000 inches in Plymouth, a neighborhood currently called the Imagination Age. Maybe, like the newly minted Google, Kansas, the name will change once we all get set up, but for now, we're going with the Imagination Age.

Neighbors in the Imagination Age include the brilliant writer Alexis Madrigal, IBM Research Fellow and all-around creative genius Grady Booch, filmmaker Josh Asen (who directed the video above), educator Liz Dorland, Tiffany heir and designer Stephen Burlingham, Tony Award winning production designer Richard Hoover & actor John Ventimiglia, to name a few. The purpose of this experiment in micro-ownership of real estate is to see how big you can make your inch, or inches. In the meantime, the neighbors are starting to get together. If you want to be part of the neighborhood, ping me on Twitter or leave a comment on this post and tell us why.

Follow @RitaJKing and LOVELAND founder Jerry Paffendorf, @makeloveland, on Twitter.

The Mystery of the Ghost Inches

LOVELAND Season 2 Pre-Game: The Legend of The Ghost Inches from Jerry Paffendorf on Vimeo.

Jerry Paffendorf, who recently announced the completion of Plymouth, the first 10,000 inches in Loveland, produced this video mystery in response to requests from people who still want inches.

"Small parcels of land would occasionally disembody and float the streets..."

Plymouth Grid Construction

The Plymouth grid construction is underway and the design brings the past into the future. Check it out.

Congratulations Plymouth Inchvestor Colonists

Yesterday Jerry Paffendorff announced that the Plymouth Colony of Loveland, the first 10,000 inches of Loveland, has sold. The community is now sealed.

Starting next week we will be profiling members of Loveland's Plymouth colony on the 1000 Inches in Loveland blog.

Congratulations, Jerry!

"Inching toward a virtual new Detroit at $1 a square"

The Detroit Free Press has a new article about Jerry Paffendorf's Loveland project. As readers may know, Rita J. King is the largest "inchvestor" in Loveland. Her story of the project can be found at 1000InchesinLoveland.com.

Rita J. King has confirmed that the 1,000 inch holder who "plans to install an actual mailbox on the site" is indeed her. From the article:

"I would like to get to a point where it is globally interesting," said Paffendorf, 28, who moved to Detroit's Corktown neighborhood in January. "I want to bring these inches to life."

Inch by inch
Paffendorf has taken the popular concept of virtual worlds -- where you can be anything or anyone you want to be on the Internet -- and given it real roots in Detroit.

"If you can stretch your imagination ... this small space can be as big as you want," said Paffendorf.

The project allows property buyers to virtually and physically alter their land.

With 1,000 inches, one buyer plans to install an actual mailbox on the site, giving the plot, which Paffendorf calls "Plymouth," a place to receive mail.

Trevor Smith, a Web developer in Seattle, plans to use some of his 333 square inches to install solar panels that will charge up a battery to distribute power to other inchvestors. Smith plans to give it away at first and potentially charge his neighbors in the future, "assuming we could negotiate right of way through the inches in between," he said.

Starting next week we'll be profiling members of Loveland's first community of inch holders to ask them about their experience, vision and take on Loveland.

Rebuilding Detroit through the Internet One Inch at a Time

The new global culture and economy is taking shape an inch at a time.

As the biggest "inchvestor" in Loveland, I'm thrilled to see GG Paff getting his inch on and out.

The 10,000 inch Plymouth colony, where I own 1000 inches, is almost filled up. Get your space now.

I also just funded the development of Project Lemon Battery, and I love the plans so far.

Keep an eye on Jack Dorsey's new company, Square. It's going to change our capacity to create micro-ownership of shared assets.

Inching Toward a New Year

I've got 1000 Inches in Loveland, in a colony called Plymouth--in Detroit.

Loveland is an experiment in micro-ownership of land. Want some?