A wonderful interactive street-art project based on the philosophies originated by the Church of the SubGenius, the band DEVO, the David Cronenberg film Videodrome and the television miniseries Wild Palms is turned into a very tedious mockumentary. Unfortunately, unless you participated in the analog-geocaching-role-playing-game, watching The Institute can be a very eye-rolling experience. Much of the film is filled with poorly acted re-enactments, hokey "found footage" and phony interviews.

If you make it past the sixty minute mark, it becomes very apparent that you are watching a semi-talented improv-group's re-imagining of David Fincher's The Game starring Michael Douglas. I love ingenious street-art and clever stunts and would have loved to have watched a serious documentary about how the artist(s) came up with this very well thought-out hoax, but to sit down and watch what you know is a joke, gets very tiring and very boring very quickly.

NOT !

I have no idea what I just saw exactly, but I was glued to the screen the whole time. Should there be some definitive resolution to art? This was a unique viewing experience. I give it a high score. Why? No idea, but that seems like the right thing to do for some reason. Maybe somebody else will get it and then explain what in heck just happened.

Meanwhile, there is plenty of stuff to wrack your brain on. Human psychology, belief, art, what kind of life are we living, would I participate in such a thing? Is modern society missing something like this? Should we ask for more? What kinds of "stone soup" have we created in the past, and is that a bad thing to do or a good thing...

Too many chefs... at least bring ingredients !

Prepare to dive into an interactive new form of art. The creators describes it as an "urban playground movement" or "alternate reality game". It's essentially a mix of art, video, and elaborate clues that lead curious citizens of San Fransisco to explore their city all the while immersing themselves into a bizarre story.

It's all created by Jeff Hull who's main theme is on seeing things in a nonchalant way. By nonchalance, it's described as a cartoon where the unconscious character goes around a city and seemingly avoids dangerous situations through extraordinary luck; a way of exploring using your unconscious mind. The goal is to go elsewhere, to go somewhere between here and there. Basically a place you may or may not have gone before and enter a storybook world of imagination that exists hidden in the world around us.

It sounds crazy typing it out and reading it back to myself, so no doubt it must sound absurd to you the reader. Nevertheless, the movie gave me a sense of awe and joy as I followed each participant down the rabbit hole, all the while, surrounded by these all immersing elaborate clues that create this tension between reality and fiction. Watching how each participant was effected by these clues and how it changed them is what makes this a great film. This movie and the artist transformed the ordinary world into a place full of potential and mystery. And isn't that what makes art, isn't that what makes a movie a magical experience. And as such, I humbly recommend you watch this film and take a glimpse into the elsewhere.