The Jejune Institute was an

alternate reality game An alternate reality game (ARG) is an interactive networked narrative that uses the real world as a platform and employs transmedia storytelling to deliver a story that may be altered by players' ideas or actions. The form is defined by inten ...

, public art installation and immersive experience that ran in San Francisco, California from 2008 to 10 April 2011. It was created by Jeff Hull, Sara Thacher, and Uriah Findley as Nonchalance, a design consultancy group.

Background and Game Experience

The Jejune Institute was funded by Jeff Hull with some of the proceeds from the sale of his father Blair Hull's financial company and had operating costs "in the low six figures" during its run, including salaries and office space. There was little to no revenue from the Jejune Institute itself, which was a free experience for its visitors. Staff members traveled through the player routes twice a week to make sure pieces of the game remained intact. People discovered the experience through fliers for dolphin therapy and the "Aquatic Thought Foundation" placed around San Francisco, or via word of mouth. There were four chapters total. 4,000 people had visited the first chapter by 2010, and more than 7,000 people visited the game's first chapter by the game's conclusion. Hull reported that attendance dropped by about 50%-75% after each chapter, with about 120 people who made it through the first three chapters. The first chapter at an office building at 580 California Street. Visitors went to the 16th floor of the building and watched a video in an automated "induction room", before embarking on a two- or three-hour walk around San Francisco's

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...

and Chinatown. Players looked for hidden information embedded in sidewalks, murals on the sides of buildings, and attached to statues. Clues were hidden inside mailboxes and on "missing person" flyers with in-game phone numbers. The second chapter began in San Francisco's

Mission District The Mission District (Spanish: ''Distrito de la Misión''), commonly known as The Mission (Spanish: ''La Misión''), is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. One of the oldest neighborhoods in San Francisco, the Mission District's name is ...

and took 6 hours to complete. At the top of Upper

Dolores Park Mission Dolores Park, often abbreviated to Dolores Park, is a city park in San Francisco, California. It is located two blocks south of Mission Dolores at the western edge of the Mission District. Dolores Park is bounded by 18th Street on the nort ...

, visitors could tune into a 1-watt radio transmitter playing a 45-minute piece of audio. There was a "mini episode" between the second and third chapter, a public rally held in San Francisco's

Union Square Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

. The event was attended by 200 people. The third chapter was set in the

Coit Tower Coit Tower is a tower in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, California, offering panoramic views over the city and the bay. The tower, in the city's Pioneer Park, was built between 1932 and 1933 using Lillie Hitchcock Coit's beq ...

park area of San Francisco, where visitors could view videos showing events from the past. Between chapter three and four, eight players received postcards, emails, and phone calls from in-game characters. They were instructed to bring their clues together to solve them as a group, and met in a mausoleum.

Fictional story

In the story, the Jejune Institute is an organization founded by a man named Octavio Coleman Esq. in the 1960s as the "Center for Socio-Reengineering". The fictional Elsewhere Public Works Agency (EPWA) is an underground rebel group trying to dismantle the Jejune Institute. The EPWA pre-dated the Jejune Institute, with art and fake public service announcements appearing around Oakland. The "mini episode" rally held between chapters two and three was framed as an in-world EPWA event. The story also features a fictional woman named Eva Lucien who went missing in 1988 near

Live Finale Event

Players received emails from the EPWA instructing them to attend a seminar on 10 April 2011 to overthrow the Jejune Institute. 150 people gathered in the Garden Room at the Grand Hyatt in San Francisco, California for the “Socio-Reengineering Seminar 2011: An Afternoon of Rhythmic Synchronicity". The seminar lasted more than four hours. Players later stated that they were expecting an exciting event that concluded the narrative, and stated that they were surprised and disappointed by the anticlimactic ending.

''The Institute''

In 2013, director Spencer McCall, who had edited videos for the game, released ''The Institute'', reconstructing the story of the Jejune Institute through interviews with the participants and the creators. The film screened at Oakland's Underground Film Festival in September 2013. The film contained both documentary elements and reenactment, leading people to call into question the veracity of the film.

''Dispatches from Elsewhere''

The TV series ''

Dispatches from Elsewhere ''Dispatches from Elsewhere'' is an American drama television series created by and starring Jason Segel that premiered on March 1, 2020, on AMC. It is based on the documentary film '' The Institute'' about the alternate reality game The Jejune ...

'' was based on ''The Institute'' documentary film.

References

{{reflist Alternate reality games Transmediation Immersive entertainment