A Question for the Question
Among some questions that are asked over and over, there are some that produce increasing number of answers and logical bases. In the beginning, active discussions are conducted to get an ultimate answer for these questions. But over the time, incremental reasoning and arguments create multiple paralleled conclusions that are unable to coexist, and this frustration eventually brings adhesion to the question. Therefore, the impossibility to close the gap between each answer turns the question into a ‘problem’.
The project director is conducting an experimental study by selecting one of the questions that fits the criteria above. The study will consist of a total of three main projects and other small projects. After 2 years of research, the data from the collected results and the analyzed contents will be published as a biannual report. As the first step, this specific project aims to suggest ‘a question for the question’.
Project 01- discursive discourse
There is no specific conclusion that the project director is trying to draw out of this project. The reason for carrying out this research project is also multi purposeful. For this reason, the project director provides no answers for the selected questions nor displays the clear questions. The director can only provide facts about the project. The questions asked here to all the participants are aimed to inspire series of other following questions, derived by the possible answers from the original question, and to visualize the process of arriving at the answers.
Participants can infer what question is being asked through the process of answering, or even suggest new questions. Not a single conclusion from any participants shall be excluded.
What is the value for this?
The participants will be divided into two groups. One is a participant group invited by the project director, and the other is a voluntary participant group who visits the website or the showroom from August 23rd 2016 to September 30th.
Through this project, total number of 100 different objects will be shown to the participants. A participant choses one that he/she thinks to be the most valuable item out of the 100, and suggests a price that he/she is willing to pay for the item and a price that he/she thinks the seller deserves. The reference information from the project director can be read and shared freely from this website. The participants can either use the provided information or rely on his/her own subjective judgment when offering the prices.
If anyone feels it necessary to ask for further information they can request it via the message board underneath, which can be used openly even for the non-participating audiences.
Would you own it?
A participant can own any of these 100 objects through auction. This confidential auction will be held from August 23rd to September 30th. A participant can choose between plus auction and minus auction. The plus auction means the bidding price is higher than the production cost, and the minus auction means the bidding price is lower than the production cost. When the plus auction proceeds the highest bidder will receive the goods while with the minus auction, the lowest bidder will be auctioned off. When the plus auction and the minus auction happen simultaneously for one object, the minus auctions overrides the plus auctions and thus, the lowest bidder will be the final bidder. The production cost measured by the project director for each object can be found at the text section. Each item will go though its own auction based on its productions price but which object is being auctioned at what price will stay confidential.
For an example, the website provides the information that the production price for the object A00 is 10,000 won. There are two bidders for A00, one person bids 12,000 won and the other bids 15,000 won. In this case, this auction becomes a plus auction and the highest bidder of 15,000 won will be the winning bidder.
If there are two bidders, one with 8,000 won and the other with 500 won, this becomes a minus auction and the lowest bidder with 500 will be auctioned off.
If two bidders are bidding and one offers 15,000 won and the other offers 500 won, automatically, the minus bidder gains the priority over the plus bidder and 500 won bidder will be auctioned off.
When the auction is proceeded as a plus auction, the winner will receive the original object, but if the auction is a minus auction, the winning bidder will NOT receive the original object but instead, get a symbolic substitute of the object.
The bidding opportunity for each participant is limited to 2 per an object. If one continues to bid after the 2nd bidding, the subsequent biddings will be automatically cancelled and the records of these biddings will not be counted as a valid data for the project. The exception would be if one is interested in purchasing every object for the project and in this case, the project director suggests that participant to contact the director for consultation.
Show Room
The project director has also prepared an offline space to enhance the communication with the participants. This showroom, which will be open for 11 days, will hold all the 100 auction objects and all the substitute items of the original 100 objects, so that the visitors can get a sense of the objects in person. At this show room, the participants can access to all the necessary information, participate in the auctions, and fill out the survey form. The project director will be present from 2 pm to 5 pm and the maker of the objects will be present from 5 pm to 8 pm. The maker of the objects is going to be working on the unexposed D series while staying at the show room. The prototypes of each series and other additional objects to help the visitors experience this project more closely will also be displayed at the show room.
The first 100 visitors to participate in the auctions or the survey at the show room will receive a small project souvenir. This is limited only to the first 100 participants so we ask the interested participants to come visit the show room as soon as possible.
Incubator 52, 34-21 Daehyun-dong, Seodaemoon-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea
August 23rd, 2016 – September 3rd. From Monday to Saturday
PM 2:00 – 8:00
