Portal Signs
Why
I’d seen something similar but more basic on the internet and I liked the idea of this kind of thing being placed somewhere obscure and unexpected. I also felt that placing such a thing would be better if it was intended to not be found. That may be even more pointless than doing it in the first place, but the idea of them being in places that were difficult to find or access would somehow be much better if someone did stumble across them.
The locations are noted using references from the “What 3 Words” app/website. The oddest thing about these is that people generally WOULDN’T SEE THEM. It was almost impossible to see them from anywhere at all without specifically being told where they are and even then, looking very carefully for them. One was in some trees adjacent to a pathway, behind some brambles, and it didn’t even face the path. The other was well off the beaten track and I had to go out with secateurs for an hour or so, just to get to get to a place where I could place it.
When
April 2020, just as Covid-19 lockdown was beginning.
Where
On the Pastures, a nice bit of countryside walking area near my house. “What3words” locations:
wakes.castle.roof
and
orange.next.flats
Materials / Media
Wood, MDF and laser printed paper. I have some vague intention to have these professionally manufactured and reinstalled if money becomes less tight.
Production
I played with the wording quite a bit but I still think I’ll need to improve it for the next version if I ever make it. The yellow section refers to periods in time, so the IPA should incorporate time not just dimensions. The before and after use dates are some online variant of star trek stardates. Earliest being my birthday about 1900 years ago, and the latest being something like 4000 years from the production date in the future.
I also incorporated some of Ron Cobb’s semiotic standard designs from Alien (bottom right). They have specific meanings that have no relevance to this. But they just looked nice to me.
Execution
Out with a spade, late at night. The posts have protrusions to act as anchors so that they can’t just simple be pulled out of the ground. I didn’t concrete them in, but they do go down about 40cm below the surface.
Duration & Fate
The signs lasted in place undisturbed for about 8 months. Then one got ragged out, but largely because I had been beating a path to it for some other thing I had in mind. That one had also been weathered. Both were removed by council workers when they were blocking off some paths I’d created.
One day I saw a father and his two children investigating them in complete bemusement. This had become possible as I’d purposefully cleared a view to them through the trees and undergrowth.
It also got posted on a local community Facebook group by someone but I didn’t admit to knowing anything about it
